Tag Archives: duck
La Régalade Saint-Honoré, Paris
Even better than a good restaurant in the middle of nowhere is a good restaurant in the center of town. One of the only faults of La Régalade, started by Yves Camdeborde in 1992 and turned over in 2004 to up-and-coming chef Bruno Doucet, was its location in the southern 14th arrondissement – horrid by Parisian standards. After several years at the helm at La Régalade in the 14th, Doucet opened another branch of the restaurant on Saint-Honoré, right by the Louvre. How convenient! Now he is installed in the open kitchen at this sharp new bistro moderne, which has been a tough reservation since it opened last year. (more…)
Fedora
As much as we hate to see old icons of the New York dining scene disappear, let’s face it: not every place is worth saving. Take Fedora, the gay bar on West 4th Street that’s been around since before gay bars were even legal. The atmosphere: fabulously decrepit, as was much of the clientele. The food: questionable. Fedora was a restaurant in the vein of the bygone bohemian Greenwich Village depicted in Mad Men, a style that only lives on in such stalwarts as Gene’s on West 11th Street.
Fast forward to 2010, when new owner Gabriel Stulman of Joseph Leonard took over the Fedora space and reopened it this January. He kept the name and the iconic neon sign outside. A long wooden bar spanning one side of the spare, black and white room looks antique, but it’s actually a new, custom-made bar that incorporates parts of the old Fedora bar. It feels as if it’s been here forever, as does the impressive collection of black and white photos on the opposite wall. Even some of the original Fedora’s regulars are now regulars here. Though Stulman’s following is pretty straight, the original regulars can’t be displeased by the eye candy in this good-looking, stylish crowd. (more…)
Posted in American, food, French, New York restaurants, restaurants, West Village
Tagged bars, duck, Gabriel Stulman, marrow, New York
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The Fat Radish
When fashion people heartily endorse a restaurant, one’s suspicions are immediately aroused. Do they serve actual food there? Or merely a substance one can push around the plate while admiring the crowd, as at Indochine or Monkey Bar? This is a tribe that espouses the joy of cooking with sugar substitutes and raw cacao nibs, a tribe that professes to actually like the taste of kombucha. So when the praise started rolling in for new, vegetal-themed British restaurant the Fat Radish, we had to go experience it for ourselves.
Rest assured, the “fat” in name is merely playful, so you can still wear your skinny jeans here. Owned by the people behind Silkstone, a catering company that caters largely to – surprise! – the fashion industry, the Fat Radish skews towards British food. Not like the Breslin, however: there’s nary a pig’s foot in sight. Instead the array of greens and legumes on the menu speaks to the fact that that the Brits were into this organic, locally-sourced thing way before we were. Look at Prince Charles and his cute little vegetable garden! (more…)
Posted in British, food, Lower East Side, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, duck, New York, vegetarian restaurants
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Brindle Room
Though it’s a noble goal, authenticity isn’t always what you want when seeking out imported regional specialties. Take saucissons bourguignons. Few New Yorkers would likely complain that there isn’t enough tripe in French sausages here. Just pork and beef is fine, thanks.
Likewise, though authentic poutine has its devotees in Quebec, you might not want to recreate it exactly. Fast food fries slathered in mystery-meat gravy and piled with heaps of cheese that’s a cross between regular and cottage cheese is an acquired taste, even in a drunken state at 1am – which is generally when poutine is consumed in Montreal, under the fluorescent lights of a take-out shop. (more…)
Posted in American, East Village, food, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, beef, beer, burgers, duck, New York, steak tartare
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Aux Fins Gourmets, Paris
As entertaining as it is to visit new, trendy restaurants in Paris, it would be criminal to spend a week there and not eat at least one meal in a classic bistro. Thus, we descended upon the 51-year-old Aux Fins Gourmets in the Seventh one night, drawn by the restaurant’s signature dish, duck confit.
Like most traditional French bistros, Aux Fins Gourmets is brightly lit and convivial. A mostly local crowd filled the place at around 9pm, the standard dinner hour here. There are not a lot of surprises at this neighborhood place, but that’s exactly the point. It was an oasis of calm on a busy Saturday night on the Left Bank. (more…)
The Hurricane Club
CLOSED
New York is having a Polynesian moment. New places like Painkiller, Lani Kai, and the Hurricane Club are channeling Hawaii and Bora Bora with exotic rum drinks that should keep summer going long into the dark days of winter. But don’t say “tiki”: The Hurricane Club is more like the tiki bar and restaurant as viewed through the sophisticated retro lens of Mad Men, with a wink and a nod, drinks in coconuts sipped under a crystal chandelier.
