Sojourn: 244 E. 79th st. NY, NY

This is not a bad photograph. This is actually a perfectly accurate photograph. It is SO crazy dark in this restaurant that my friend and I laughed out loud about it when we walked in and could hardly see our hands in fronts of our faces. It's really kind of ridiculous, however, it IS a great spot to bring a date. Totally sexy and romantic. Erotic paintings of nude women on the walls, candles and dark wood everywhere. Plates that are 'prefect for sharing' as the menu says. I probably should have tried this one with last week's hot date instead of my gay best friend. On second thought, it probably would make even more sense to bring a not-so-hot date here since you really aren't able to look at them at all.
The food was unexpectedly good. We both enjoyed the high quality olive oil and caraway rolls that came out warm from the oven. We shared awesome kobe beef sliders with caramelized onions and a ketchup that was subtly flavored with ginger- very nice. We also had the soft shell crab- which was delicious, but the vegetables that came with it were WAY over-salted and seasoned for my taste. I couldn't eat them. I felt the same way about the cubed potatoes that came with the rosemary roast chicken. It was as if there was a tablespoon of salt on 1/2 cup of potatoes. (I should say that I usually use much less salt than the average bear so maybe I just have a heightened sensitivity to it. My friend thought they were only a little too salty. ) We also had the sliced steak which was incredibly tender, beautifully marinated and cooked exquisitely. The location of this restaurant seems to be doomed as this is the 3rd try in the last 3 years...but maybe the food quality will actually let this one survive.