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.

Ted's Montana Grill

This restaurant is located in NYC's Midtown at 110 West 51st Street near Rockefeller Center.

I was pleasantly surprised with the food. Since this restaurant is one of several owned by Ted Turner I thought it would be gimmicky, but it wasn't.

"T" ordered the St. Phillip's Island Crab Cake appetizer with coleslaw and guacamole ($13) and Bison Short Ribs which were served with mashed potatoes and green beans ($17). The crab cake was mostly crab meat. The short ribs tender and flavorful.

I ordered the Bison Cheese Burger with Cheddar cheese ($14) which was served with fries. The burger was juicy and flavorful, the fries crispy and salted just right.

Then we shared the Daily Featured Dessert - Nutty Apple Crisp made with oats and topped with vanilla ice cream ($8) and Kahlua Fudge brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and Kahlua chocolate sauce ($7). Both desserts were mammoth, delicious and we couldn't finish either of them. But we tried out best.

Ted's is definitely worth a return visit.