Back  when I was a student studying art and design I did my thesis [ a long essay or dissertation involving personal research, written by a candidate for a university degree.] on jazz. 

I’d not particularly got an interest in jazz at the time. What I did have was an amazing tutor who sold the idea to me. Armed with books, tapes, vinyls and fully aware of my love of music he thrust them all at me and enthusiastically ran through his favourite artists – Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald … stopping to play excerpts and slightly losing himself while doing so.

“I still love the whole history of jazz. The old things sound better than ever” – Steve Lacy

I can remember him sitting me down and telling me that writing a thesis could be boring ; a long hard slog. That the subject matter must therefore keep your interest. This [ jazz ] he said most definitely would.

I admired his passion. I wanted to understand , I wanted  a part of it.

And that [in a nutshell] my friends is how I discovered jazz music. 

Fast forward 30 years [ if you say it fast enough it doesn’t sound so long ago! ] and I’m still partial to the odd jazz track or two. They say jazz gets in your bones … I get that. 

I was therefore very happy and intrigued to get an invite from Marcos New York Italian  Diner located on West Bar, Sheffield to attend their ‘Manhattan to Midnight’ event. This is held on the last Friday & Saturday of the month – 7pm until midnight.

It’s an evening of Live Music described as an exciting post-modern fusion of roaring, 20’s speakeasy style and jukebox classics. 

Basically they take modern tracks but give them a jazz twist.

Sounds good.

Happens it was the boyfriends birthday weekend so we combined the two. I abandoned my usual ‘Lady that Lunch‘ partner Sue and took him along.

I loved the set up which was quite intimate.

We were seated and offered a drink. There was a small wait before we were served a couple of sharing boards.

The Great American [ Buffalo wings, Hickory smoked baby back ribs, nachos with melted cheese, chilli jam, sour cream, jalapeños and crushed avocado ]

New York Italian Seafood Platter [Crispy calamari, spicy whitebait and crab cakes with lemon mayonnaise and sauce tartar]

I’m not a massive meat fan and the boyfriends not a great fish one. Basically we had a board each. 

The little fish with their heads; more commonly known as white bait make the BF’s tummy turn. He’s a wuss. He says they look at him!

I however could quite happily sit and eat them all night [ looking at me , or not ] Which I did while listening to chilled vibes, dunking them into lemon mayonnaise and sipping on my lager. 

I think a nice touch would have been the addition of some bread and olives. A chunk of crusty bread would have gone down well with the pots of dips. And olives … well there’s always room for olives.

The platters are large, filling and a good price at £15.50 each. The food is average, basic get your hands in , nibbling food.

Dessert and star of the show in my humble opinion came in the way of the Manhattan Milkshaker. [ Panna cotta milkshake layered with ice cream, raspberry sauce, fresh fruit and a New York baked vanilla cheesecake with a blueberry compote on top.]

It came highly recommended by our waiter and let’s just say it lived up to all expectations.

EPIC.

It may seem quite expensive at £10.50 but it is like 2 desserts in one. You could easily share this and I did give a large chunk of cheesecake to the BF.

I’m nice like that.

I swear my hips increased 2 inches just being in its company. It was delicious. I keep saying I’m going to diet and then I’m faced with puddings!

I can resist most things … apart from temptation.

As well as our regular drinks we also had a chance to trail the new cocktail menu, which has only recently been launched.

It’s quite varied but I was disappointed to see that there where not many whisky based cocktails on there. It’s Something a lot of places in Sheffield lack. Bring on the whisky !

I choose an Expresso Martini [ one of my favourites ] and the BF had a Cosmopolitan. 

His first choice was actually a Porn Star Martini but as they didn’t have any passion fruit he had to change his selection. 

I’ll put this down to teething issues and fortunately the cocktails we choose were  very good.

It was good to sit, chat, munch and supp while not having to shout over the music. It was all very civilized and chilled.

All in all we had a great evening. I think this type of music is having its moment , thanks to films like ‘La La Land‘, and I loved the vibe. 

It’s only on it’s second month. It was fairly busy but not packed to the rafters like it should be. 

I hope it takes off and I for one will be returning in the not too distant future; Jazz hands at the ready …

Until next time, Tracey x

* The meal was kindly gifted to us in return for a review. As always all views and opinions are strictly my own… with a little input from the BF *