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French Cuisines

Guide to French Restaurant Week 2017

Neighborhood: | Featured in Best Of, Restaurant Week

It’s not enough for New York to have a single, generic restaurant week — the city actually celebrates French Restaurant Week as well. Coinciding with Bastille Day, the annual event encourages locals to Eat, Drink and Be French — so take advantage of the following tres jolie establishments, and their menus set at the revolutionary prices of $17.89, $38, and $178.90.

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Restaurant Spotting: Italienne

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Restaurant Spotting, Reviews

A name like Italienne (French for Italian) doesn’t exactly portend a red sauce menu of spaghetti and parmigiana. And indeed, the hot Flatiron newcomer from the talented chef, Jared Sippel, represents a culinary meeting of the minds, between Northern Italy and Southern France — melding the former’s heart and soul with the latter’s elegance and refinement…

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Restaurant Spotting: Le Coucou

Neighborhood: , , , | Featured in Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Restaurant Spotting

One of our favorite restaurants to open in the last couple of years, Rebelle reintroduced New York diners to the culinary stylings of expat Daniel Eddy, whose previous post was at Spring in Paris, under Chicago native, Daniel Rose. And now our cups runneth over, as Rose has made his way from France to New York as well, making his American debut, Le Coucou, on the border of Little Italy…

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Vive La France: Where to Celebrate Bastille Day 2016 in NYC

Neighborhood: | Featured in Eating Events, Summer

This coming Thursday, July 14th, commemorates the storming of Bastille Day, essentially the French counterpoint to Cinco de Mayo. And being that French cuisine has undergone its own sort of local revolution lately, it seems an especially felicitous time to celebrate, at spots like Le Coq Rico, Le District and more…

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Paris Import Le Coq Rico is Flying High in Flatiron

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in First Bite, Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Reviews

Upon walking into the glittering Le Coq Rico in the Flatiron, your hostess will likely ask you if you’ve been there before. A seemingly odd question, considering the sleek French restaurant has barely been open two weeks, until you realize she’s referring to the original; a largely identical, poultry-focused spot in Paris. This is far from being your run of the mill brasserie…

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David’s Cafe is Ready for Its Close-Up

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in First Bite, Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant Spotting, Reviews

It seems you gotta have a gimmick if you wanna get ahead in the East Village nowadays. David Chang & Brooks Headley face off with their cheffy takes on greasy fast food favorites. There are even media perennials, such as Harry & Ida’s, and its well-Instagrammed pastrami sandwich. And if the newly opened David’s Café has anything to say about it, it will soon become the poster child of over-the-top poutine…

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Inside Acme’s Unexpected Culinary Revamp

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in First Bite, Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Restaurant Spotting, Reviews

Perusing the recently revamped menu at Acme, it’s evident that Mads Refslund — co-founder of the exceedingly influential Noma — has categorically left the building. Instead of esoteric New Nordic offerings like hay-roasted whole sunchokes and “burlap sack” lobster with wildflowers, it’s newly padded with deliciously rustic French brasserie fare…

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Trend Spotting: The French Food Revival

Neighborhood: | Featured in Gourmet Gossip, Trendwatch

It seems odd to speak of French food as a trend, considering that its associated techniques, ingredients, flavor profiles and dishes form the backbone of a seemingly endless, totally disparate range of cuisines, from Japanese to Haitian to farm-to-table American. And yet, in the last couple of years, the French influence in New York has been far more evident than the occasional cassoulet, a swipe of béchamel sauce, a quenelle of sorbet, or vegetables cut into a perfect julienne or brunoise.

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Q & A with Rebelle’s Chef Daniel Eddy

Neighborhood: , | Featured in Chef Q&A, Chef Q&A Recipes

NYC is home to many of the very best French chefs in the world, from Eric Ripert to Daniel Boulud to Jean-Georges Vongerichten. So who would have thought that a Nicaraguan New Yorker — and a former actor, no less — would currently be serving hip French fare in the city?

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Beaubourg – First Bite

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in First Bite, Restaurant, Reviews

I’ll admit I get neighborhood envy. How could I not? I live on the Upper East Side. And while we’ve admittedly made strides with the addition of Ristorante Morini, Rotisserie Georgette and the like, we have a long, long way to go. So you can imagine how jelly donuts I was to hear about the new French marketplace that is Le District all the way down in Battery Park…

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Inside Le District, Battery City’s French Food Mecca

Neighborhood: , | Featured in Food Markets

Hudson Eats is already one of New York’s most impressive new food halls. But the long-awaited debut of Le District — a 30,000-square foot market and dining mecca on the ground floor of Brookfield Place— has put it over the top. Essentially the French version of Eataly, the gleaming, gourmet mecca is divided into four major sections…

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Restaurant Spotting: Bara

Neighborhood: | Featured in First Bite, First Bite, Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Reviews

The East Village is arguably New York’s top dining destination right now, with more than its share of noteworthy newcomers (Tuome, Huertas, King Bee, GG’s, Bowery Meat Company, Root and Bone, & Empellon al Pastor), and just as many seminal institutions, like Russ & Daughters, Prune, & Momofuku Noodle Bar. But the restaurant we’re most excited about hasn’t made anyone’s “hot” list yet, which means you can actually still snag a prime time table…

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Racines NY – Reviewed

Neighborhood: | Featured in Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant, Reviews

The cool thing about living in New York is that chefs and restaurateurs from all over the world want to open up right here in Manhattan. Now you don’t have to go all the way to Paris to try the popular, market-driven wine bar & bistro, Racines, because they just opened a stateside outpost…

