Etats-Unis and the Bar @ Etats-Unis

[Artichoke]

A number of years ago the restaurant Etats-Unis spun off a small wine bar directly across the street called Bar @ Etats-Unis (247 East 81st St. Between 2nd and 3rd Aves.). Since it's opening, it has been serving exceptional food in an area of the City which is largely devoid of great dining options.

I have eaten at the restaurant on a number of occasions, most recently last night. The menu is eclectic, ranging from duck leg confit, to a lobster club, baked macaroni, traditional fondue made with Gruyere and Appenzaller, Vietnamese beef salad, cured meat and cheese selections, and nightly stew, and fish specials.

The wine menu, with many offerings by the glass, spans the globe, although is most heavily concentrated in Spain, Italy, Australia and California. My one complaint about the wine list is that they need to expand the California selections.

It is a little known secret that some of the best guacamole in Manhattan is served at Bar @ Etats Unis. This is the result of their hiring a chef who hails from Puebla. The guacamole is made in the traditional mocajete , has no tomatoes and is spiced to your preference. It is served with excellent tortilla chips that are made in house. It is difficult to match guacamole with wine, but the bar serves beer as well.

There is a delicious baked macaroni made with aged cheddar and parmesan, cooked in a crock untill it develops a wonderful crust on top.

The lobster club is a simple and well executed sandwich served on toasted brioche with large chunks of lobster meat, just the right amount of mayonaise, crisp bacon and bibb lettuce.

Last night I started with the soup special. A wonderfuly fresh tasting pea puree soup served hot with a disc of soft goat cheese placed in the middle of the bowl . The combination worked great with the cheese and the soup acheiving the same texture when eaten together.

Next I had the special entree for the evening, slow baked tripe. Wow. Served in a crock, the tripe was cooked perfectly along with a mix of carrots and topped with a crust of garlic flavored bread crumbs well bronzed from the oven. The tripe was so soft and unctious, it was exceptional.

You must not leave Bar @ Etats-Unis without having the restaurant's choclolate souffle and the warm date pudding served on top of a rum carmel sauce. Both must be ordered at the start of the meal and each are served with freshly made whipped cream. The souffle is rich and molten in the center and has an intense, deep, chocolate flavor, which offsets nicely with the unsweetened whipped cream. The date pudding is one of the best most comforting deserts I have had in the City. Served warm, it is soft, slightly sticky, and the thin pool of rum carmel sauce that covers the plate is good enough to lap up afterwards.

The space is small and largely unadorned, which is just as well because this restaurant is all about the food and wine. Bar @ Etata-Unis is serving expertly cooked, uncomplicated food that highlights the few ingrediants that make up each dish, just what cooking should be.

[emsny]

Thanks for that useful post.

[muza]

Thank you.

That is a wonderful and acurate review of this fantastic little restaurant.

I will second the suggestion on the date pudding one of the most memorible desserts I've ever had.

I have not been to the bar yet, but i look foward to trying their guacamole.

[phaelon56]

I had dinner in the restaurant a few months back and was very, very pleased. My date had been there several times and knew to order the chocolate souffle (which was fantastic and very filling - for two people at about $11 it's a steal).

We shared a salad, shared an entree and had two glasses of wine and a tonic water between us. Might have had coffe but I don't recall. They cheerfully offered to split and plate the shared items without our asking for it and there was no plating charge. The Niman Ranch pork with bourbon reduction sauce was excellent as were the sides and the salad. Portions are generous. We were both hungry but a shared salad, shared entree and the souffle left us both quite sated.

If I recall correctly the bill was about $100 with tax and tip. Good value. I could be perfectly content just going to their bar for coffee and souffle. By the way... service was friendly, unobtrusive and down to earth. It's a small room with some hard surfaces yet had a warm earthy feel and noise levels were low. I really like this place. Too bad I don't live in NYC

[pups224]

My beloved Etats Unis has been sold. Tom cashed in on his one Michelin star, took Toshi and moved to Texas. He apparently comes up once a month and makes sure that the place is running well. Who knows for how long. The rest of the kitchen staff remains the same.

