310 West 4th Street (between 12th and Bank Sts.) 646-912-9061 www.theblackderby.com
American. The first thing you notice are the fixtures, each a black derby. While reading the menu, the name arose again in the form of two creations: The Black Derby Parm and Burger. There is no stronger endorsement than attaching your place to a dish, so I tried both. The parmigiana is of the chicken cutlet variety (tomato sauce, burrata, basil cream, hero, greens) while the hamburger flaunts cheese, accompanied by a brioche roll, harissa mayo and pommes frites. I opted for gruyere plus the addition of a sunny side up egg. If I had the talent to prepare entrées like these, I’d slap my first and last on them too. While they don’t personally ID the lamb sliders (goat cheese, harissa mayo, mint apple chutney, Hawaiian roll) or tomato fennel soup (fresh fennel, creamed basil, melted gruyere crostini) they might as well, so flavorful and delicious are each. For dessert, I indulged in chocolate chip cookies and milk. Both the calcium chaser and pastries-the-size-of-my-hand were the perfect end to a very satisfying meal. And that you can hang your hat on.