Le Zinc, good meal, good value, good place

[Fat Guy]

When it snows, you can eat pretty much anywhere in New York City, even on a Friday night during Christmas season. The "Blizzard of '96 dinner" at Union Square Cafe is now so deeply entrenched as part of my personal mythology that I don't even remember what I actually ate.

Last night the assignment was to find a place, an adventure but not too expensive, that would normally be crowded, and that would be diverse enough to feed a group with a lot of strong likes and dislikes. I also needed to be certain of a reservation. So, for example, even though I knew there would be no-shows at Artisanal, and even though the reservationist at Artisanal knew it too, Artisanal refused to commit to a reservation and, for this group, a walk-in wasn't acceptable.

So . . . after much deliberation we wound up with a reservation at Le Zinc, the bistro offshoot of Chanterelle, and we piled into the van. Survival on the West Side quote-unquote-Highway was a bit of a challenge, but we got the parking space directly in front of the restaurant.

There were a couple of false starts: the hostess was completely out-of-it and, despite having all her energy and focus available to deal with our party (there was nobody else waiting to be seated, and she had no other duties), it seemed to be quite a challenge for her to take our coats and get us to a table. We were then seated at a table that got hit with a sustained blast of cold air every time someone opened the door to the restaurant (the door, by the way, was cleverly designed so as not to close itself), even though there were at least three other tables in view that could accommodate our group. Our somewhat listless waitress at The Arctic Table for whatever reason didn't want us moved, and all sorts of wild excuses were trotted out (oh, it won't be any better at that table because the draft "wraps around the room"), so we had to appeal to management. The first competent person we dealt with at Le Zinc, Lee-the-manager, set everything right.

From then on in, we were on a totally different and superior trajectory. The waitress assigned to the new table was awesome: alert, efficient, interested, able to answer questions about the menu and the restaurant without resorting to fibbing and fabrication, and, as an added bonus, easy on the eyes.

Some good bread, a well-drilled bartender, and a wine list with plenty of drinkable options in the high $20s and low $30s got things moving, and five of the six appetizers we shared were superb. The one that sucked -- chicken satay -- served us right: why in the world I let anybody order chicken satay at a bistro is beyond me. "You call yourself a food writer?" I said to myself upon realizing I had let that one slip by.

The good appetizers, which are contained in three sections of the menu ("Appetizers & Snacks," "Charcuterie," and "Salads," though we didn't order any salads) with at least one dish being listed in two sections (the chopped liver), were:

Duck wings! These are a signature item at Le Zinc; I think they may come right out of the "Staff Meals at Chanterelle" book that provided much of the impetus for the Le Zinc menu. Man are they good. Why isn't every restaurant on the planet serving deep-fried, crispy duck wings? When they put me in charge of the world -- and surely it's only a matter of time -- I'm going to mandate that a basket of duck wings be served alongside every bread basket in the land.

"An assortment of deviled eggs," included four permutations, the best of which was the one topped with salmon roe. This dish made us feel ridiculous for being foodie-types, because we sat there like idiots subdividing each deviled egg so we could each taste each one. At some point, maybe it makes more sense to act like normal people and each just pick an egg.

Onion "fritters" were the best fried onions I've ever had, and I've had my fair share. Amazingly light -- I mean, not actually light because they were probably the most fat-saturated item on the table, but light in texture and mouthfeel -- although served with a rather awful (and, thankfully, easy to cast aside and ignore) dipping sauce that tasted almost as bad as one of those bottled salad dressings with the word "Catalina" in its name.

The chopped liver (billed as something like "Aunt Fanny's chopped chicken livers") was very good, but ultimately a goyishe rendition: lacking in the garlic department, too smooth in texture, etc. Much more impressive was the terrine of foie gras, which was right on the money.

Entrees were also all good, but I'd be tempted to build all future meals at Le Zinc out of appetizers/snacks/charcuterie only. Nonetheless, the liver and onions were remarkably good -- tender, and a generous portion -- though oversauced (all entrees that come with sauces seem to be swimming in them). The hanger steak was likewise tender, cooked exactly as ordered, and oversauced. Each came with really nice baby green beans and the hanger steak came with a terrific potato gratin (the mashed potatoes with the liver were unimpressive).

The Le Zinc bacon cheeseburger can hardly be faulted. Even the bun is superb, albeit too big in proportion to the already big burger. The beef in the burger is packed nice and loose, the bacon and cheese are first rate, the skinny fries are very well executed, and even the pickle is good: nice and crunchy.

Peekytoe crab cakes were delicious -- kind of a cross between a Maryland-style crab cake and the "shrimp toast" served at old-style Chinese-American restaurants. My only problem with the dish had to do with false advertising: the staff is instructed to describe it in standard restaurant-bullshit language as "almost totally crabmeat -- just a tiny bit of breading, almost none really -- and then we lightly bread the outside and lightly pan fry them." Whatever. These things may as well have been deep fried: they had a crisp, golden brown crust that you don't get from "lightly" doing anything, and inside if that's "almost totally crabmeat" then they must now be genetically engineering crabs with the breadcrumbs and eggs already in their flesh. The person who ordered this dish was visibly disappointed, having attempted to order something that wasn't going to be mostly oil. Not that a restaurant has an obligation to serve low-fat food, but why misrepresent a dish?

Desserts, not good. Bad profiteroles, an amateurish brownie a-la-mediocre-mode, and creme caramel that anybody could do better just by following a randomly selected recipe from the Internet. Le Zinc needs help in this department.

Good coffee.

Yes there is a zinc bar.

The Web site is here -- http://www.lezincnyc.com/index.htm -- though the menus are out of date and hours don't seem to be listed (at least not anywhere obvious).

[Suzanne F]

Le Zinc is my home-away-from-home, especially when HWOE is out of town. They know and love me there, and I love them. Was Aggie your waitress (curly auburn hair, glasses)? She is THE BEST.

[Fat Guy]

We had the blonde one.

What else is good there, of the stuff we didn't order? And why do the desserts suck so much?

[Suzanne F]

Staff: Not sure I know whom you mean, but the servers tend to be good, or else they don't stay very long. The runners/bussers are great!

Desserts: I don't know. They changed pastry chefs some time ago -- maybe as much as 2 years ago? -- and the desserts haven't been very good since.

Good to order:

crab spring roll app, when they have it.

skate. Not as crisp as at Artisanal, but excellent.

whole grilled fish. Almost as good as at City Hall.

any of the fish specials.

any of the salad specials.

any of the terrines.

chicken Grandmere, although sometimes the sauce is over-reduced.

fried chicken, in the summertime.

any soup.

smoked salmon sandwich (lunch).

almost anything on the wine list. Roger Dagorn finds some terrific bargains, good drinkable wines at reasonable prices. And they'll give you a taste of anything you're considering ordering.

[Fat Guy]

They have a pastry chef?

[JosephB]

We had the blonde one.

Can you be more specific?

[JosephB]

Good to order:

any of the terrines.

D'accord

[Fat Guy]

We had the blonde one.

Can you be more specific?

She had blonde-almost-white hair, somewhat kinky, neither long nor short. I can try to get her name off the receipt, but it's not currently residing with me. I'll ask the keeper-of-the-receipt, though.

[MichaelZ]

I'm also a fan of Le Zinc, and would like to add that it is a good choice for family dining. The room gets noisy enough that no one hears your kids. Second, and more important, the menu contains a number of items, all well-prepared, that are enjoyed by kids of all ages. i've also found the wine list easy to navigate, with a number of good choices at moderate price points. My favorites include the beet salad, liver, hangar steak, pork chop and, of course, those duck wings.