I wonder who is buying the wines.

I had dinner there post-sale. The food was very good, but in the last few years, the restaurant (I've never eaten at the bar), it has become a hit or miss affair. Once upon a time, when Tom and his son Jonathan were cooking, it was consistently exciting food and outstanding.

That toffee pudding is still one of the best desserts in town.

[phaelon56]

I didn't have the toffee pudding but did you ever try the toffee pudding at the place in Chelsea that was up at the back end of an alley on a side street off 7th?

If I recall correctly the name of that place was actually "Up the Alley" and they had a neon sign with a knife and fork symbol out at the alley entrance by the street. Their toffee pudding, when they had it, was a good enough excuse to visit the restaurant (the rest of the food was fine but that pudding was the best dessert I've ever had in Manhattan other than the chocolate souffle at Etats-Unis).

[pups224]

Has anyone eaten at the restaurant (not the bar) since it changed ownership? I Would like to go there, but don't want a so-so meal.

[Robin Meredith]

I was a fan of this place in its original incarnation, but our one and only visit since the ownership change was pretty uninspired. It was several months ago, so I can't be more specific, although I do remember that my veal entree was quite ordinary and no one in our party seemed particularly impressed with the food.

I guess it's not that surprising, given what a personal, chef-driven place this was.

[Megan Blocker]

I haven't eaten in the restaurant for about a year, but I'm still a big fan of the Bar. I go at least once a month, usually for dinner - occasionally, I'll just pop in for a glass of port and the date cake (which is fantastic, and accompanied by hand-whipped cream).

The bar still has a great atmosphere, and it's mesmerizing to watch the cook work his magic in that tiny little space. I'm particularly fond of the lobster club salad, the guacamole, and the macaroni and cheese.

And they make a pretty good cocktail.

[ulterior epicure]

I cannot find a dedicated thread to Etats Unis (there is one on the Bar at Etats Unis), so I decided to start one.

Google didn't turn up a website. Can anyone link me to it, if one exists? Thanks!

Also, has anyone visited recently (and would care to report)?

[Nathan]

www.etatsunisrestaurant.com/index2.htm

[pups224]

Has anyone noticed that Bruni Slammed Etats-unis in the Diner's Journal?

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200...nd-short-of-it/

[Nathan]

well...I always had the impression that the praise for Etats-Unis has always been more of the "really good for its culinary blackhole neighborhood" variety....kind of like the "Brooklyn curve"

[oakapple]

Has anyone noticed that Bruni Slammed Etats-unis in the Diner's Journal?

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200...nd-short-of-it/

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He didn't slam it at all. Did you read his review of Wakiya? Wakiya got slammed; this place didn't. In fact, there was quite a bit he liked. The two dishes he admired least were described as "nice" and "pleasant" respectively. His angle was that on a menu with only half-a-dozen each of appetizers and entrées, you want each one of them to be a standout, and some of those at Etats-Unis "didn't fully transport" him.

At no point in his review did he actually use the word "Michelin," but it was obviously lingering in the background. If this were one of those family-owned earnest neighborhood places that Bruni had discovered on his own, the two-star review would practically write itself.

well...I always had the impression that the praise for Etats-Unis has always been more of the "really good for its culinary blackhole neighborhood" variety....kind of like the "Brooklyn curve"

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It's a little better than that. I would actually go out of my way to visit Etats-Unis again. But its Michelin star is hard to explain when you look at some of the places that were passed over. It's a place that deserves attention beyond its neighborhood, but maybe not that much attention. Edited October 30, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[Nathan]

I can buy that. that does sort of fit into the "Brooklyn curve" paradigm (i.e. A Di La or Franny's certainly deserve attention beyond their neighborhood...but....)

[Nathan]

I happened to be in its neighborhood recently and ate at the bar here...sampling items from both the Bar menu and the regular Etats Unis menu.

everything was competently and inoffensively executed. it was also very much cooking by the numbers and safe. overpriced for the location. certainly not worth traveling for.