Narcissa, East Village

Remember when I visited Narcissa and fell in love with the Carrots Wellington? I’ve been meaning to return to Narcissa and finally went back to Narcissa a few weeks ago for a lunch in the beautiful garden.

On such a warm day, I was surprised that some people still chose to sit inside. The dining room is lovely, and but the garden on its own is a enough of a reason to come here. It’s so colorful and playful, and I imagine it must be hard to get a table here during peak hours. Luckily, we were here at 2pm on a weekday.

Finally introduced John to the delicious creations by Chef John Fraser. John got the Manchurian cauliflower sandwich ($12), which is basically a sweet and sour cauliflower sandwich with red cabbage sesame slaw. Also comes with a very fresh looking side salad. I didn’t get a chance to taste this, but it looked good.

Since we were dining in a garden, I got the secret garden cocktail ($14). Gin, lemonade, cucumber, and dill. Tastes like summertime. A very refreshing and beautiful cocktail that I’ll have to try recreating at home sometime. John went his usual beer route and ordered an IPA.

Narcissa is not a vegetarian restaurant, but the menu is veggie friendly and the meatless dishes are very well executed. Based on how fantastic the gnocchi was last time, I decided on the whole wheat orecchiette ($16). I’m the kind of person that almost always has a pasta craving.

The orecchiette was a very enjoyable al dente with good whole wheaty texture. If you’re not a fan of firm pasta, you might want to pass on this one. Orecchiette pasta is the perfect shape to catch the bright broccoli rabe pesto. Every bite has a nice balance of pasta and pesto. There’s tasty roasted garlic, aleppo pepper, and sunflower seeds in here too. Oh man, this place is so good, it’s ridiculous.

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