Liverwurst anyone? Social House, the new eatery on Amsterdam and 82nd street that replaced the Amsterdam Diner, just opened and the menu posted outside indicates that carnivores are likely to be satisfied. It’s clearly more upscale than a diner, but the prices are mid-range for a new restaurant in the neighborhood. Also, what are “Figs on Horseback”? If you’ve tried them or have a hunch, let us know.
(click on the photo to enlarge)
Social House, whose website is still being created, is one of a handful of new eateries that we’ll be writing about in an upcoming article. Stay tuned, and send us any photos of openings or closings you see!
Thanks to Ira Glasser for the photo.
My guess is that “Figs on Horseback” would be a twist on the traditional “Angels on Horseback” appetizer substituting figs for the oysters.
Could people stop calling these places eatery? It’s a restaurant. That’s what’s wrong with the new UWS and NYC; everything is pretentious.
Yes. Let’s always refer to everything by the exact same noun. No variety whatsoever. Bland, vanilla writing only please. Throw the damn thesaurus in the river(environmentalists – I look forward to your anticipated outrage). The restaurant on Ninth Avenue actually called “Eatery” must really make some people crazy. 🙂
And I guess pubs and bars should now be called drinkery. Seriously. The eatery moniker is just to lure the transplants, tourists, and transients to make them feel like they’re eating at a posh place. Bland ,vanilla people and establishments are actually what replacing NYC right now because of terms like eatery, artisanal, figs on a horseback. …
It’s not just to fool tourists. It’s to also sucker the pretentious, self-absorbed, shallow UWSers into grossly overpaying for everything. You’re so special for paying $6 for an artisanal cupcake that’s made ith the same 40 cents of mass-produced ingredients and baked by the same Dominican immigrant that sells for $1 everywhere else in the US.
“the pretentious, self-absorbed, shallow UWSers” Yet, you are reading an UWS blog? Grow up.
Feel free to stay in the Midwest where nobody wants to visit.
Since when is the word “eatery” posh? Be annoyed with a word if you want, but at least pick logical reason behind it.
Figs on Horseback = Figs stuffed with blue cheese wrapped with bacon.
similar to “devils on horseback” which are bacon-wrapped dates. Blue cheese optional.
Oh, goody! Yet another kvetch about “the new UWS and NYC”…and, as usual, bass-ackwards!
As a matter of fact, the term RESTAURANT is far more pretentious than the downscale-ish EATERY.
Restaurant is … gasp !! from the French! And what could be more pretentious than using French (cf. the attack on John Kerry for “sounding French” during the “Freedom Fries” stupidity in the run-up to our invasion of Iraq).
According to Wikipedia: “Restaurants constituted another sort [of eating establishment], a new one …about 1765, people rounding the corner of the rue Bailleul and the rue des Poulies, just a few blocks east of the Café de la Ré
gence, passed by the innovator’s sign: “Boulanger débite des restaurants divins” (Boulanger sells divine restaurants). Boulanger was originally a soup vendor and certain soups were known as restaurants—literally, “restoratives.” The Encyclopédie defined restaurant as “a medical term; it is a remedy whose purpose is to give strength and vigor.” Thanks to Boulanger and his imitators, these soups moved from the category of remedy into the category of health food and ultimately into the category of ordinary food….
And across the ponde in The new World: ” The actual term “restaurant” did not enter into the common parlance until the following century. Prior to being referred to as “restaurants” these eating establishments assumed regional names such as “eating house” in New York City
Whereas “Eatery” is rather ordinary, viz:
“Aladdin’s Eatery is a chain of franchised restaurants in the American Midwest and South-East, specializing in Lebanese cuisine”…”Togo’s Eateries, Inc., is a chain of fast casual sandwich restaurants”…”Bickford’s Restaurants and Cafeterias are a chain of eateries that have existed in various form since 1921”
Bickford’s pretentious??!! Surely you jest!
But, as usual, the usual crowd of whiners will pay no attention to fact or truth, but instead ride their ‘New York is just tewwible’ (guess that’s why we get 50 million visitors per year) hobby horse till it dies of overuse…hopefully sooner rather than later.
Oh, and be careful of Hobby Horses. If DeBlasio becomes mayor (ughhh) he may ban them as well as Central Park carriage horses!
Is it me? Is Social House owned by the same owners of the Amsterdam Diner? I looked up the liquor license and it’s the same LLC.
Mediocre food and service
agree. not impressed.
Figs on horseback–normally called Devils on Horseback, or at least that’s what I’ve seen them as before. Figs stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon, I believe.
Well, here’s what I think of the new SOCIAL HOUSE restaurant on Amsterdam & 81st St. Food – just fair. New decor – basic bistro comfortable. Service – good, unsophisticated but, eager to please. Prices – fair. This place needs to do better food- wise, if they want repeat clientele, and the want to compete. There are many other restaurants in this area that have much better food for comparable cost – Celeste, Good Enough to Eat, Fred’s, etc.
Social house’s salads were so basic, and uninteresting -although they try with some different ingredients – it just doesn’t come together in a way that I would order it again. The grilled swordfish (I think I remember it was swordfish) was very thin and odd looking on the plate – tasted fair. The spare-ribs were fatty, and there were three large pieces – too much food. The sauce was way too thick and overly rich in the way that you don’t feel good after having eaten it. Apple pie – fair but, tasted like a beginner baker made it. On an odd note – the tall, big guy who I was told was one of the owners – needs to look more professional (a loose casual short sleeve shirt doesn’t do it). He doesn’t look like he belongs there, and worse, doesn’t know what to do with himself. He looks unfocused and lost – not authorative and in control. All this shows to an experienced restaurant goer. My advice – get a new chef, keep the prices reasonable, and get the owner to commit, get involved on a management level, and kick his act up.