It was Jay’s birthday on the 15th October and we were wondering where we could eat that was out of the ordinary. Jay had originally suggested Yakitori Totto, which is an always-crowded Japanese joint somewhere by 8th Avenue and the 50’s. A decent place that we had tried before. But we wanted something better like Bar Boulud by Lincoln Center, but the weather was miserable, so we went instead to Aquavit, which is just near Jay’s office. Now, Marita and I have been to Aquavit before (see post here), but we did not eat in the dining room but in the lounge. The food was excellent then (we had Swedish meatballs, a sampler of herring and of course, flavored aquavit).
This was the first visit for Jay and Mark so of course they had some aquavit. If my memory serves me right, they had three aquavits, each with different flavors: horseradish; mango, lime & chili pepper; and lemon and ginger. I had a langoustine bisque soup and seared cod. Mark had some duck. Marita and Jay had the best orders; New York strip steak with chanterelle mushrooms for Jay, and for Marita, venison cooked with glogg, the Swedish mulled wine. Aquavit reminds me a lot of lambanog, the popular firewater of Quezon, my home province. It’s not as “refined” as aquavit, but the folks in Quezon also flavor it like the Swedes and Norwegians, using raisins, pineapple, and even bubble gum 
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