BG Restaurant | Multi-tasking at the Bergdorf

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By Mukund Menda

New York City is famous for restaurants and shopping. Sometimes these activities can work seamlessly together, and this is definitely the case at the now 114-year-old Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.

Perched on the 7^th floor of the Bergdorf Goodman store on 58^th & 5th is a lovely, small but cozy restaurant and bar with amazing views of Central Park and seasonal New American cuisine. It is open daily for lunch, tea, cocktails and dinner, and aptly named BG Restaurant.

On a recent trip to New York I accompanied my mother on a shopping trip with the promise of a lunch treat. Food, you see, is one of the best ways to bribe me.

We didn’t have a reservation when we arrived at peak lunch time so the hostess took our name and asked us to come back in half an hour. Not an issue, after all this was a shopping trip. We passed the time browsing the store, and my mother bought a few things while I built up my appetite. We were promptly seated upon our return and were fortunate to get a table beside the window. I’d strongly recommend reserving ahead and requesting one of these tables.

We were pleased with the selection of vegetarian options on the seasonal menu, and I decided right then it was worthy of a review for my favorite vegetarian blog, VeggieBuzz.

We started with the organic carrot soup, which was split in two on request.  The soup was thick in texture but still soupy enough; in fact, it was so good that we could have easily had an entire bowl each! The thai red curry added a wonderful mild touch of an Asian flavor with just a tiny bit of heat which complemented the carrots, coconut milk, lime and crème fraiche really well. As I was snapping away with my iphone, my mother suggested I stop taking photos so I could enjoy it before it became cold. I put down my trusted phone and I was delighted. It does pay to listen to your mother!

Next we had the Vermont burrata with broccoli rabe pesto, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. It came with two thick slices of crostini. The broccoli rabe pesto was perfect, it had quite a salty taste but not overbearing and was very enjoyable along with the burrata on toast. The cheese was tougher than the softer Italian burrata that is more widely known, but was good nonetheless.

To finish off our meal we opted for two salads that we had pre-divided in to two plates. They were the beet salad with Coach Farms goat cheese, mache, red quinoa, walnut bread croutons and red wine-herb vinaigrette, and the endive salad with Maytag Blue cheese, endives, Granny Smith apples, tarragon honey vinaigrette and marcona almonds.

The beet salad was very colorful and enjoyable but not as good as the previous 2 dishes. The quinoa was a great touch and we appreciated the healthy greens.

The endive salad was superb. Marcona almonds were skinned and all the ingredients blended well with each other. The dressing, an amazing vinaigrette tarragon honey, was fantastic. Frankly, I had no idea what Marcona almonds were and what made them different to regular almonds, so I looked it up later. It turns out that Marcona almonds, known as the “Queen of Almonds,” are imported from Spain. They are shorter, rounder, softer, and sweeter than the California variety. Thank you nuts.com for enlightening me!

Since we enjoyed the soup and 3 salads so much and were short on time, we decided to keep it light, and thus didn’t get to try some of the other veggie options on the menu such as the roasted cauliflower entrée, the Baby Kale & Farro Salad, the side of roasted asparagus with lemon, parmesan and olive oil, or the Mediterranean plate with hummus, baba ganoush and pita bread.

We also passed on dessert, but I wish we hadn’t now. I recall a butterscotch pudding and a flourless hazelnut cake called “The BG” on the menu. I guess I will have to go back and try it another time!

In short, Bergdorf Goodman is not just a department store with a restaurant on top, it’s also a #VeggieBuzzing destination for great food! I think I will be accompanying my mother on her shopping excursions more often now!

Mukund Menda is a guest contributor for VeggieBuzz who is based in Dubai, but visits New York very frequently. He has enjoyed great vegetarian food at some of the top restaurants around the world, and thus has a very refined palate.

Featured image by @chykak via Instagram

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