Le Jardin Bistro

[ahr]

Stirred by Steve P.’s evocation of France, I enjoyed an extended lunch yesterday at Le Jardin on Cleveland Place. Sitting in the patio garden out back with a grape trellis overhead, a French-speaking waiter, those blue-and-white street signs on the walls, and bistro food and Provençal rosé on the table, it was easy to pretend for a few hours that I was elsewhere, if not quite at Chez Georges in Paris. The tiny purple grapes were tasty, too.

I recall reading that Maurice, the proprietor/chef, left a while ago; perhaps as a result, the restaurant was distressingly empty for a beautiful late-summer’s afternoon. The menu, however, now printed rather than handwritten, looked unchanged. Likewise, the food (country pâté; tuna tartare; striped bass on a bed of shredded fennel and carrot with beurre blanc, homey mashed potatoes, fresh spinach, haricots verts, cauliflower, and carrot sticks; bouillabaisse; tarte tatin) tasted essentially unchanged from my last visit about a year ago, as though the sous chef had stayed on -- though the bouillabaisse might have used a touch more fennel, salt, and saffron. When the weather turns chilly, I'll check out another old favorite, the cassoulet.

Has anyone else been to Le Jardin recently? Any inside scoop on what happened?

Edit: Distinguished the two forms of carrot served with the fish.

[Wilfrid]

That's encouraging. I had suspended it from my to-do list after Maurice's departure. I'll put it back on.

[Wilfrid]

That's encouraging. I had suspended it from my to-do list after Maurice's departure. I'll put it back on.

[SobaAddict70]

don't forget the mussels!

That BB is killer.

SA

[menton1]

Any more recent reviews? And how is the neighborhood?

Edited November 28, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[Bux]

Any more recent reviews? And how is the neighborhood?

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Neighborhood is the cusp of what used to be Little Italy and SoHo. Now it's NoLiTa and SoHo. Though I'm not sure what you mean by "how's the neighborhood?" The Spring Street station of the Lexington Avenue line is at the corner. There are plenty of cabs. There's new luxury housing being finished across the street and at the corner. Balthazar is around the corner (better food, but at a higher price), La Esquina is at the corner and Lombardi's pizzaria is a block away around another corner. Anyway, I haven't been there in quite a while, so I can't give you an update.

[BanjoDan]

Any more recent reviews? And how is the neighborhood?

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Neighborhood is the cusp of what used to be Little Italy and SoHo. Now it's NoLiTa and SoHo. Though I'm not sure what you mean by "how's the neighborhood?" The Spring Street station of the Lexington Avenue line is at the corner. There are plenty of cabs. There's new luxury housing being finished across the street and at the corner. Balthazar is around the corner (better food, but at a higher price), La Esquina is at the corner and Lombardi's pizzaria is a block away around another corner. Anyway, I haven't been there in quite a while, so I can't give you an update.

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I went there a few months ago and everything we had was fantastic, the foie gras, the filet mignon, the Lamb... the sauces were excellent, and it was terribly romantic sitting in the garden.

[Sneakeater]

I wanted to go someplace fairly unprepossessing for dinner before hitting Will Goldfarb's new Room 4 Dessert. Hmmmmmm . . . this is a good opportunity to finally try Le Jardin Bistro.

Strictly ordinary. Not nearly as good as any number of other "neighborhood bistro" type places all over the City.

Next time, I'll try to snag a table at Balthazar.

Edited January 22, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[menton1]

I wanted to go someplace fairly unprepossessing for dinner before hitting Will Goldfarb's new Room 4 Dessert.  Hmmmmmm . . . this is a good opportunity to finally try Le Jardin Bistro.

Strictly ordinary.  Not nearly as good as any number of other "neighborhood bistro" type places all over the City.

Next time, I'll try to snag a table at Balthazar.

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Could you kindly elaborate on your meal at this place?

[M.X.Hassett]

Next time, I'll try to snag a table at Balthazar.

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If you are willing to forgo the Frenchness why not just head over to Blue Ribbon?

[M.X.Hassett]

You know initialy I though you were talking about this Le Jardin a great place to eat.

Edited January 23, 2006 by M.X.Hassett (log)

[cru]

What a great garden.... Unfortunately the food is terrible. Since Gerard sold the place years ago, the service, style, and food has been sliding. It now rests on its laurels and knows it can serve anything resembling food and people will still come. not me. Skip it.

[Sneakeater]

Could you kindly elaborate on your meal at this place?

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Sure. Appetizer: a foie gras special, served with an unidentified sweet wine (OK: I could have asked but didn't) that I don't think was a sauternes (that's not meant as a criticism; just a factual statement). It was good, as foie gras generally is. But it didn't tell me much about the kitchen.

Main dish: Let's set the Wayback Machine for the 1960s and have a plate of boeuf bourguignon. Now if that dish is prepared well, it's incredibly satisfying, if not incredibly complex or innovative. But that's what you go to a bistro for: satisfying, but not complex or innovative. The catch, though, is "if that dish is prepared well." Here, the raw materials were not good: the meat was tough and fatty at the same time, and not very flavorful. And neither was the preparation: the flavors in the thin gravy were unassimilated, as if the ingredients had just been introduced to each other. It was just not very good cooking.

Edited January 23, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

Next time, I'll try to snag a table at Balthazar.

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If you are willing to forgo the Frenchness why not just head over to Blue Ribbon?

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Geez, I was trying to elegantly keep everything within a block or so. (No . . . NOT Mexican Radio.)