Omnivore - Three lunchtime martinis that won’t wipe you out

Brad and I lunched on the patio of the new Livingston at the Georgian Terrace Hotel today. (That’s the Fox Theatre in the background.) He had dinner there earlier this week and wanted to return before he and his partner head to their place in Rome for two months. (I will be looking for entertaining Friday fill-ins for lunch!)

Livingston is serving what it calls a “three-martini lunch.” No, it’s not actually reprising the infamous business lunches that turned every corporate slave in America into a drunk during the last century. Instead, Livingston offers your choice of three dishes served in martini glasses for $15. Brad selected (from left) tuna tartare, peekytoe crab salad and pea soup. All three were delicious. The only problem was the lettuce under the tuna tartare. It needed a bit of olive oil or some other dressing. (You can see the entire “martini menu” on the restaurant’s website.)

I ordered the lamb burger. This was my third burger meal in a row, but I can never resist lamb burgers, because my mother used to make them for me.

I ordered my burger medium-rare and seconds after it came to the table, a server rushed over and announced that it was not medium-rare, offered a thousand apologies and whisked it away. Obviously, someone else’s burger had landed on our table. Mine arrived shortly thereafter, with more apologies...and it was cooked quite...medium. Still, I gobbled it down, even if it was also a bit over-seasoned for my taste.

Brad, by the way, ordered the restaurant’s rabbit during his dinner visit and found it as remarkable as I did. You gotta try it.

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)