5 Ninth

Meatpacking District
5 9th Ave, between Little West 12th Street and Gansevoort Street
212-929-9460
5ninth.com

Freshly reviewed on 02/09/08: We returned to 5 Ninth with Paul and Carol. This time it was filled, but the service remained friendly and competent, and the food remained good. We had beets with greens, walnuts, and goat cheese, vegetable terrines with a basil sauce, and butternut squash soup, all good albeit the soup a bit cold. Then a loup de mer which invited a good deboning, a terrific burger with fries, coq au vin, and fall off the bone pork ribs. We liked all of it, and finished by sharing a bread pudding with cranberries, walnuts and whipped cream. The house cocktails were equally good and contributed to a mellow mood. We talked about politics, immigration and the Revolutionary War. It was sad to hear the Brits continue to lament over what might have been.
OVERALL RATING: You do the math.

Originally reviewed on 10/14/07: We'd heard good things about 5 Ninth from a reputable source so we decided to try it out. We loved it. The space is dark, candle lit, and styled in the new old world style that is so New York now. We ate early so we had the wait staff all to ourselves. They were friendly and helpful and hip. A house special gin and tonic and a Paloma, a margarita like cocktail, were also friendly and helpful in establishing an end of the week mellow mood. The food was just plain good. We had a sliced artichoke and celery salad to begin, with lightly fried leeks and oriental seasonings that was terrific. Then sea bass with bok choy and mushrooms, and a crisp-skinned piece of… chicken (of course) served with grilled wax beans and mushroom stuffing, also terrific. We were split on the dessert we split -- a blueberry short cake sort of thing that one of us liked and the other thought was ok, but even for the half that wasn't crazy about it, it was icing on a very good cake.
OVERALL RATING: 9 out of 5.