AQ Cafe
Reviewed on: 2011-07-20 By: Claire McCurdyCuisine type: European
Price range: 30-50
Address: 1800 Broadway New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212.462.0005
A cool, elegant Swedish restaurant near Columbus Circle offering excellent Swedish/European food. Warm, friendly, affordable. Welcoming for the whole family.
It was a boiling hot summer day, we were en route to an exhibit of brilliant light sculptures on 57th St., and we saw AQ Café at exactly the right time- when we desperately needed to get something to eat and drink. It was pure luck- the café turned out to be far more than an average diner, a cool, gray elegant Swedish restaurant where one could get find food at a reasonable price. And bask in the cool. And for the locale, surprisingly affordable. As they say, a place for the whole family.
The interior of the café resembled a barn – the interior shelving a mellow brown, the walls in two shades of gray- a haute barn, with black and white photos of landscape (presumably Swedish) starring windmills. Windmills; hmmm cool breezes. Green energy. The power of suggestion. It worked. Temperatures lowered, tensions eased.
The wait-staff were speedy, friendly, and helpful.
For those of us who were not actually born in the Midwest, our introduction to Swedish cooking probably came with the advent to New York of IKEA. I have good memories of those Swedish meatballs. But AQ's are much much better! My friend decided on Swedish meatballs with lingonberries, (think sweeter cranberries), pickled cucumbers, mashed potatoes and cream sauce, that easily rivaled or excelled Ikea's signature dish. I had a feeling that there were also lingonberries in the meatballs- they were both slightly sweet and tart. A fine, far cry, from lunchtime burgers.
We also had a lingonberry seltzer drink that was a delicious change from lemonade- really quenched the thirst.
I too was very pleased with my chicken salad sandwich with fennel, apples, and golden raisins. The spices and fruits set off the chicken perfectly. I then decided to go for broke and try AQ's dessert- cappuccino and a lemon tart. The tart was heavenly- pungent, sweet. The creamy dessert was surrounded by perfectly piped half soft, half crisp meringue.
Sometimes it's the simplest dishes that are the hardest to do—these were perfect.
As it turned out, this was not surprising. We were in expert hands. AQ Café is part of the eminent Marcus Samuelsson Group. There was a master chef-- Marcus Samuelsson, a Swedish chef born in Ethiopia, co-owner of Aquavit restaurant and proprietor of Harlem's Red Rooster --behind these scenes. How could the food not be wonderful? We would certainly be back --and bring friends.
Open seven days a week, between 8 am - 8 pm
Vist website: www.aqkafe.com
