Bar Artisanal

The chain-ification of upscale restaurants has its good points: you can now sample Daniel Boulud’s sausage at several places, one of which is near my apartment. But expanding a haute brand downward can be a slippery slope. Take the NYT slam of Michael Psilakis’ Gus & Gabriel Gastropub for instance: sub par food is even more maddening when served by someone who knows how to cook.

Such was the case when we visited Terrance Brennan’s Bar Artisanal recently: the hits on the menu served as a nagging reminder of the bliss to be found at Picholine, whereas the not-so-great items never would have made it out the kitchen door at that three-star place. The gougères ($8.50) were sublime as usual, made with a mix of Brennan’s signature artisanal cheeses.

But the menu was so huge, with a whopping 44 appetizer-type dishes to choose from, that it’s hard not to stumble on the misses. Bland pork spring rolls ($7.50) made an inexplicable appearance among the otherwise Franco-Italian menu. Of course, by including them the restaurant catered to anyone there who would rather have gone out for Chinese. ??

Slightly charred breading on the fried zucchini ($10.50) added a sharper flavor that elevated it above the usual bar snack, especially when served with an anchoide sauce. But when I told the rest of the table what I thought was in it (anchovies), a couple of them stopped eating it. Maybe this is why restauranteurs are so aggressively going for the lowest common denominator in food – it’s an extreme version of “the customer is always right”?

I think I may have been the only one who ate the excellent soft egg with piquillo peppers and Montenebro cheese ($9.50), but that was fine with me. This Spanish-style dish stuck the perfect balance: sweet spicy peppers, slightly funky cheese, topped off with a poached egg and toast. Think of it as a gourmet breakfast dish that’s good any time of day.

This prettily presented arctic char spread ($10.50) was very similar to a delicious bluefish spread, minus the smokiness.

Don’t skip the macaroni and cheese aka “macaroni gratin” ($13.50), which, with its mix of gourmet cheeses and crunchy bread-crumb top, is one of the best in town.

Bar Artisanal’s pissaladières, which I believe is French for “pizza,” are satisfactory, though these aren’t destination pizzas. The coating of tomato, basil, and mozzarella was a bit too thin for such a puffy crust, though the kitchen did manage to get some good char going on.

Were we to do it all over again, we would have stopped before going into entrée territory, because this is where things really got dicey. All the char was gone, so we swapped out cod for the arctic char with white bean and artichoke ($16.50). (Despite an initial mix up with the kitchen on this dish, service was extremely attentive and kind.) But the revised cod dish was bereft of flavor, even though white cannelini beans are excellent flavor conductors. The white bean spread cried out for garlic, salt, anything to give this dish some punch. We’d like to believe it would be better with arctic char, but wouldn’t risk the disappointment again.

Pork belly ($12) tasted like pork belly. That’s all.

Braised short ribs ($16.50), another comfort food flashback, were more successful, fatty but cut by a sauce verde and served on cheesy parmesan polenta. Speaking of trendy comfort foods, did I mention Bar Artisanal also serves three types of burgers?

The space feels cavernous and dark, teetering between sexy and austere. It feels like there’s a vacuum there, which is part of the problem with the cuisine as well. Chefs should take a cue from the fashion world, where designers have learned the hard way that trying to be all things to all people is not the answer in a bad economy. When we go to Terrance Brennan’s restaurant, we want Terrance Brennan’s vision.

Bar Artisanal
268 West Broadway at Beach Street
New York, NY
212-274-1053
Bar Artisanal website