Elite Event: Darrow’s Farm Fresh Takeout

Reviewing this event a year later… but you know what? At least I’m reviewing it — right?
I didn’t manage to get any of the bites Darrow’s was offering… but I did manage to get some kale juice. I had a yoga class early the next morning so I didn’t really want to drink — and I asked if they served just juice and they gave me my own juice! I ended up getting a kale and carrot juice — and two of the other girls I was talking to ended up drinking just juice too! (whoot!) Their juices are seriously awesome.
I’d definitely come back for the juices but I wish that a) I had gotten to try the food and b) Darrow’s was open for breakfast. There’s nothing like an awesome juice to start your morning. But I’m looking forward to going for lunch when I have the time!
Thanks Ruggy & Unilocal for throwing an (always) fun night. And thanks to Mr. Darrow for coming over and chatting with everybody — that’s always awesome.

I hate to pile on but… oh where oh where has my little bite gone???
other Unilocalers are generous in giving 3 stars to an event with such limited food
I’ve left so many YEs STUFFED, but not at Darrow’s.
the place need to get their stuff together. Running business like this, they shouldn’t expect customers to be thrilled…
actually i doubt how long I have to wait for a quick lunch bite during work hours, given my experience that day…

This was my first event as the Unilocal Elite, as opposed to the plus 1 (Dana M., shout out to). First of all, I’m so glad a place like this exists, and it was fun to see familiar faces, including Ruggy, at the event.
From my plus-​1 experiences, I see that some events will have way more food than others. Darrow’s was generous with their beers and liquor, which is always great. Unfortunately, there was not much food – which was mentioned, but I had come straight from work and hadn’t had time to eat anything. I got two pieces of avocado toast out of it, and while they were both delicious bites, I was starving by the time we were an hour into the event. Also, given that this is NYC and everything is crowded, I think the place did a pretty decent job trying to manage the hungry Unilocalers, though I always think they would find it beneficial to get some extra hands on deck. I recall a few events where there was a lone server constantly being assaulted by grubby hands going for the chicken skewers.
I was definitely intrigued by Darrow’s and the concept behind their «farm fresh takeout.»
The vibe of Darrow’s is great – it’s tucked away in a less crowded area of Union Square, and they have a great, conspicuous sign. The inside is very homey – i felt like i was at a rich friend’s giant apartment with minimalist décor. The menus, from what I saw, were pretty and simple. I actually received a few at my apt lobby the other day.
I look forward to trying them on my own, and hopefully getting to try larger portions of food.

The Quick: Gorgeous upstairs room with good people and great complimentary cocktail. Meeting the owner was the highlight of the night.
The Details: As my first Elite event, I was so excited to see what it might entail. I met great Unilocalers, saw a new venue with a trendy and inviting upstairs room, and sipped on a fantastic organic cocktail. Darrow was extremely accessible, making time to speak with all of the elites and explaining his passion for his restaurant. Overall, all the right ingredients for a good night.
I had a nice time, I just wish I was able to try some of the food. I was able to nab one sliver of avocado toast which was very good. It would have been nice to try small portions of a few items so that I could get a real feel for the restaurant and be able to report back to my friends (or leave a review). Unfortunately there was not enough to go around. Since it was a complimentary event I cannot complain– I still had a great time.
I think a nice touch would have been sending everyone who attended a % off coupon or something if used that night or in the next few days.
Regardless, the event was a very nice night, and I’m very happy I was invited. I look forward to returning to Darrows soon and attending another Unilocal Elite event. Thanks to all who put it together!
The Damage: Thanks Unilocal

For the short time I was able to attend this event, Darrow’s left a good taste in my mouth.
The cocktail was really good and the food that I sampled not only looked pretty but was full of flavors.
I’m in this area a lot with friends so I’m excited to come back and try the regular menu.

We didn’t sample much canapes here. But the ones we did get were really tasty. We’re planning to come for lunch next week and just graze through the small plates. At this event, we had great craft ales and refreshing vodka drinks. The place is spotless and modern.

I’d say this was a missed opportunity to really shine.
Healthy and good for you is the thinking behind Peter Darrow’s eatery. I had two bites– some sweet potato, and toasted avocado. That was it. The rest of the Elites swarmed the food platters being ushered around. Shame. If every stayed put, I’m sure everyone would get a fair shot at sampling the food, but this was not to be tonight. This behaviour ought to be discouraged by way of a simple reminder in the email. Oh wait! It was mentioned. Eat before attending, guys!
That said, it was a nice venue with a bar/​seating area on the second floor. There was plenty of Sixpoint cans everywhere and the tasty citrus-​ginger cocktail, it made up for the lack of food samples available.
This is one event I’ve seen and met many new faces. I hope to meet all of you by the end of the year. Cheers to YoSteph! for dropping in from JC! Thanks to Darrow’s, Ruggy and team Unilocal NYC for getting together to showcase this new venue! I look forward to visiting when I’m in USQ again, perhaps for another cocktail.

