Todd English in Times Square: Dinner at Ça Va

Ca Va

 
As I was browsing around my own blog (I'm not THAT narcissistic, I swear – chalk it up to boredom while waiting for Jersey Shore to come on), it dawned on me that I completely forgot to post on Ça Va. What in the hell?? Ça Va, Todd English's relatively new spot (opened over the summer) in Times Square, was f-ing delicious and I FORGOT to write about it. It must be the aging…

Anyway, I was really impressed with the food and service at Ça Va; it's an honest place, and "honest" is hardly a word I would use to describe ANYTHING you find in the tourist trap that is Times Square. It looks fancy, and it is fancy. The menu sounds delicious, and it is delicious. I dined here a couple months back, and yet I still remember how everything tasted. Alzheimers, you will not get the best of me just yet.

In case you didn't take French for six years in school like I did, Ça Va (pronounced Sah-Vah) is a common French term, usually meaning something along the lines of "how are you?" or "how's it going?" Well, after my four/five course meal, it was going quite well. When I go to a French place, the first thing I usually go for is the French onion soup and something "en croute." So…here we have Ça Va's french onion soup and sausage en croute (en croute means wrapped in phyllo deliciousness). I don't even know how much I have to describe it, you can just look at the pictures.

Ca Va French onion

Ca Va apps
 French onion soup and sausage en croute..mmm

Something different caught my eye though at one point, so I made a special request (read: I added MORE food to my order) for it. Chickpea fries! God bless the chickpea. I love hummus, I love chickpea salad, and now, I love fries made out of ground chickpeas sprinkled with harissa and chorizo dust. Yes, dust made out of sausage. They were salty, crispy and just a little spicy. Nums.

Ca Va Chickpea fries
Panisse aka chickpea fries

I'm going to dive right in to the side dishes. Don't get me wrong, the main was good (braised short ribs), but for me, it was all about the truffled mac and cheese (made with Orzo pasta) and the creamed spinach. I could marry those two together and live happily ever after with them.

Ca Va mac n cheese
Truffled mac and cheese..drool

The French are known for their indulgent desserts in the same way that I am known for eating them. Naturally, I gravitate towards chocolate, so I got the special of the night, the dark chocolate tart with mascarpone ice cream (sorry, not on the regular menu, but it should be). And Lindsey (my date that night) got a heaping scoop of salted caramel ice cream (they serve this with the classic Tarte Tatin). UM. The salted caramel ice cream was crazy. And by crazy I mean amazeballs. My chocolate tart was delicious, but why they don't serve the salted caramel ice cream with the chocolate is beyond me. And if I remember correctly, we both told our waiter to tell the chef that they need to pair the salted caramel ice cream with the dark chocolate tart. I'm sure they were thrilled to hear that, but hey, isn't the customer always right?

C'est la vie…

Ca Va dark choc tart 2
Downfall of my existence. Or my waist.

 

Ça Va
310 West 44th St
212-803-4545

   

16 Comments

  1. interesting post, pretty much covered it all for me, thanks.

  2. yes you are right!

  3. The best idea in this post.

  4. *I hope my family and all friends are happy everyday.

  5. Don,
    I was about to tear your comment to shreds, but I do need to ask a legit question first:
    Where do you draw the line between a commercial work and noncommercial work? What’s the difference to you?

  6. Very interesting topic and useful post. It really help me. Thanks. I will come back for the next time!!!

  7. So fun article is! I agree the idea!

  8. I am very impressed, so it has been found that you haveso well with so much class, subject and more. A top-notch, buddy! Really great thingshere.

  9. To be honest. How nice! Very good, and we share information! Too amazing things. Thank you for your masterpiece, worth reading.

  10. I found that most people choose as your website, I believe that this site has very good writing. I often come here to visit, be grateful.

  11. Your article is too interesting, I was deeply attracted to your work, let people indulge in pleasures without stop I enjoy your articles

  12. let’s join our hands together to stop this kind of wrong doings. It may risk lives in the future if we just let them continue.

  13. You’re probably right that it would have been an awful experience, and they likely would have taken credit in the end for any creative input you had in the process…everything happens for a reason, and I’m sure you’re better off where you are now! It also sounds like you learned from it, so that’s invaluable!

  14. I follow you VIA GFC and I love your blog!

  15. aw thanks so much! its great to hear that.

  16. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the freedom to choose his attitude in any
    given set of circumstances.

Leave a Reply to Moncler outlet Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.