all the important american designers are from long island

ohmygod i just got back from dinner at aquagrill. SO DELICIOUS. apparantly there doesn't have to be a lot of hype... there are older, established, non blogged about restaurants in this city that are EXCELLENT. aquagrill is a prime example. i'm obsessed. seriously, one of the best meals i've had since i've moved here, and i've been eating a lot of really great meals. vicky and i met up for an 8:30 reservation tonight and I was so excited to finally try the restaurant... first of all, i walk by it several times a day... it's on the corner of 6th and spring... like 2 blocks from my apartment. secondly, the manager there, christina diangelo, is a regular on mondays at la sirene and i LOVE her and she's been trying to get me come in for a while now to eat... well it was fantastic. the second she saw us she chided me for not asking for her when i made my reservation so she could get us a better table! but our table was fine (it was warm, which was what we cared about most) and we dove right in ordering cocktails from our FABULOUS waiter. imediately, we were brought amuse's of salmon tartare on like, a crispy homemade potato chip. then we ordered fresh oysters, of which they had TONS of choices... we ordered two types that he said were on the briny side- blue point and something else and two that were "creamier", a description i never would have thought of for oysters but that described them perfectly. our fabulous waiter didn't rush us in any way, and we got to enjoy our oysters (vicky liked the creamy better, i preferred the briny...) before he came to get our entree orders. He had a lot of good information to help us in ordering. Vicky ended up ordering a grouper special and I ordered a John Dory special served with gnocchi after a lot of internal conflict (the scallops also sounded AMAZING... but they're always on the menu). A few minutes after we ordered, he returned to tell me they had run out of John Dory... but knowing that I ordered it primarily for the accompaniements and sauce, suggested I take the same set-up but with grouper. while we waited for our food, christina had the kitchen send out a second amuse for us... toro tartare with truffle oil. SO GOOD i SERIOUSLY wanted to lick the plate... however I allowed the amazing backwaiter to take it away before i embarrased myself. at this point, the annoying date couple next to us was looking jealous and having an annoying conversation and vicky and i were having a ball. So, soon after that entrees come and oh. my. god. It was heaven. I don't remember what the sauce was on my plate, but it was creamy and buttery and delicious. And the gnochi! heaven. it was fluffy and green... i don't remember what kind of gnocchi it was... i should write this stuff down... but anyway it was amazing. along with the perfectly cooked flaky grouper and tender asparagus and whatever else was there... incredible. vicky's grouper was equally good, but prepared totally differently... both suited us perfectly. we were cutting our fish into tiny peices to make it last longer! by the time i finished the fish, i was seriously just scraping the sauce off the plate and licking my fork. really really amazing. i was really pleased! we were just going to order more drinks instead of dessert, but when they brought the menu it all sounded so extraordinary that we had to... we decided just to split a tasting of chocolate desserts... white chocolate mousse, warm chocolate cake, and homemade milk chocolate icecream. vick ordered another glass of wine, i ordered cappucino with kahlua, and although we were very full, we awaited our dessert... suddenly the waiter brings out two huge plates... christina also sent us the dessert special, a peanut butter bread pudding with grape icecream... like a dessert-y p,b & j! so good. so much food! of course, stevens and i are champs and we dug in and it was all amazing. theeeeeen they brought out a little plate of like, cookie and biscotti things... then we really felt like we were gonna die... i couldn't even sit up straight and my little highwaisted skirt was very very very tight on my stomach! i seriously think i gained like, 5 lbs during this meal! i'm gonna have to walk to work tomorrow! really, vicky and i were very satisfied. we spent a lot in the end, esp since we each had 3 drinks, but it was SO worth it. i really can't wait to go back. the service was friendly but so knowledgeable, the food was extraordinary without being too fussy... and christina, of course, is amazing! everybody should try aquagrill!
ummm in other news... i love project runway. i think jillian is really annoying. i love christian... and i haven't found out whether chris or rami is going! i will write more about that tomorrow since my job is devastatingly boring. ahhh heidi's outfit tonight on the show is awesome. (i'm watching it on tivo right now...)
now i seriously have to get this computer off my stomach before i explode. so. full.