On a recent night there, Marie Fromage and I eyed the elaborate mise just for cocktails: fresh flowers, parasols, pineapple wedges and all sorts of other tropical accoutrements were lined up on the bar. The drinks that resulted were deftly mixed and not too sweet. The #12, Chef Richard Leach’s MF Mai Tai ($12), had a distinctly Asian twist with lychee and mandarin with Hurricane Rum as the base. (more…)
Kin Shop
Good food is a lot like good clothing in one regard: Surround yourself with enough cheap copies, and you’ll forget what the real thing is like. Such has been the case for Thai food in the Village over the past 10 years. While Korean and Japanese restaurants have gone up and up in quality and stature, authentic Thai places like Holy Basil went on the decline as numerous “Asian fusion” concept restaurants piled in, angling for customers (NYU students) by plying them with the lowest common denominator of the nation’s cuisine (sugar).
All it takes is one look at the menu outside the door to divine that Kin Shop, the new restaurant by Perilla chef Harold Dieterle, is not for students. Several of the shared entree dishes are in the $20+ range, and the green-tinged decor beyond the plate glass windows is sophisticated if casual. We went in hoping to rediscover the true draw of Thai cuisine: a complex mix of flavors and spice, spice, spice. (more…)
Posted in food, New York restaurants, restaurants, Thai, West Village
Tagged bars, duck, Harold Dieterle, New York
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MiLA, New Orleans
Considering its proximity to vast swaths of upriver farmland, it may come as a surprise that there’s not much emphasis on locally-sourced produce in New Orleans. Seafood here may be as local as it gets, but southern techniques of boiling and frying vegetables and French techniques of butter, butter and yet more butter still rule at most restaurants. Fortunately, a handful of new spots are beginning to bring fresh, seasonal produce to the forefront of the menu.
One such place is MiLA in the Central Business District. Husband-and-wife chef team Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing acquire many of their ingredients from a nearby farm, Lujele, which is described in detail on the restaurant’s website. This all sounded vaguely Dan Barber-ish at first, but then came the clue: this duo, originally from Mississippi (“Mi”) and Louisiana (“LA”), logged several well-regarded years at Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar (Vines) and Fleur de Sel in New York (Rushing) before heading back south. An appetite for green market produce came back with them. (more…)
Posted in food, New Orleans, restaurants
Tagged duck, New Orleans, seafood, travel
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Yerba Buena West
A restaurant that serves food from a variety of different but interrelated countries is usually one you should avoid. Sushi and bibimbop and pad thai? How do you know which one the kitchen can actually do well? But if chef-partner Julian Medina at Yerba Buena West had stuck to just Mexican or Cuban food, the diners would have been the ones missing out on the variety of stimulating dishes and cocktails this place has to offer.
Not just Mexican or Cuban but also Argentinian, Peruvian and Chilean, the menu at Yerba Buena West touches down on ceviches, arepas, empanadas and grilled meat. Here everything feels a little less trendy and more grown up than the original Yerba Buena in the East Village. An antique bar frames one side of the room, and the vibrant blue lighting of the East Village spot has been ditched for the traditional look of cream-colored upholstered chairs, black and white tile floors, exposed brick and cream colored walls and minimal decorations. Senor Swanky’s this is not. (more…)
Posted in food, Mexican, New York restaurants, restaurants, West Village
Tagged bars, duck, New York
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The Vanderbilt
In its Prospect Heights neighborhood, the Vanderbilt is known as “the expensive place.” Mobbed at first and then dismissed for its small portions at higher-than-usual price tags, the Vanderbilt is quieter now. You can actually see the reclaimed wood in the industrial but rustic front room when it’s not jam packed with people, and when you order one of the excellent cocktails at the marble-topped bar, you can hear yourself speak. You can even walk in and get a table. And if you’re from Manhattan, land of the $15 glass of wine, $15 for thick, peppery slabs of hamachi crudo by Brooklyn’s Michelin-starred chef Saul Bolton will seem like a bargain.