I loved this event because you could go, go home, wake up the next morning and still feel good about yourself.
Cold pressed juice on tap to put in cocktails is a) genius b) delicious. Can everyone please add this to their bar menu? K thanks. The juice doesn’t even add much to their cocktail prices. Juice Press charges $ 11 a bottle for cold pressed juice, for reference. Darrow’s cocktails were priced the same as any cocktails in town, though, so that’s stellar.
They served the «Fairytale» and with ginger, organic apple juice, and fresh lemon, it was indeed a dream come true.
The space was great, big enough for everyone but cozy.
The food was great, but there wasn’t enough. Every tray that came was immediately swarmed and devoured, so the pour servers could barely make it up the stairs before turning around again. It’s best when the food matches the alcohol, and in this case it was a little too easy to get too buzzed. If feeding this many people was too expensive, maybe there could have been another sponsor to get on board (ironic side-​note: the event was advertised as vegan, weirdly, since it’s not a vegan restaurant, and one of the sponsors was whey vodka — ha ha), or just small things like kale chips around. I was so hungry I actually left and went downstairs and ordered a meal. Which was great, but, staying would have been good too.
Overall, loved the farm fresh, pizza-​and-​beer alternative for a Unilocal event. Thanks to Ruggy & Darrow’s for a great healthy event. More, please!

This event teeters in that unofficially rateable «3 & ½ star territory… but…
The following blurb comes from the Darrow’s RSVP confirmation e-​mail. It states: «We’re experiencing a taste of what Darrow’s has to offer (oh, and those tastes are vegan). Perhaps padding your stomach with a quick snack beforehand is a solid idea. It’s more light bites than a full-​fledged meal.»
I overheard a small handful of people commenting about the lack of food, the small size of the food samples, and how they’re bummed because they were expecting dinner, essentially. It did stick in my craw a little bit, I suppose. (Maybe I’m just a sensitive gal. Haaa.) As a seasoned Unilocal Elite, I have learned that some YEEs have more food than others. Many I have been to have small samples, such as at this event. Some have larger offerings. It is what it is. I never count on any one event to provide my dinner for the evening and always eat something before attending any YEE, though sometimes the food I’m served WILL amount to a small dinner! I come so I can learn about a new restaurant, sample their items, and (hopefully) return at a later date to try their fuller fare. I found nothing to be wrong with the sample sizes nor the amount of food brought out. (Perhaps I’m in the minority? Oh well. I stand by it. Ha!) Yes, though I agree it was put a little later than I was expecting, and perhaps the number of samples made was a bit sparse (relatively speaking) for the crowd at hand, it was fresh and well-​prepared. Peter Darrow and his team did a great job at offering light bites to us, and I am appreciative of the great food and drink samples they provided. The sweet potatoes had a get citrus tang to them, and shoot, I wish I knew what was on the crostinis, besides the seeds; they were fantastic! I sipped away on a few Fairytales, and wow! What a punch! I’m a huge fan of apple juice and raw ginger; quinoa vodka might be a libation I’ll be adding to my personal liquor cabinet* in the future. That was, perhaps, the healthiest alcoholic beverage I’ve ever had!
Thanks so much again to the staff of Darrow’s, Mr. Darrow himself (whom I spoke to and who spent time explaining the concept of the restaurant to a group of us; a genuinely lovely man!), Ruggy, Steph, and rest the Unilocal crew for another great evening out. The Beau and I both agreed that we’ll be coming back to Darrow’s for a full dinner in the future. :-)
* -…the few bottles of alcohol and wine on top of my fridge, next to some old boxes of Rice Krispies. Yes, this is the kitchen of a 30 year old woman. Ha!

As always i love trying new places to eat. These events always give you a little sample of what the place has to offer. The place itself is cute with a nice spacious seating area. The cocktail was unique. Although it was too much ice for my enjoyment. Beer was also a nice add to the night. The avocado toast was AMAZING. I truly enjoyed that. I wish I could have one more tiny sample of that. The kale was good, a bit salty, but i like that. The sweet potatoes were ok.
As always I had a great night with my fellow Unilocalers!

One thing I love about being Unilocal Elite is getting to discover new places in different parts of the city. Came here with my plus one Victor T. and headed to the bar for the featured cocktail of the evening, it was sweet with ginger ale – I liked it!
We got to try a few bites that evening: kale, avocado toast, and smashed sweet potato. I’ve learned there’s no formula for a YE event and while the portions weren’t too big, I really liked the venue and it wasn’t too crowded. Victor and I ended up grabbing dinner downstairs after the event.
The best part was Peter Darrow, the owner went around to chat with everyone and it was interesting to hear about the story behind the place. And always nice to make some new YE friends :-)
Thanks to Ruggy, the Unilocal team, and everyone at Darrow’s for hosting us!

