Carb Loading at The Smith

I love mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese so much that I get tagged on pictures featuring this dish at least four times a week. The most common picture I get tagged on is the mac and cheese from The Smith,  an American-style brasserie with several locations in New York City and one in Penn Quarter of Washington D.C. The location in D.C is very quirky; there are photo booths by the bathrooms, subway-tile floors that look vintage and wooden tables with dimmed lights.

I have had The Smith’s mac and cheese once before in New York City, and I have been dreaming about the day I would have the chance to do so again. Yet, I spent a long time staring at its menu trying to figure out what I wanted. As much as I love my friend Esther, I felt that I needed more people to come with us so we could order many plates and try them all.

We ordered a plate of mac and cheese (obviously), a plate of ricotta filled gnocchi and a grilled salmon to share. The mac and cheese is made with four kinds of cheese: fontina, gruyere, cheddar, and parmesan. It has breadcrumbs on top and broiled on a skillet which makes it extra gooey. I still have dreams about the amount of cheese this plate has.

The ricotta filled gnocchi was to die for as well. As you know, I am a huge fan of gnocchi, and when I saw that these were not only filled with ricotta but came in a truffle cream sauce I knew I had to try it. The gnocchi is not cooked in the traditional wait (boiled) but they were grilled, making this little pillows of potato more enjoyable. I liked the crunchiness and smoked flavor the grill gave to the gnocchi, which went well with the truffle cream. I could barely taste the ricotta though, which made me sad.

The salmon was good as well, but not my favorite plate of the night. The truffle vinaigrette was a little sweet, which went well with the other flavors on the table. The cauliflower salmon mousse on the bottom of the salmon was delicious, although I needed something more starchy next to my protein, and I skipped the mushrooms that were on a side.

Overall, the food was good. Nothing compares to The Smith’s mac and cheese, not even the rest of its plates. But I am still dying to try the hot potato chips with blue cheese fondue, the toasted sesame hummus, the burrata, tuna poke and mashed potatoes only to name a few.

Jewtina Tips: Share, share and share! You will be full regardless, but you got the chance to try different items of its menu!

Teenu- Disfruta- Enjoy!