Little Donkey

We arrived late for our Little Donkey reservation, but the host was very nice about it. When we got to our table, they already had a high chair waiting for my little sister. My mom always says that we need a high chair when she makes a reservation, but at most other restaurants, we still need to ask for one when we get there.

Our server did a good job inquiring about allergies. My sister is allergic to cinnamon, and whenever a new dish came out, the food runner made sure to tell us if it was safe for her or not.

We had to wait a long time for our first dish to come, but eventually we started with hamachi crudo with white miso, asian pear, persimmon and caviar. The caviar was my favorite part, but I didn't like the asian pear. We also had salmon sashimi with agua chili, urfa and gooseberries. I learned that urfa is a dried Turkish chili pepper. The salmon was delicious.

salmon sashimi with agua chili, urfa and gooseberries

Next we had cucumber salad with feta, buttermilk and spicy peppers. The spicy peppers were very spicy. Some of us thought that they were too spicy, even though the feta and buttermilk were supposed to be cooling.

We all loved the organic hummus with hot butter, toasted pine nuts, charred onion and Barbari bread. Barbari bread is Iranian flatbread; it's like pita but thicker and chewier. It was so good that we asked for a second order.

Organic hummus with hot butter, toasted pine nuts, charred onion and Barbari bread

My favorite dish was the BLT lettuce wraps with lamb bacon, pimento cheese, tomato jam and pickled red onion. All of the parts of this dish went together really well. The jam was sweet and soft; the lettuce was crunchy, and the bacon was salty and crunchy too.

BLT lettuce wraps

Another one of my favorites was called manti, which is Istanbul meat ravioli. They were little dumplings with meat in the middle that were served with garlic sour cream and red pepper butter. They were soft and creamy. The chefs at Little Donkey were very accommodating and we were able to order some manti for my brother without the sour cream.

Istanbul meat ravioli

The wok fried long beans were my mom's favorite. They were cooked with burdock, ginger, fermented black bean and shiso. Burdock is a root vegetable. The green beans tasted like Chinese food. I think that was because of the ginger and black bean. I like green beans a lot, but these long beans are probably even better.

wok fried long beans

The razor clams casino were cooked with smoked kielbasa, parmesan breadcrumbs and lemon. Razor clams are long and skinny, in black shells. They are very different from littlenecks. I loved the breadcrumbs on top, but they overwhelmed the clams so that you couldn't really see or taste them. We started eating them right away though, and forgot to take a picture until we were almost done!

The last razor clam we had left!

Little Donkey's signature dessert is raw cookie dough that they serve on a beater with whipped cream and cocoa nibs. I think Little Donkey was serving this dessert before all the cookie dough stores opened in New York. I really like the chocolate chips in the cookie dough and it's fun to serve off the beater. Some of the food at Little Donkey might a bit much for not very adventurous eaters, but kids will definitely love this one! And the hummus is probably pretty safe too.

Cookie dough for dessert!

Overall I think that Little Donkey is great. It is a fun place to go because families can order lots of different dishes and share. They do a good job with kids and food allergies and and the food is different and fun! I highly recommend it.