CLOSED: Dinner at Peels
Brought to you by the team behind the Lower East Side's haute comfort-food matriarch, Freemans, comes the very recently-opened Peels. Set within a large bi-level space, the restaurant is composed of, virtually, two dining rooms - each containing its own bar. Peels' first floor evokes a more casual atmosphere than its upstairs sister, as the room is comprised of various communal dining tables and is more brightly illuminated. The second level of the restaurant, albeit more visually refined and sophisticated, seems more crowded and chaotic. Its near-deafening acoustics don't provide much aid to those looking to enjoy a more tranquil dining experience.
*All of my photos from this meal can be found on Flickr
Dinner at Peels: first floor / communal dining The good- Trendy, young crowd
- Spacious, ample seating in 2nd-floor dining room
- Affordably priced / varied, appealing food and beverage menus: view *here*
- Cheeseburger: for a modest $12, you get a burger composed of grass-fed beef cooked to your liking, topped with gooey and pungent cave-aged white cheddar cheese, and caramelized onions - sandwiched between a pillow-soft potato roll. Thick, crunchy, and perfectly-salted 'fries accompany the burger.
Dinner at Peels: cheeseburger & fries The bad- No bread/butter basket
The ugly
- Shrimp & Grits: this dish would have been passable/decent had it not been so "oinked out" - swimming in a deep-sea of smoky pig broth, liberally dotted with bite-sized chunks of pure, unadulterated lard that had been fraudulently coined on the menu as "lasso bacon" (whatever the hell that means)
Dinner at Peels: don't let its good looks fool you, this version of "Shrimp & Grits" was a complete let-down