No, no, no...not the original Ambassador Hotel at 36th and Broadway (which hasn't had a restaurant in decades), but the sleek, beautifully designed new Ambassador Hotel at 1111 Grand. On Monday morning, the Reserve opened for breakfast at 6 a.m.
"We weren't packed," van Glabbeek says, "but it was a nice little crowd."
The lunch menu has the traditional hotel dining-room favorites — a club sandwich, a burger and a Caesar salad with a choice of grilled chicken, shrimp or salmon — but there's also a steak salad, a slow-braised short rib sandwich on an herb roll, a lentil and feta flatbread, and one expensive item: a $15 plate of fried fish and chips served with spicy poblano coleslaw.
The Reserve serves food continuously, from 6:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. (the kitchen stays open until 11 p.m. on weekends), and a Sunday brunch is planned for early autumn. The entrees on the dinner menu range from $13 for a vegetarian dish, a half-order of pappardelle pasta smothered in a seasonal vegetable ragu for $13 (or a larger order for $25), to the full order of braised short ribs dripping in thyme-cabernet sauce and creamy orzo for $28. Other entrees include a chile-honey glazed salmon ($16 for a half-order, $29 for a full order) and a grilled beef tenderloin offered in two sizes: 4 ounces and 7 ounces for $16 and $29, respectively.
