Ilili

Earlier this summer my friend and I wanted to take advantage of New York’s Restaurant Week, after reviewing the list of participating restaurants we decided on ilili, located on 5th Ave. between 27th & 28th. As you know, I am always impressed with a restaurant’s décor and well-planned lay out. The restaurant's interior architecture is very geometrical, two stories and the narrow design clearly divides the bar and the restaurant seating. Per usual with Restaurant Week, we were able to order an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. For appetizers we ordered Hommus (chickpea puree, Lebanese Tahini, Lemon and Olive Oil with Burghul, onion and mint) and Falafel (fried chickpea & fava bean dumplings). The Falafels were amazing, much smaller than Crisp's but still delicious. ilili's Mediterranean cuisine menu offers a lot of vegetarian options. Some of my favorites include the Baba Ghannouj (eggplant, Lebanese tahini, tomato served blue with mustard-hommus sauce), Mouhamara (walnuts, sundried peppers, and pomegranate molasses), Fattoush (Lebanese garden salad, toasted bread, sumac lemon vinaigrette), Moujadara (green lentils puree with crispy red onion), and Brussels Sprouts (friend with grapes and served with fig puree, walnuts and mint).
All the items on the dessert menu sound fantastic, although we ordered the Carmaelized Banana Bread Pudding (Cardamom Crème Anglaise, vanilla fig, chocolate chip ice cream) and a scoop of Mango Sorbet.