Dinner at The Dutch Made Up for Everything Bad in 2020

The Dutch is a beautiful restaurant with beautiful food and — frankly — usually beautiful clientele. Even with the impossibly limiting restrictions on NYC dining in 2020, Andrew Carmellini’s bistro at the corner of Sullivan and Prince has remained a bustling Soho hotspot for those who are always striving and prospering.

Given so much of my year was spent barely maintaining my hold on reality rather than concertedly crushing it, I was struck with a wee bit of imposter syndrome when deciding whether to dine at The Dutch last weekend. The Dutch is not where one goes to celebrate ‘maintaining.’

But I had a friend I wanted to treat to dinner. I live nearby. I was really hungry. And I had a gift card.

Whether or not I had earned it, all the hands of destiny were pointing to a meal at The Dutch.

After being seated near the heat lamps on the cozy outdoor terrace, my friend and I started off with the Housemade Scallion-Chipootle Cornbread. The hot-cake came served with a cumulus of whipped butter.

The sweet, moist, slightly spicy cornbread put me on the verge of feeling like I was starting off with dessert, in the best way; it ain’t always bad to fill up on bread. I probably ate 70% of the deep-dish cornbread before deciding to save some room for the main dish and also, you know, save some for my friend.

For my main, I ordered a Grass-Fed Double Cheddar Burger, which came sandwiched between a poppyseed bun and redolent with secret sauce - undoubtedly a nod to the Big Mac. The fries, too, were McDonalds-esque slim vessels of oily deliciousness.

The burger overall was one of the top three I’ve had all year — the uber-melty cheese and tangy pickle chips enhanced the flavor of the quality meat, and of course, secret sauce can elevate any double-cheeseburger to an 11.

For dessert, I ordered Apple Pie and Cinnamon Ice Cream.

First of all, apple pie and cinnamon ice cream — that is just an inspired combination. The pie was very cold, like it had just come out of an icebox; in my opinion, it would’ve benefited from being warmed up, but cold apple pie holds its own intricacies of enjoyment. The whole thing was loaded with apples and tasted super-fresh.

In between bites of pie and ice cream, I dug into my friend’s Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake with Rice Crispies; this was a brilliant dessert, thick and decadent and RICH, with the rice crispies providing an enjoyable crunch to the pure fudgy-decadence of the cake.

Eating two desserts took its expected toll on my vivality, and by the end of the meal I was feeling like a couch and a movie were all I was good for. After settling the bill, my friend and I walked a bit through Soho before I retreated back to my apartment, enjoying the remainder of my evening in a mostly mindless stupor.

I would give The Dutch a 5 out of 5 on the experience alone — the service and ambiance were all lovely and inviting, and whoever picks the hip-hop and low-fi pop playlist pumping throughout the venue has a special talent for vibe-setting.

The food as well was bomb bomb bomb, a 4.5 out of 5. The burger, especially, was very memorable — literally a Big Mac as envisioned by a Michelin-starred chef.

All you New York City denizens holing up here for Christmas, get thee to The Dutch this season — they’re serving Christmas Feasts available for pick-up. Unlike myself in the midst of this pandemic, The Dutch has pushed past the temptation to ‘maintain’, and has continued to strive and prosper.

Long live The Dutch. Long live NYC dining.

Until next time.