I came to this event as a +1, and I was looking forward to a taste of the Elite world. Unfortunately, the only food I got to taste was a sweet potato mash, which was all right but I didn’t quite get what makes it stand out from other restaurants as was advertised by the restaurant description. I did catch a glimpse of a salad bite and bruschetta, but they were gone by the time I had a chance to get a piece. Maybe it was because I was sitting at the corner of the room? I was starting to think strategic seat placement was crucial in scoring bites, but my Elite friend assured me that this wasn’t typical of YEEs.
We did eat a light meal before coming here so we weren’t that hangry, which I think wasn’t the case for half the crowd who left an hour into the event looking hangry. While I didn’t get to try most of the food, I enjoyed catching up over the Fairytale cocktails and craft beers, as well as meeting Ruggy and a few other Unilocal Elites.

Unilocal Elite Events are an incredible opportunity for up-​and-​coming restaurants to expose themselves to a crowd of eager Unilocalers excited to see what they’re all about.
Sadly, Darrow’s did not take full advantage of that opportunity.
Usually restaurants participating in these events have their food samples ready to go, all prepared in advance. Darrow’s did not anticipate this; food only began circling the event about an hour in. The kitchen was preparing the food at the moment. The samples were literally bite sized and there weren’t too many of them. I only got to sample one small bite of their avocado toast.
I came into the event knowing this wasn’t going to be dinner; on the contrary, I expected enough samples to understand what the restaurant was all about. Just one bite is not enough to understand what a restaurant is about, or to convince my friends and family to stop by.
Curious, my friend and I went downstairs to buy ourselves some dinner and see what Darrow’s was really about… Sadly, I was very, very disappointed (for $ 14 I got a dry and crumbly black bean quinoa burger; it was the first time in the 2 years in NY I had to turn back an item). Fortunately, the owner quickly apologized and solved the issue.
This was another missed opportunity for them; knowing they’d have reviewers keen on sharing their experiences, the food should have been on point. Instead, it did the restaurant more harm than good.
I do have to praise Ruggy and the NY Unilocal Elite Team as always for planning everything in advance and making sure the event runs ship shape.
I’ve been very fortunate as a Unilocal Elite to attend outstanding events where the staff overlooks no details and is prepared to handle a decently sized crowd. I wish the staff would have explained a bit more to the group as a whole what they were all about, and I wish the restaurant would have prepared itself more in advance for this event.

I was actually kind of excited when I saw this event invite. I kept wondering what their food would look/​taste like.
There was a small group of us gathered outside of the place already when Ruggy opened the door for us at 7 PM. We were immediately brought upstairs. I absolutely loved its décor and ambiance upon entrance. Cold beer were waiting for us on the tables and the bar was also ready. They had several options but I opted for the cocktail with a hint of ginger ale. It was a good event in terms of the number of people who showed up versus the actual space of this restaurant. The bartenders worked hard to make Unilocalers happy and kept the drinks coming.
Now, the food. I think I got 3 bites total from last night. One was the sweet potato thing. I tried another one with guac on it. And kale. They were all good but I was rather underwhelmed. First of all, there was not enough food to pass around with. I actually (fortunately) came in pretty stuffed by my late lunch but the bites were not enough for all Unilocalers in attendance. Secondly, I still didn’t fully understand the concept of its food/​menu options after leaving the place. I got a chance to chat with Darrow a little after 8:30 and he explained the concept and his restaurant a bit more as I sat down in a group. I was a bit disappointed in the way that I didn’t really walk away knowing exactly how this restaurant is different. Because the food items served last night were rather special and not your typical dining table meal, a brochure (explaining the source of the food items) to take home with would have been really nice and helpful.
Despite that, I still had a wonderful time! I think the lack of food forced me (and many others) to mingle more, or at least I did. I got to talk to way more Unilocalers than I normally do at an event. It was actually really fun getting to know other Unilocalers better this way. Thanks to Ruggy and Darrow (and the bartenders!) for putting on this event!

I’m writing this review because there’s so much time to wait around… where’s the food? :O
Small crowd so far but not bad. The fairytale cocktail is pretty good with the ginger. Perfect therapy for Monday blues.
A bit confused about the food. It seems to be coming very slowly and in morsel quantities. I’m not one to bash about Elite Events but food is usually ready by the time the event starts or at least within 30 mins into the event. It’s been over an hour and only 5 trays of bite-​sized food has been served. Half the crowd has already left and I am about to once I post this review.
I’ve only had 2 bites so far and I liked the sweet potato. The kale salad was a bit too salty. The food wasn’t innovative or mind blowing, they tasted ordinary. I usually love farm to table places but I guess Darrow’s will be the exception.
The event page says «We’ll double down on the food with complimentary adult libations», but it seems that there’s five times as much drinks available than food.
I left feeling really confused as to what Darrow’s was about. I thought it was a restaurant? I barely got to taste their dishes but I was definitely able to try their drinks. However, this isn’t a bar and if I were to go out for drinks I wouldn’t come to a farm to table take out place for it.