Bar Americain

[Daniel]

Whats is Bobby Flay's new NYC restaurant?

[ken T]

"Bar Americain"...supposed to be opening right about now. His web site says it will specialize in regional U.S. cuisines. It's on 52nd Street but I know that doesn't help you New Yorkers at all! Phone 212-265-9700.

[alembic54]

"Bar Americain"...supposed to be opening right about now.  His web site says it will specialize in regional U.S. cuisines.  It's on 52nd Street but I know that doesn't help you New Yorkers at all!  Phone 212-265-9700.

←

It's in the space that was Judson grill.

[ken T]

From Flay's website.....

I am putting all that I’ve learned about the regional cuisines of this amazing country throughout my travels into Bar Americain’s menu. How does a Pacific Northwest “Cioppino” with Dungeness Crab, West Coast Oysters, Puget Sound Mussels & Sour Dough Croutons sound? Or perhaps a Southern style Slow Smoked Pork Chop with Mustard-Bourbon BBQ Sauce & Creamy Green Onion Grits? This country has so many fabulous regional specialties that I want to highlight, and Bar Americain will be the place to catch it all.

[emmapeel]

It looks like Bar Americain opens this week. I'm in love with the concept and so interested to try the ham tastings and gulf shimp and grits. Here's some buzz.

[Daniel]

Is there a menu for Bar Americain?

[ErinB]

Not on Flay's website, but on Menupages.com

[emmapeel]

Also on the Bar Americain website.

[emmapeel]

Bar Americain opened this week. The website is still under construction, but the menu is available.

[BryanZ]

As I prematurely posted in the Mesa Grill thread, I feel as though the new menu is kind of boring. Does anyone else share these sentiments? If Bobby Flay really nails these dishes there are a lot of strong contenders but, compared to his other restaurants, this seems far more tame.

Edited April 26, 2005 by BryanZ (log)

[rooftop1000]

My first thought about the menu was to grab 3 foodies and try everything on the appetizer menu ....well except the green salad

this was also my second and third thoughts

oh well no one I hang around with likes the city...escept the child and I would have to pay for her

T

[Bond Girl]

I went to the opening party, the food seemed like it's very solid attitude free American food. The space is visually stunning, although a bit too big for my taste. It's a good place to entertain clients in.

[bilrus]

As I prematurely posted in the Mesa Grill thread, I feel as though the new menu is kind of boring.  Does anyone else share these sentiments?  If Bobby Flay really nails these dishes there are a lot of strong contenders but, compared to his other restaurants, this seems far more tame.

←

That might not be a bad thing. My one time at Mesa Grill made me feel like the food read better than it tasted.

[Laura B]

My husband and I ate here last night. The space was a little too large (and loud), even though it is beautiful. We had a table with a kitchen view, and Bobby Flay was right there the whole time - he was standing right up front plating the raw bar dishes and would frequently come out into the dining room to speak to people. He came to speak to the people next to us (they asked the waiter to send him over). They gushed and oohed and aahed and seemed to know everything about him. Kind of embarrassing. But he was gracious and eventually excused himself to get back to the kitchen.

We had three appetizers: Artisinal Ham Tasting, Crawfish and Dungeoness Crab Griddle Cake, and Gulf Shrimp and Grits. The ham tasting was quite good, although I guess it was not quite what I expected. I was thinking it would be different hams. It was the same ham presented three ways. The menu doesn't describe it, and neither did our waiter who just put it down and walked away. The ham was very thinly sliced. The first preparation invloved a poached pear (delicious), the second had a small spicy biscuit (meh), and the third had some kind of cheese (pretty yummy). The crawfish and crab cake was OUTSTANDING. Husband said the shrimp and grits was great, but he didn't let me taste it.

I had the lamb porterhouse chops and hubbie had the duck. We both liked our entrees. I was not overly impressed with the lamb itself, but the duck was excellent. The accompaniments were all outstanding. I had some kind of sweet potato with my lamb that was great (and I thought I didn't like sweet potato). We also ordered two side dishes (what were we thinking!?) - the fries and the creamed kale. Both great but they were overkill. They are probably intended for those ordering steaks, but, what can I say, we are gluttons and had to have them.

Speaking of gluttony, we ordered three desserts. The Lemon Meringue Creme Brulee, Creamsicle Parifait, and Deep Dish Chocolate Pie. All three were very good.

The service was lacking. Our waiter was an idiot, and we were highly unimpressed with him. Hopefully, our service experience is not indicative of the overall level of service there.

[SobaAddict70]

Let other restaurants do pork three ways. This one does it as a hefty, juicy chop with an apple ginger chutney and creamed corn. Let other restaurants dress their fish in minimalist attire. This one drapes its moist red snapper in avocado and mango and its crispy skate in a hailstorm of capers and a blanket of smoked chipotle butter, whose color you will never, ever guess.

