I'm not going to make this fancy, because I'm full and happy and want to lie in bed right about now. Here's the rudimentaries:

The decor is rustic, and brought to mind one of my hometown's restaurants with its creamy walls and dark exposed wood beams. Very warm tones and cozy feel.

We chose the seven course tasting menu.

First was an amuse bouche, white bean puree with salsa verde on an oval slice of bread. (Some of this food just might not be titled correctly as I have a horrible memory with these things) Good, hearty, but we were excited for the menu to begin.

The foie gras arrived next, with a salad of arugula leaves, candied pistachios, and a pickled jelly on the side. Also with brioche triangles. I've never had foie gras before, and found it a tad rich for my taste, but shoveled it down anyway, cause it complemented the brioche and salad well, all in one bite.

Then was the langoustine in some sort of orangey puree thing. Slurped this one up right quick. Aghh all the courses are blending togetherrrrr...

The sturgeon was next. Felt the top could have been a bit more crispy and the inside a bit more cooked, but that's personal preference I suppose. The mushrooms that it came with were absolutely divine. DIVINE. Buttery tasting and melty and chewy and yummy perfection.

Then bacon! I actually didn't like the bacon that much. Not crispy enough. Haha, seeing a theme? Yeah.

Oh dear Lord, then came the lamb. The AMAZING lamb, which I would gladly sell my soul for. Flavored with fennel and rosemary and that lamb taste that you just can't get in any other meat... with a pea puree which I actually liked. I usually hate peas. That tells you something. My roommate and I were gnawing on the bones without shame because we knew we had to suck every bit off the bone or else we'd regret it. Only one person stared.

The amuse dessert was delicious as well; coconut tapioca with mango sorbet on a sugary cookie and cilantro/caramel swirls. You'd think cilantro wouldn't work, but boy does it with the coconut tapioca. Went down quickly, even though I was getting a bit stuffed at this point.

Dessert was a mascarpone and rhubarb napoleon with gingerbread layers and lycee sorbet. An odd combination, but it worked. Not as well as the amuse dessert, though. My roommate had a chocolate souffle which I also rather enjoyed.

Finally, the petit fours: lycee jellies, chocolate squares, and lime meringue. We could barely fit the jellies and meringue in our bellies, so we asked for the chocolate squares to go, along with some extra jellies. They very kindly bestowed both upon us, along with a coffee cake "for breakfast."

That's another thing: the service was wonderful. I'd read about the excellent, friendly service, and I can see now what they were talking about. Everyone actually smiled (except for our busboy) and were most obliging.

Total bill was rather scary, but worth it. We ate our dinner for three hours. Three hours! Craziness. Good, though.

Gramercy Tavern, 42 East 20th Street, (212) 477-0777