The problem seems to be one of clarification: the Vanderbilt was probably never meant to be cheap. It brings Saul’s artisanal, global cuisine from the more formal restaurant on Smith Street to a wider audience via a small plates menu that touches down everywhere from Japan to Germany. Could you go down the street and get bigger portions for less? Yes. If your idea of fancy food involves Hollandaise sauce, then by all means keep walking. But if you want a kitchen that can do artisanal food very well, you’re in the right place. (more…)
Posted in American, Austrian, food, New York restaurants, Prospect Heights, restaurants
Tagged bars, Brooklyn, duck, New York
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Almond
Tell someone the address of Almond restaurant, and they’re liable to say: “Wasn’t that Borough/Rocco’s/Caviar and Banana/Commune?” The answer is yes, yes, yes and yes. Walking into the space may also make you experience déjà vu all over again, because interior has many of the same elements of its predecessor Borough – the same tables and chairs, the same posh billiards room in back, the same rough-hewn wood lining the walls, the same popular bar scene – with a prettified face lift of coral wallpaper and gilt-framed mirrors.
Before you consider the place doomed, know that while this is still El Chod’s space, the owners of the very successful Almond restaurant from the Hamptons are much of the time, making sure things run smoothly. The crowd has gotten a polish too. Gone are those grubby locavores that patronized Borough, now the crowd includes stick-thin women in wrap dresses and big jewelry, men with winter tans and cashmere V-necks. (“They’re not on our team, ladies,” our waitress whispered.) Chelsea Clinton dined there on a recent night. Celebrities, gays, emaciated women, face lifts: Almond is a Hamptons away from the Hamptons, and I mean that in the best possible way. (more…)
Posted in American, Flatiron District, food, French, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, duck, New York
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Brinkley’s
Brinkley’s may be new, but this pubby Nolita spot has an old-school preppy vibe, with Steve Miller Band and the Doobie Brothers playing on the stereo. Outfitted with a huge backlit bar, subway-tiled dining room, and horseshoe-shaped banquettes good for parties of six, Brinkley’s draws a similar bankers-and-ex-debs crowd as Southside downstairs.
Still, there’s a downtown edge to the darkly lit space with industrial light fixtures, vintage prints on the wall, and coy wallpaper in the bathrooms with illustrations of farm animal breeds (including an “Improved Tennessee Sheep”). It’s as if your old friend Dorrian grew up, developed some taste in food and decor and moved to a loft downtown. (more…)
Posted in British, food, New York restaurants, NoLita, restaurants
Tagged bars, beef, duck, gastropubs, New York
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Mermaid Oyster Bar
Though food critics always seem to be on the hunt for latest new undiscovered place, most of the real buzz this year has been about new restaurants by old masters. Just try landing a table at Danny Meyer’s Maialino on opening night or getting through the door at Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern without a reservation. With established brands like these, a market of loyal followers is already in place before a new restaurant even opens.
Which is why Danny Abrams’ Mermaid Oyster Bar will probably thrive in the space that once housed the charming but ill-fated Smith’s on MacDougal Street (never helped by the fact that it opened at the same time as “The Smith” on Third Avenue). The redesign shows signs of an expert touch.
Posted in American, food, Greenwich Village, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, beer, Bloody Marys, duck, lobster rolls, New York, seafood restaurants
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The Standard Grill
Now that the High Line has opened to the public, the Meatpacking District feels newly revitalized. Can it also be an exciting dining destination again, as it once was before all the restaurants here turned to lowest-common-denominator cuisine: steak, potent cocktails, and faux exotic Asian food? The just-opened Standard Grill may be guilty of trying to be all things to all people – bankers, tourists, 20-something hipsters, and clannish food bloggers – but it could also put the MePa back on the map as a place to eat, not just see and be seen.
Posted in American, food, Meatpacking District, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged duck, New York
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Sake Bar Hagi
There’s a traditional red paper lantern at the door, stairs leading down off a random Midtown street, and the words “sake bar” inscribed on the wooden door jamb. Otherwise, there’s nothing that would alert you to this cult favorite izakaya place in Times Square. But look two doors left of the Hawaiian Tropic Zone and you’ll find Sake Bar Hagi, a draw for New Yorkers and Japanese tourists alike. The menu outside may not look particularly tempting, unless calves liver sashimi or broiled dried skate fin is your thing, but add your name and cell phone number to the list downstairs and in a half hour to an hour you will be inside, well on your way to figuring out the appeal of this place. (more…)
Posted in food, Japanese, Midtown West, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged beef, beer, duck, New York, Sake Bar Hagi
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