Shuls & Shpayz: Scrumptious Scandinavia

At this point, it's out of order, but it doesn't really matter because I am not trying to accomplish anything with restriction. If it's on this blog, then I've been there and that's what counts. Living in NY having grown up 2 rivers away (or 3 considering the crossing of the Rahway River is necessary), I have the good fortune of being able to see my family on short notice. So on this particular occasion, my mom was headed to Manhattan for a doctor appointment so I suggested trying an international cuisine destinations for dinner. There is not a lot in Midtown in terms of rare-ish quality food (the last time we did something like this it was my sister as well so we went to Ravagh the Persian restaurant written about a few posts back due to its proximity to Penn Station). Looking around on my map ( http://goo.gl/maps/TzHl0 ), actually I should correct and say not a whole lot in the Penn Station vicinity: within a 10-block radius, there are less than a dozen worthy: Ravagh on W 30th of course, The Australian (38th and 5th) which is primarily a bar, Trestle on Tenth (Swiss) all the way over on 10th Ave, BXL Zoute (22nd and 6th) and BXL Cafe (43rd and 6th), Lahori Kebab (Pakistani on 3rd and 28th) but is more a takeout place than anything, all the way to the Estonian House on 34th between 2nd and 3rd which I still haven't been able to figure out how to get into because it is like a social club but has a kitchen and it isn't clear whether the kitchen is open to the public or need to be invited. Anyway, that left one. On the border of Murray Hill, on a ritzy stretch of Park Ave about 5 blocks south of Grand Central, there is a cultural and multimedia center known as the Scandinavia House. Much less exclusive than the similarly named Estonian House, it is also happens to house in its lobby one of the 3 Manhattan locations of Smorgas Chef which like its name depicting a wide selection or variety is a unique mash-up of the cuisines of Scandinavian countries, though Sweden tends to shine the most out of the mix. Other Smorgas Chef locations include the West Village and the Financial District. My mom and I went on a Tuesday night in late February. Thankfully unlike many places in this daytime part of Manhattan which has a business hour population several times greater than its full-time population, Smorgas Chef does not close after lunch. It is a bit unclear at first when you walk in, searching for the restaurant only to find it is basically the lobby area set up with a bunch of tables and chairs sectioned off by a quarter wall fence. The Scandinavia House itself (described as the Nordic Center in America and home to the ASF: American-Scandinavian Foundation) is quite modern and sleek and regularly has movies, exhibitions, and learning seminars (read on Yelp of someone taking Icelandic!). So once inside it appears more like a cafe and the kitchen is all the way in the far back. The menu is definitely more upscale than Ikea's (who wants to eat horse meatballs anyway??) but the furniture is definitely indicative of a 20's-ish UES apartment setup. One of the more popular dishes on the menu seems to be a Swedish/Scandinavian sampler platter aptly named the Smorgasbord, consisting of "gravlaks (basically lox, which is actually the same word for salmon in Yiddish, Swedish, Norwegian, and a couple other languages), Jansson's potato, [the famous] Swedish meatballs, herring, and traditional accompaniments (like lefse)." This was absolutely delicious. As a fan of Eastern European cuisine which routinely features pickled fishes like tuna and whitefish particularly in my beloved Ashkenazi palate, having different kinds of herring with different sauces like dill mustard was amazing, and it is much lighter and seems like more cleaned up than Eastern European food. If food from Poland and Russia is homestyle in its usually heaping portions and heavy sauces and potato accompaniments, then Scandinavian food is perfect for restaurants: aesthetically pleasing, diverse and delicious in taste, and still hearty enough, if not perhaps a bit oily. Along these same lines, we also ordered the Herring Quartet appetizer, which was "4 flavors of herring with lefse wraps and potato salad". This was also very good and the lefse was great to be able to capture the herring to eat like a little sandwich. The goat cheese fritters and beets, the latter perhaps a shout out to the proximity of Eastern Europe, included "spicy walnuts, greens, and caraway vinaigrette" reminded me of a typical appetizer at some downtown cafe that tries to be fancy. Nonetheless, goat cheese is always good. The Classic Smorgasbord was actually what I ordered for my meal. The goat cheese and herring quartet were appetizers. My mom had a salmon dish with cucumbers, greens, and potatoes. And instead of going for an alcoholic drink, I went with lingonberry juice (which yes does sound like "Lincoln-berry") which is not too different than cranberry juice. To top it all off, and this point all eating was being done by me as my mom resigned herself to any more food, I ordered a dessert of rice pudding with almonds and a cherry sauce. In my experience, I've always likened rice pudding to old people. Growing up, my parents would usually go out on Saturday nights and my Grandma and Grandpa would look after my sister and I and usually this included a trip to "the diner" in town for dinner where I would have the chance to order such amazing dishes as the "Batman hamburger and fries". Here at this diner, my Grandma would normally without fail order a rice pudding for dessert so for the better part of my life I have associated Grandma and rice pudding together. The rice pudding at Smorgas Chef is not a diner's rice pudding. It was an excellent way to end a varied and mature meal full of fish, cheese, berries, and bread. Oh yes and the Swedish bread was some of the best I've ever had served at restaurants, even better than most Italian restaurants!