Birthday at Crown Shy, with a pre-drink at Saga

Before heading down to the lobby of the Art Deco landmark building at 70 Pine Street in Manhattan’s Financial District for dinner at Crown Shy, we took the elevator up to the 63rd floor for amazing views and a glass of wine at Saga.

Service at Saga was lacking. In fact, after sitting for 30 minutes enjoying the view, I had to flag down a server to bring us menus so we could order a glass of rosé and get to dinner on time.

Crown Shy’s service was the complete opposite: attentive and helpful. It’s what I’d expect, as they do have a Michelin star, one that they’ve held since just six months after opening in 2019.

They started by offering us a Spanish rosé bubbly — A Roca Rosat Reserva, a sparkling 100% Clàssic Penedès—since they knew we were celebrating a birthday as we perused the menu and wine selections. We skipped their pairing and instead ordered a white burgundy (Dupont-Fahn ‘Chaumes des Perrieres’ 2023, $90) to accompany our meal.

Our server delivered their warm, complimentary bread. It’s a pull-apart brioche with pesto, Parmesan, crushed pistachios, lemon zest and housemade goat milk butter with chives. Heavenly.

Next, the salad of classic green goddess dressing on stacked romaine leaves, sprinkled with watermelon radishes and breadcrumbs ($19) and their beef kibbeh nayeh ($25) with lavash bread for scooping and creamy labneh for topping — sort of a Mediterranean beef tartare. The restaurant sent out their spicy snapper ($23) crudo in Leche de Tigre (tiger’s milk) with honey nut squash and persimmons for sweetness ($23) for our celebration.

Our fabulous server, Abraham, told us not to miss his favorite ricotta gnocchi ($25). It’s cheese-not-potato dumplings with mushrooms, plus parmesan spuma and crisps in a yellow wine sauce. He was right, this dish is not to be missed.

We also didn’t miss their signature dish, the grilled Citrus-Marinated Chicken, Crown Shy hot sauce ($45) — half a chicken (breast, thigh, and wing) in a grapefruit marinade with Thai chilies, served with Crown Shy habanero hot sauce and their charred carrots ($24) on a bed of carrot puree with coconut curry spuma with carrots and clams.