07/09/09

Yummy Brunch

by RaccoonReindeer

Stopped in one Sunday morning because their brunch menu looked pretty extensive and had cheap cocktails. The food was excellent (the potatoes are AMAZING!) and the staff is courteous and attentive. I have gone back several times and never had a negative experience. I sent friends there (including a group of out-of-towners in town for a bachelorette party weekend. -- note: their group of ~20 people ALL loved it).

YUM.

• Pros: price, location, variety

04/21/09

Good Steak

by hungrycouple

Space is tight at this busy upper east sider, especially on a warm Saturday evening in Spring. But a reservation will get you a nice table by the open window of the enclosed sidewalk cafe.

The menu, as the name suggests, mixes French bistro fare with some steakhouse classics and offers a nice variety from which to choose. We started with the warm goat cheese tart served with roasted tomatoes on top and drizzled with olive oil. Rich and delicious. For slightly lighter fare, the beet & goat cheese salad was perfectly dressed and seasoned. It was a special that we were told makes a frequent appearance and which we'd happily have again. For entrees, we tried the New Zealand lamb served with mashed potatoes. Tasty but average and the sauce didn't add to the dish. The filet au poivre with pommes frites, however, was exceptional. Perfectly cooked meat, luscious creamy peppercorn sauce and hot crispy shoe string fries. A bit rich after the goat cheese tart...but worth it. Dessert, unfortunately, disappointed. The valrhona flourless chocolate cake sounded too tempting to pass up but what arrived, though generous, was dry and difficult to eat.

Service was fast, friendly and efficient and dessert notwithstanding, we'd go back for that steak.

08/04/08

Good food, cooked well

by TestyGuest

We went late on a Tuesday night, after the main dinner rush. I opted for sea scallops with a mushroom ragout, which was genuinely excellent - it's hard to get a decent scallop, but these were perfect, with the ragout making a wonderful accompaniment. This is high praise, as I am not a mushroom fan. My husband had the 10oz steak with frites, plus the house steak sauce. The meat was not heavily-seasoned, but it was certainly tender, of good quality, and cooked exactly as requested. The steak sauce was fabulous. Perhaps a little too fabulous. I laughed until I cried when our wonderfully quirky waitress deliberately positioned the ketchup as far away from us as possible (curling her lip when mentioning its unfortunate presence at table), with the steak sauce pushed right against my husband's plate and patted (yes, patted!) for good measure - but we were very glad that we took the monster hint and tried it. We were seduced into dessert and the inevitable, yet fresh and well-made, espresso - the flourless chocolate torte was really good, while the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake was a great concept, but possibly a little too sweet. Quality service, though sometimes the staff were a little too attentive - and a welcoming and friendly atmosphere prevailed overall. We'll certainly be going back for seconds.