Beacon Restaurant, NYC

My aunt and uncle had a 40th birthday dinner for my cousin at the Beacon Restaurant in midtown Manhattan, known for cuisine cooked over its wood-fired grill.  My cousin, apparently, is a regular, and we were very well-treated by all the staff.  The waiter held his own, trading jokes with my aunt;  and we were paid visits by the manager and chef.

My aunt could not stop raving about the wood roasted bone marrow appetizer, from the second we arrived, so I ordered it.  It was indeed as large as she said - too much in fact!  I've had marrow before with parsley vinaigrette salad, and I really think having a little bit of acid and greens help cut the richness.  This bone was served with horseradish toast (which had been brushed with olive oil), so it just added to the richness. You might not think you can have too much bone marrow, but I did, passing on my 2nd half to the birthday boy. 

For my main dish, I ordered the roasted leg of rabbit with tomato coulis, bacon, and polenta.  I loved it - the lean rabbit was not dry in the slightest. 

Pictured left and right are my aunt and uncle's entrees -- the Delmonico ribeye with onion herb relish (left), and the Venison paillard with red currant and black pepper vinaigrette.

For dessert a number of people at the table ordered souffles.  Above is the chocolate-chocolate chip.  They also had a pecan bourbon souffle that night.

Because the souffles took 15 minutes to be baked fresh, we were offered the chance to go into the kitchen and see the restaurant's very own cotton candy machine.  They even let us make our own balls of cotton candy.  Yep, mine is the one that's bigger than my own head.