Little Giant
(212) 226-5047
85 Orchard St
New York,
NY
10002
40.7179
-73.9905
Neighborhoods: Lower East Side, Downtown
What People Are Saying About Little Giant
The Editor
Allison Austin
Citysearch
The Scene
The corner space is head-to-toe windows, beckoning diners to this otherwise deserted block. Pretty women in vintage dresses and dapper men in wool blazers and Chuck Taylors crowd around the small bar, sipping quartinos of wine or freshly shaken mojitos. Friendly servers struggle to keep the handful of tables turning, so waits can stretch.
The Food
With dishes like "swine-o-the-week" and "box of rocks," owners and chefs Julie Taras and Tasha Garcia set a playful tone for their menu, but the hearty, meat lover-friendly dishes are anything but whimsical. Starters like grilled, sliced sausages--lamb, duck and pork--arrive sporting toothpicks for dipping into three savory homemade mustards; smooth, rich chicken liver mousse is smartly paired with sweet caramelized onions and figs for balance. Entrees are equally good, especially slow-cooked pork shoulder, tender and falling apart atop bright apple-cabbage slaw. Desserts shouldn't be missed, especially the caramel-y and slightly salty quince sticky toffee pudding.
User Reviews
metropolitanmama
April 28, 2009
I wanted to like Little Giant. Really, I did. Every time my husband and I walked by, it was packed to the rafters. So when date night rolled around I suggested we go. Boy, was I sorry. First they tried to put us at a table a deux where the front door bumped one of the seats in the back every time the door opened. After we said we'd wait for another table, we went to the bar. The bartender was rude. First he told us "Hang on." After asking us if we wanted a drink we asked for the drinks menu which we could see the other bar patrons had. He tossed it on the bar, and was very sullen about the whole affair. We were finally seated at a chilly table under the air conditioner and next to the bartender's pounding of the espresso machine equipment. My husband wasn't wild about it, but with the babysitter meter running we couldn't wait for a third table. We ordered 2 apps, 2 mains and a side. Mussels and dandelion salad to start. Mussels arrived, no sign of the salad and we had to ask for it. It arrived a couple of minutes later, with no sign of the preserved lemon or pine nuts as promised on the menu. Next came the mains--my scallops and the pollock. Too bad my husband had ordered the pork, not the pollock. Wait person apologized for the "misunderstanding" and the pork was to be delivered. Meanwhile, everything about the scallops was cold. While cooked and prepared in an attractive fashion, it was all ice cold. There are no heat lamps and the lag time between the apps and the mains was considerable. While I'm sure the scallops were probably delicious when first prepared, I had to wait to so long for them they were not good when they arrived. I was 75% finished with my meal by the time the pork arrived. While the pork was hot, the grains and olives underneath were cold. Check, please. No offer of dessert or drinks taken off the bill. Terrible service, and while the food was nice in theory and ingredients it was ill prepared and delivered too late. For $120+ we could have gone somewhere like Union Square Cafe and had a great meal. I got the sense that the kitchen was playing at being a restaurant and the waitstaff couldn't care less. A visit both first time and last. Don't waste your money here.
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smclark525
March 09, 2009
Great food. We were early for our dinner so the very friendly hostess offered us a table right away. It was tiny and it would be hard for 3 people to fit so she asked me to check first and if I didn't like it we could wait for another table. That was great! So many places try to shove you into whatever is available just to get you seated. We were 3 people. Had the mousse which was delicious as was the beet salad. For diner we had the swine of the week, the short ribs and the scallops. All 3 were perfect. Ordered a side of mac & cheese. YUM. As for the biscuit- I don't think it was a $5 biscuit . I had very high expectations for a roll. The desserts were great. We had the sticky toffee pudding and the milk & cookies. Get the pudding! It's great. I would go back again and again. I might hope for a different waitress as ours seemed a bit tearse. She was efficient just not super enjoyable company. She could have been nicer.
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foodie3462
January 06, 2009
I was here in October ,maybe, so hopefully the menu has changed since then. The restaurant itself is beautiful to look, that's probably the only redeeming quality. The chicken liver mousse was bland and boring, I had the duck confit...asked the server about it and was sorry to hear that they don't have a real kitchen..leading me to think that they must buy a whole lot of their menu pre-cooked. I didn't really get the 'world famous biscuit', and was wondering how they marketed that. It's too bad that neighborhood restaurants these days are surviving on just that, being accessible. It's like take out chinese, but without the fortune cookie.
read full reviewThe Details on Little Giant
What to Drink:
Wines are offered by the quartino ($10-$16) and by the bottle ($33-$75). Specialty cocktails include concorde grape and plum gimlets, and the house drink: a shot of tequila with demerara sugar and an espresso-coated lime wedge.
The Extras:
Check out the Lower East Side dining guide.
Know Before You Go:
Desserts are a specialty and are available for fork, finger or straw. The L.E.S. egg creme, made with vanilla vodka, seltzer and chocolate syrup, is among the latter.
