The Smith

May 2nd-

Before seeing "Love, Pain and Vice Versa" at the film fest......(which by the way was great), Nathan and I went to The Smith in the East Village for dinner. The place was hopping.....full of stylish, young people out with friends. It had a very modern feel. We were early, so we had a drink at the crowded bar while we waited for our table....amazingly enough, someone was just leaving, so I scored a seat. No fancy cocktails today....just wine. (After all, we have to stay awake for the movie we were going to see afterwards.) They serve the wine to us in regular short drinking glasses....not wine glasses, not even stemless wine glasses....just plain glasses. It was refreshingly unpretentious. We were escorted to our table pretty much on time. The menu was interesting.....some comfort food, like burgers, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, and also some light salad and fish dishes. We chose the Crab Hush Puppies with Old Bay Aioli to start with. I didn't think I would like these when we ordered them. (Nathan wanted them.) I thought they would be greasy, heavy, bready and tasteless, like all of the hush puppies I have ever eaten in my life, but I was wrong. Although fried, they were only a touch heavy and not greasy.....and there was a lot of crab in each puppy. The aioli sauce was the best part, of course. I live for sauces! It was plentiful as well....which made me happy. There is just nothing worse than skimping on the sauce as far as I'm concerned! After that, Nathan had the Cheeseburger Deluxe which came with fries, and I had the Lamb Schnitzel which was served on a bed of mashed potatoes......nothing wrong with that! Why we got two entrees, I don't know. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs, because it was way too much food for us. One entree would have sufficed. The lamb schnitzel was very good. The outside was covered in Panko and Parmesan, very crispy......total comfort food. The burger was full of flavor.....but gigantic! With the bun, it must have been six inches tall! The shoestring fries weren't greasy, but they weren't really anything special. Besides the food, the service was friendly and attentive, and they have a photo booth in the basement where the communal bathroom is. You can take the standard four photos for three dollars....fun! We will return.