Gordon Ramsay's NJ Diner @ The London

I was lucky enough to receive an invite from Richard to dinner at Gordon Ramsay (yes, the Hell's Kitchen guy, since that what people seem to know). His new restaurant opened up a few weeks ago in the London Hotel in Midtown. I was super-excited to get the invite and right away had to look at the menu online and find something to wear! Richard told me that the dress code is "smart," meaning no jeans and men must wear jackets. (Of course looking "smart" is now our new fun term. Sometimes it's "wicked smart," since we're both from New England). Anyhoo, we both wore black suits and looked wicked smart for our exclusive, expensivo dinner.

We were escorted into the "formal dining room" at 6:15 sharp (you have to walk past all the "casual dining room" peeps, and they look at you like you're amazing and famous, which we are. Dir). We sat in v. comfy chairs at a huge table with gorgeous place settings. The overall atmosphere was not my cup of tea, but it was amazing in its own way. Richard said it was "v. British." All I knew was that it wasn't what I expected. It took me a while to realize what I thought it reminded me of, and a little while later (after the alcohol makes kimmyk brutally honest), I told Richie I thought it looked like a NJ diner. There were mirrors everywhere and shiny things. All it needed was a few fake flowers in the middle of each table to put me into the Garden State mindset. OK, enough making fun...everything else was amaz!

We were waited on by a Brit who was cute and fun, and we loved her (even if only for her accent and black-rimmed glasses). She made fun of our pronunciation of "turbot," (we were pronouncing it "turbo," which we thought sounded more "smart," or French or something...). Our sommelier was a Mainer, which of course we loved, and he recommended a perfect wine for us (Whitcraft Winery- a 2001 Lagren). The entire staff was so attentive, and there were people for everything you could imagine: a bread boy, a drink chick, water peeps, waiters, servers, sommeliers, you name it! I think my water glass was only empty once, and that's b/c I was feeling a bit tipsy so I chugged it.

I'm not even going to get into the food b/c that's Richard's department, since he's the true "foodie." I will say that I loved everything, but my fave was the "Lobster ravioli, poached in its own bouillon with celery root cream, shellfish vinaigrette and chervil veloute," whatever the hell all that means:)

To hear about the experience (and the food!) in more detail, you can also read: Richard's Review