Musical Chairs

Last Thursday was a golden birthday celebration -- 25th birthday on the 25th! The birthday girl chose the new restaurant/bar in the Meatpacking district called The Collective. Opening just that week in the spot that used to be One in the Gansevoort hotel, it was receiving a lot of hype. Everything in the huge restaurant space is used and/or recycled. There is not one chair that's the same, and I wouldn't even call all of them chairs. People were sitting on scales, ottomans, stools, patio furniture and even bathtubs cut in half. Almost all the tables were different too - picture an ironing board in the bar area. The decor is used also -- poles decorated in bottle caps and necklaces, and even a pill bottle chandelier.

Walking into this place I definitely stood there for a minute taking it all in. While the place wasn't packed like I imagined it would be, there were a lot of filled tables and one of the two bars was crowded. Brittany had an area in the bar section that worked out perfectly because people were coming and going throughout the night. The service was great. A waiter came up to me the second I walked over so I could order my $15 dollar dirty martini. I know we're in the Meatpacking, but I still think that was kind of steep. The manager had already brought over some desserts for the group, which was also extremely nice.

We decided to order some food to go along with our cocktails and got the roasted chicken salad, the salmon crudo and a side of ratatouille. I know it was a strange combination but I had already tried the mac&cheese from another friend and had heard the burger with truffle wasn't truffely enough so it wasn't worth it. The food came out fast and we dug in.

Salad - a great portion to share for 3 people and and an entree size for 1. I didn't think there was enough dressing but my two other sharers disagreed. The chicken wasn't dry and there was a ton in the serving.

Salmon Crudo - Simple, light and refreshing. It was thinly sliced salmon with a frisee salad on top and a light sauce

Ratatouille - While I don't know what ratatouille usually tastes like (I've only seen the Disney movie), this was more like grilled vegetables. It was my favorite thing we had out of the three but it wasn't anything special.

The night turned out to be longer than expected and we ended up ordering some blue cheese tater tots late into the evening. These were the best thing I ate all night and something that I've never had before. If you don't like blue cheese - stay away because they're potent. They taste exactly how they sound - potato and melted blue cheese in a fried case. They came out steaming and the dipping sauce was really good but I can't remember what it was!!

I would go to the Collective for the fun bar scene, good music, interesting cocktail menu, attentive service and the decor. However, the food needs to step it's game up. If you hear the burger isn't worth getting - I think that's a bad sign.