We loved, loved, loved “the little owl”.  Five Stars! Great atmosphere, Rachel, our server, was the best, and the food was knock-down gorgeous and drooling delicious!  Here’s just a sample of this stuff:

I put the corn first because it was the most surprising for us.  The menu just listed it as “corn”, a side item.   It didn’t sound like anything special, and we almost didn’t order it because we have corn all the time.  But, Rachel (super-sweet-super-amazing-girl)  recommended it!  She gave us comfort fries because I came in nearly crying from my stressful route getting to this place, and she earned our trust so we ordered “corn”.  Yes, just ordinary corn. This was anything BUT ordinary corn.  It was simple but delicious!  I also ordered the Eggplant Parmesan she recommended.  I’d already had it at two different restaurants in New York, but I trusted Rachel again and ordered it.  I wasn’t disappointed. Just look at this stuff:

James ordered the meatball sliders, and they were so delicious-looking that I almost broke my “no meat” rule.  But, then I decided I’d just let him help me make them later with tofu or a meat substitute.  I’m getting good at making recipes where meat isn’t missed. Just look at these cute little burgers.  James thought were the best he’d ever had:

We loved everything about this restaurant, and I didn’t expect that I would like it at all.  James was doing his normal thing on the internet, searching for the best places to visit, to eat, and I was half-way asleep next to him saying “yeah…u-uh…OK…that sounds good”  I assumed it would be some touristy little place because it just sounded too cute and too favored by so many people. I was happy to be so wrong.  And to think we almost passed it up because of our inability to maneuver the subway system.  Let’s go back a few hours, no, many hours.

This was our plan: walk to Hell’s kitchen to have breakfast (We couldn’t decide on a breakfast place so we walked past breakfast and almost missed it), turn left to the pier to take the Circle Line Cruise (great trip, but we had to wait an hour to start), and then we would just hop a subway to the village. HA!  First, we had to find a way to get to the subway.  Okay, it was our first full day and we didn’t know how to use the subway yet.  Bad mistake. Figure this out before you go. Maybe we can help.  WE WERE LOST!

James called Rachel at the little owl, and she said she would hold our reservations until 2:00.  Well, to make a long story short, we walked around for blocks, round and round. Found the subway, got off close to Greenwich Village, had to walk an hour more (lost and sweating and tired and stressed)  We found it on the corner of the coziest little street.  Brownstones, quiet street, on a corner, looking all but touristy.  The huge windows let in soft shady, natural light that’s so comforting. Just a precious little place. Perfect. Small, intimate, and so unique.

We were an hour late and James told me thirty minutes before we arrived, while we were walking down the wrong street that we shouldn’t even attempt it, but being the persistent person that I am, I said “we will go and ask anyway. If nothing else, we will walk in and take pictures of other peoples  “food.”  None of that happened because Rachel met us at the door and made our day.  I know you’re tired of me saying this, but: She was the best!!!!  I think when people go out of their way to be kind and helpful they need a “shout out”.

We ate everything on our plate and can’t wait to go back.

This was definitely worth the struggle we had to get here. This time James was soooo glad I’m stubborn and persistent.  You must visit the little owl and tell Rachel that a couple from Alabama sent you!