I recently purchased a Thrillist certificate for Todd English’s Crossbar. The $68 deal consisted of any 2 appetizers, 2 entrees (excluding the Bone-in ribeye), a dessert to be shared, and 6 cask beers. I’ve wanted to try Crossbar for a while, so I figured why not go here for Danny and I’s 5.5 year anniversary! Crossbar was pretty easy to get to and is located at the iconic Limelight Marketplace. Crossbar was actually built in the Limelight Cathedral. It was dark, gothic, and had a working fireplace going. We had the choice of sitting outside or inside. We chose inside because I didn’t want to get bitten up by mosquitoes. When our waiter came by, I showed him the Thrillist certificate. We ordered 2 cask beers (I don’t remember which beers we ordered because I lost all of my notes!). I also asked the waiter about the head to tail pork entree (I remembered reading about it on Thrillist. It even had stuffed pig ears, tail, and much much more!). The waiter informed me that they don’t serve that anymore. I was super disappointed…if they don’t serve it anymore, shouldn’t they change that information when buying a certificate?
Anyway, we ordered our appetizers. I ordered the Duck sliders and Danny ordered the lobster guacamole. I was super surprised when he ordered the lobster guacamole, when I’m the one that absolutely loves lobster. I didn’t order it because I don’t think lobster and guacamole goes well together. Unfortunately, that came out to be true. The chips had a little spice on them, making them a little too spicy. The guacamole itself was mediocre (my boyfriend and his dad make THE best guacamole, so I’m biased). The guacamole also had lots of lettuce on the bottom, so there really wasn’t that much guacamole in the mortar. The lobster was cooked well but the portion wasn’t that big. Overall, the lobster guacamole didn’t really go well together and was overpriced. The duck sliders on the other hand, were delicious! The 3 slides came with duck bacon, foie gras sauce, and crispy shallots. They were juicy and delicious. I could eat them all day!
For our entree, I ordered the Serrano Wrapped Pork Tenderloin and Danny ordered the Pork Belly. My pork tenderloin was cooked nicely but I barely tasted the manchego, the picada sauce was too spicy and strong, and the apples were too sour. Overall, the pork was good but went better with Danny’s curry sauce. His pork belly was to die for! The pork belly was still slightly crispy and was swimming in this delicious sweet/spicy curry sauce. My only complaint was the cucumber balls (they tasted more like pickles and I’m not a fan of pickles). Other than that, I love pork belly in just about any form!
For dessert, Danny wanted to be a little daring, so we ordered the Pecan bacon pie. This came out with bourbon-caramel ice cream and sticky toffee. Surprisingly, this pie turned out to be absolutely delicious! The pie itself tasted as if bacon fat was drizzled all over and the ice cream was just yummy and bourbon’y. There was just enough bacon flavor in this amazing dessert!
Here’s a pic of our 6 cask beers (I don’t remember which ones were which) but 5 out of 6 were really good! The only 1 I didn’t like was this super dark lager (it tasted like black coffee that went bad). The beers were pretty good (some of them tasted like Sam Adams). I like a light beer, so next time, that’s all I will order. Danny and I will definitely be coming back to Crossbar but will probably order a few different things.
CrossBar
47 W 20th St
New York, NY 10010
