Weekend Cooking- The Rainbow Room

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I wanted to do something special for my husband's birthday, and when I saw that the fabled Rainbow Room had reopened at Rockefeller Plaza, I thought it would be perfect.

They have a special Monday evening of dining and entertainment and on the night before my husband's birthday, the entertainment was Max Weinberg and His Orchestra. My son and I are big fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and since Weinberg is the drummer, I was pretty excited that he was the entertainment.

Max Weinberg

We arrived at 6pm and visited the bar for a drink. The view from the bar on the 65th floor is just spectacular! You have a 180 degree view of Manhattan that takes your breath away.

The view from the bar

After our drink, we were ushered into the dining room, which is so lovely and sparkly. The band was playing, and we really enjoyed the music, a great combination of standards (Sinatra, Etta James) and Latin music that got people moving to the dance floor.

There were two couples on the floor who must work there. They were fantastic dancers, and although I was somewhat concerned that they were so good they may intimidate people from dancing, after a while the dance floor became crowded with couples.

We had fun watching the professional dancers

I was apprehensive about the food; the reviews on Yelp were not exactly sparkling. We were pleasantly surprised though. They started with  a bread basket, which had a small fried bread ball with a savory mousse inside that was tasty.

Next came a small plate with three amuse bouche for us to taste. I liked the one with the crispy chicken skin best.

Amuse bouche

The menu is prefixe, an appetizer, entree and dessert for $175 per person. For the appetizer, we both had the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, which was silky and had a nice crunch.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

I chose the Lobster Pot Pie as my entree and it was delicious. The crust was light, the lobster was very tender, and the creamy sauce and tender vegetables all came together in a delicious combination.

Lobster Pot Pie

By the time dessert came around, I could not eat another bite, and although I had planned on the Apple Tart with banana donuts, I chose the gelato trio, which was refreshing.

We had a magical night at The Rainbow Room, maybe our favorite thing we have done since we moved to New York City, and I would recommend it as a special event night. It is expensive, but it will be memorable. They also do a Sunday prefixe brunch ($95 per person) that gets great reviews on Yelp.

 The Rainbow Room website is here.