As someone who frequents the Chelsea area of New York City quite often, I am thoroughly impressed as time goes by with the new restaurants that open up in the area. Most notably the ones between 14th and 23rd, on 8th avenue. I was lucky enough to review the fabulous Pounds & Ounces NYC Pub two years ago, when they were test driving their “Late Night” menu for the masses to enjoy. Now two years later, the restaurant is thriving and busier than ever, with a trendy crowd, spacious room and delicious treats for you to enjoy.
Recently, a friend and I went and experienced their fantastic dinner menu and all that it encompassed. What is great about Pounds & Ounces NYC Pub is that this particular menu encourages you and your friends to try dishes together in an effort to build the community within the restaurant itself. I find this to be a fantastic concept as it gets people to put away their annoying iPhones and just appreciate the people they are with, on top of the delicious food they are about to devour. All the plates are sharable and plentiful enough to be enjoyed by at least two people, and with how great everything tastes, the options are limitless in what you can devour.
Some of the highlights from the dinner menu read as follows. I for one am a huge fan of meatballs. I rarely have had a meatball that I would deem not good enough for my taste, buds, and their Moroccan Meatballs are to die for. The meatballs are ground beef based with onions, garlic and basil and cooked in a tomato-harissa sauce with parmesan on top. Absolutely delicious and hearty. As someone who is still new to Octopus, I was delighted that one of the top notch dishes that they had are their Lemon Oregano Grilled Octopus with toasted sourdough bread. Octopus can tend to be rubbery if not cooked properly, and this couldn’t be further from the case.
Two others that me and my friend really enjoyed were the Oyster Deviled Eggs and Waffle Battered Chicken Pops. I for one never associated a seafood type of dish being paired with a deviled egg, however the two of them combined beautiful into one satisfying bite (or two). Also, it has candied bacon on top. Bacon. I know the bacon trend can be annoying to certain people, but I don’t care. It really added something unique to the dish and made it one of the standouts. The chicken pops as well were tasty as can be, as the chicken itself was soaked in maple syrup and served with a guava BBQ sauce on the side. Might be a bit sweet for other people’s palettes, but I really enjoyed all of the flavors put together.
You can’t have a dinner like this and not finish off with something decadent and sweet for dessert. My recommendations would be the Triple Chocolate Pretzel Parfait, Lavender Sandwiches and Meyer Lemon Guava Cheesecake. All outstanding ways to finish the meal, in particular the tart and sweet cheesecake that we were served. The best part about this meal is that we didn’t leave feeling over-stuffed, regardless of all the dishes we were served. Most of the meals were a couple of bites per serving, so it left us feeling satisfied and not feeling like we needed assistance to get us back to Penn Station. Overall, a 10 out of 10 in my book!
For more information on Pounds & Ounces NYC Pub, including all their menus, check out their official site here. Happy eating everyone!
