Petite Abeille

...is located at 401 E. 20th Street in NYC's East Village bordering Gramercy Park near Stuyvesant Town.

They offer a special every Wednesday - all you can eat mussels and a Stella Artoire beer for $24.95. Each serving is about 2 lbs (including the shells) and includes frites.

"CF", "CM" and I all started out with an order of Les Moules Marinieres with white wine, celery and broth.

For our 2nd helping we ordered Les Moules Rasta with Jamaican curry sauce (not authentic) and crisp apples (an unusual pairing) which was still good.

Then we shared a slice of apple crumble ($7) for dessert. It would have been better warmed up and served with vanilla gelato. Sigh...

But this is a dependable restaurant with good food at reasonable prices. Even though it wasn't extremely crowded service was a bit slow on this night.

Primehouse New York

....is located at 381 Park Ave. South in NYC's Gramercy area.

"A" and I tried their NYC Restaurant Week Menu: 3 course prix fixe for $35.

"A" started with a White Russian ($12). I had a Sommerwind - Montecristo rum, Reisling, lychee and cucumber ($12).

"A" ordered the Baby Field of Greens with Sherry Vinagrette and I had the Crispy Pork Belly with smoked cherry barbecue sauce. The pork belly was good, but not as tender as other places.

We both had the Creek Stone Farm's aged 7 oz NY strip with duck fat fingerling potatoes and house made steak sauce. The steak was chewy and disappointing.

We shared the Strawberry Shortcake - Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwich, Farmer's Market Strawberries and Mint - this mediocre and pedistrian; and the Bittersweet chocolate tart with chocolate custard, toasted meringue and s'mores ice cream - very good and worth ordering again.

Maialano Again

...this time for dinner at the NYC Gramercy area restaurant located at 2 Lexington Avenue.

A rustic basket of breads and olive oil was immediately served to our table.

"M" had a bottle of Pellegrino ($7), "J" had a ginger ale ($3) and I had a glass of Prosecco Brut ($8)

I had the Carciofini Fritti (fried artichokes) with & anchovy bread sauce for an appetizer ($11). "M", "P" and I shared the Maialano Forno (house speciality suckling pig with potatoes) for $72. "J" had the Spigola sea bass, mizuna & preserved lemon ($27).

For dessert we shared the Crostini Frutti (berry tart) for $8 and Olive Oil Cake for 9 - both with country cream (the thickest, richest whipped cream I have ever tasted).

"P" had cup of Americano caffe ($3) and "M" had a cappucino ($4.25).

I would like to return to try some of the pastas.

Maialino

is the latest restaurant from the Union Square Hospitality Group headed by Danny Meyer (I'm a big fan of his restaurants).

Dinner reservations are had to acquire so I went for brunch. I had the Porchetta Al Uovo roast pork, ciabatta & fried eggs ($13) which I was very disappointed with. The porchetta was dry and the fat was chewy. The eggs and the bread were good, but the pork was surprisingly not appetizing.

On the other hand desserts saved the day. I had both the Torta della Nonna ($8) and Bombolini Con Crema doughnuts with cream ($4).

The Torta Nonna was a wonderful lemony custard tart topped with pine nuts and sitting on a pool of honey. The bomboloni were warm, but a littly skimpy on the cream filling.

I also had a pot of Chamomille tea ($4.50).

Rolf's

Located in NYC's Gramercy Park area at 281 Third Avenue this restaurant screams "Happy Holidays"! There are thousands of lights and ornaments hung on fake tree branches everywhere inside the entire place.

Rolf's serves traditional German fare. For the holidays they add Gluwhein to their drink menu - this is a warm, mulled, spiced red wine.

"A" and I shared the potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream for an appetizer ($11). "A" had the Schniztel Holstein (with a fried egg and anchovies) and I had the traditional Weiner Schnitzel (both $24.95 and served with string beans and spaetzel). We shared a bottle of Reisling ($32) and apple streudel with whipped cream for dessert ($8).

The potato pancakes were thick and not as crispy as I would have liked. The schnitzel was paper thin and the spaetzel was a little gummy. The apple streudel was served very hot and had only a thin layer of crust, but the whipped cream was dense and yummy.

But the food is not the main attraction here - it's the over-the-top decorations! It looked like a trim-a-tree department exploded inside the restaurant. I feel sorry for the person who has to take them down and pack them away after the New Year.