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L’Arpege

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides

When I think of French food, I think of creamy sauces, rich reductions, and decadent meats.  Vegetarian fare?   Now, that’s not something I’d ever associate with France. But I recently had over twenty, mind-blowing courses at L’Arpege and most of them were vegetarian, and every one was divine.  You see, the chef, Alain Passard, is like the vegetable whisperer, teasing maximum flavor our of nature’s produce, plucked from Passard’s own garden and farm.  He earned three Michelin stars at L’Arpege and he deserves every one of them.  (In fact, he earned two stars elsewhere at the tender age of 26.)  His Onion & Parmesan Gratin with Black Truffles is perfectly caramelized; sweet and savory Cevennes Onions and just plain unforgettable.  So is the Vegetable Consommé with Four Ravioli, each tucked with a different vegetable from Passard’s garden; a delicate...

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La Regalade Conservatoire

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides, Restaurant

Most of us don’t have the luxury to pick up and spend two, three weeks, or even a month in another country.  (I’m still not sure how I pulled off six weeks in Paris, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.)  When you only have a few nights in a country, you have to pick your restaurants very carefully.  You google online, pulling up Travel & Leisure, Frommers, Fodor’s and the like, ask a friend who’s been, maybe skim a few, local blogs, then hope for the best.  If I had to pick my top five Paris restaurants, I would most definitely include La Regalade Conservatoire and that says a lot. La Regalade is the perfect example of a modern French bistro with authentic French cooking.   It’s not one of those been around forever bistros with rickety...

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Yam’Tcha

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides, Restaurant

If you’ve spent time traveling abroad, I’m sure you’ve realized it isn’t exactly the easiest thing to make dinner reservations on your own, what with country codes and different time zones.  Never mind foreign countries with languages that are foreign to you, too.   And it’s even harder to get a table at a hot restaurant where prime time tables are scarce.  If you don’t speak the language, you have to rely on your hotel’s concierge to do the negotiating for you. (And if you rented a flat, villa, apartment, or chateau, well, it’s even more impossible.) According to the food blog, Eater, a reservation at Yam’Tcha is one of the “Eleven Toughest Reservations in the World.”   (It’s in such esteemed company as Noma, Tickets and The Fat Duck.)   Truth be told, one of the reasons it’s so difficult is...

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Le Chateaubriand

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides

Wander by Le Chateaubriand and you’d never guess it was one of the top fifty restaurants in the world, at least according to San Pellegrino’s annual list.   In fact, it ranked number nine in 2009, which is no small feat.   This humble bistro looks like it’s been around forever: The tables are a weathered wood, the floors made of faded tiles, dim globes hanging from the ceiling, and chalkboards along several walls, featuring wine makers and wines by the glass.  Upfront, there’s a quaint bar with a Marzocco coffee maker and a window onto the street. Not exactly what you’d imagine to find at one of the toughest reservations in the world.  The menu is a 65 Euro tasting menu, a pretty good deal considering there are over six courses.  The most pretentious thing about Le Chateaubriand is its...

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Le Relais Louis XIII

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides, Restaurant

The thing about dining in Paris nowadays is that there are so many modern French restaurants that it’s hard to find a traditional, fine French one.  You know, the kind that features Quenelles, Frog Legs Provencale, Sole Meuniere, and a proper Grand Marnier Souffle (I don’t know about you, but I’m salivating already!).  Classics are what French food is about really.  After eating my way through Paris for six weeks, I’d yet to even spy Quenelles — light-as-air fish dumplings — on a menu.  In fact, I was worried this menu warhorse was in danger of extinction. It was actually a local, a born and bred Parisian driver named Thomas, who tipped me off to Le Relais Louis XIII.  Now, I’d done plenty of due diligence on where to eat and Louis XIII was not on anybody’s must-try list....

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Breizh Cafe

Neighborhood: , , | Featured in City Guides, Restaurant

You can’t go to Paris and not eat crepes.  Quelle sacrilege!  After all, crepes are one of France’s most beloved street foods, and one of the world’s greatest hangover remedies.  (Well, it’s true.)  These savory and sweet, wafer- thin pancakes are sold on nearly every corner.  Though I prefer to eat them sitting at a table with a bowl of cider (that’s the traditional way to serve it).  While there’s no shortage of Creperies in Paris, two of the best happen to be in the Marais: Creperie Suzette, and my all-time favorite, Breizh Cafe. Owner and Brittany born Bertrand Larcher first opened back in 2007 and it’s been packed ever since.  Don’t take my word for it: Just check out the crowds spilling out onto the sidewalk on the stylish Rue Vieille du Temple in hopes of a table.  My...

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Saturne

Neighborhood: , | Featured in City Guides, Restaurant

There’s a new school of, well, new restaurants in Paris that all seem a lot alike, so I was worried Saturne would feel like deja vu.  (A little like Spring, a little like Bones and Roseval.)  But it didn’t look much like the others, most of them tiny, no frills spots with not much to look at except your plate. Saturne, on the other hand, is a breezy beauty with soaring ceilings and huge picture windows flung open onto the street on warm days.  There’s a second dining room in the back with a glass roof, which is equally as interesting as the front, so don’t fret over which room you’re sat in because they’re both great!  The space itself is modern and yet casually elegant, furbished with blonde wood floors, tables and even a wood-topped bar, dark leather banquettes and...

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