Mermaids and Sangria

Last night was girls' night out. The ladies and I headed into NYC for some dinner and a show. Being the only one with dietary restrictions, I was given the job of finding a restaurant near the theater. I happened on a place called Sangria 46 (www.sangria46.com). It's on W.46th between 8th and 9th Aves. The have menus for tapas, lunch, dinner, and a pre-theater, 3 course prix fixe menu. And a separate menu for, you guessed it, sangria. We all went with the prix fixe menu. I elected to have the shrimp in garlic sauce as my appetizer and the skirt steak for my main course. Fabulous food. The shrimp was slightly spicy, but not overwhelming, and cooked perfectly. The steak was tender, juicy, and gorgeous. I also tried the grilled shrimp Ana ordered, which gave my steak a rare run for its money and Alana's mussels in tomato sauce as an appetizer. I'm not normally a fan of mussels, but these were delicious. We also ordered several pitchers of sangria. The traditional was wonderful, but the show stealer was the limoncello sangria. It's limoncello, red wine, and brandy served with bluberries, currants, blackberries, and lemon slices.


As delicious as the food was though, what made the night so wonderful was the wait staff. Especially, Jose, our waiter for the night. He was charming, funny, and generous, bringing us shots and extra pitchers of sangria on the house. He even kept our leftover boxes in the kitchen for us until after the show. Now that's service. And when I extended my compliments to the man cooking our food, Jose brought him to our table for me to thank him in person. If you get the chance to try Sangria 46, you'll see what I mean about these gracious and entertaining servers.


After dinner, we went to our show. Saw The Little Mermaid. Carol snagged us orchestra seats, center aisle, 20 rows back. Fantastic. The set was absolutely gorgeous and the cast was incredibly talented. The show stealer, though, was the young boy playing Flounder for the evening. Great show and I was glad I had the chance to see it. It was the perfect follow up to dinner. What can I say, I love girls' night out.