That broiler needs better tending. Two of the four steaks I sampled weren't cooked to the requested doneness.

Bar Americain (Frank Bruni)

Soba

[evilhomer]

fries americain?

as if not saying 'french fries' isn't already asinine enough, to call them american fries and then francocise it - menu writing has reached a new low today

(happy st jean baptiste day - just around the corner)

[ellenesk]

Ate there for the second time last night.

Clams and PEI mussels were not as pristine as first visit, but the seafood cocktails, razor clams salad, green lip muscles and oysters were perfect.

They need a new cocktail specialists, I have yet to try one that did not taste medicinal

Service was friendly and informed.

[iheartoffal]

I was actually walking aimlessly around NYC yesterday when I basically stumbled across Bar Americain. I arrived just as the kitchen was closing for lunch, so I just ordered a martini. It was called a Dark n Stormy, which was made with goslings black seal rum, ginger, and fresh lime juice with some sugar on the rim. It was pretty good...quite refreshing after traipsing around the city in the sauna-like weather. The room is quite nice, too. Like Bruni said, orange is the predominant hue, but I happen to like orange.

[ewindels]

Worst. Restaurant. Ever.

Picture a giant TGIF, in both looks and atmosphere. (Devotees of Landmarc need only imagine Busters across the street to know the kind of crowd I’m talking about). Our table, despite my protests, was located right across from the packed bar, from which cro magnan bellows occasionally erupted. That was about all you could hear in the din – even our waiter had to have us repeat our orders several times before he could comprehend them. That was on the rare occasions that we actually saw him.

We were seated at 7:20PM. It took a good ten minutes to get drink orders in, and another ten to receive them. We had to flag down our own water. Finally we got our orders in, and then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

For fun we try to order some wine. Our waiter is nowhere to be found, so we flag down a bus boy, who sends over another waiter, who sends over a sommelier, and then our waiter turns up asking what we need. You get the idea. The staff is very light on actual waiters, heavy on bus boys who hurry about in a state of perpetual confusion. We also amuse ourselves by observing the various arguments breaking out between tables of People Who Think They’re Somebody and management. There is much stalking around and finger waving and gesticulating, which over the roar is pretty much the only way to communicate. Conversation is futile.

An hour after sitting down, our appetizers finally arrived. (See the full menu here). The best that can be said is that they were inoffensive. The clam and sweet potato chowder was a gummy, orange stew that was fine if unmemorable. Same for the crab cake (one, by the way, not very large, for $14). The lobster avocado “cocktail” tasted solely of tarragon, and weakly of that – of lobster or avocado there was no flavor. My artisanal ham tasting was cute: the same Smithfield ham three times paired with poached peaches, a miniature poppy seed biscuit, and the third pairing I couldn’t identify – I think it was cheese of some sort.

By now we’re on to our second bottle of Alvarinho (very nice, by the way, a 2004 Acuatas (sp?), because we’re… waiting. And waiting. Meanwhile Flay flits about, schmoozing and visiting this table or that. He never actually enters the kitchen that we can tell (and boy are we keeping track).

We’ve now been at the table an hour and a half. Where are our entrees, we finally beg our waiter on one of his rare appearances. Five minutes more, we’re told. Ten minutes later a host appears to tell us it will be another ten minutes. Fifteen minutes later the food finally appears, raucously overcooked and tepid (for those with a taste for the grotesque, they were: completely tasteless salmon, a pork chop the size of a brick and much the same consistency, and snapper with the texture of a radial tire). This put me over the edge. We got a manager and complained bitterly, were offered an apology and a promise of free food, which we amended by informing him that we weren’t paying for the booze either. After dutifully trying to swallow a few more bites of the inedible food, we stood up, collected our things and walked out. No one stopped us, or better yet apologized.

Now I’m usually disposed to think as kindly of a restaurant as possible, but after this if you paid me I wouldn’t enter another Flay property again (even Bolo, which I enjoyed very much). The place has been open three months, but I’ve been to opening nights of first time restauranteurs that were a better experience than this mess. For someone with several long-running properties in New York, there’s no excuse for this (nor was one ever offered). And that’s just our own specific experience: add on to that the raucous sports bar atmosphere and the mind numbing din. I’m well aware that there are lots of people who would love this place, and out-of-towners, particularly the type of over-aged frat-boy businessman with which the place was stuffed last night, will no doubt feel right at home. For people out for a culinary experience of any kind, save your money, your ears and your nerves and go anywhere else.

[JohnL]

Sounds like quite a scene!

That space is a real problem--it is simply too large in a way that is not very conducive to a restaurant.

I thought that the previous incarnation: Judson Grill was a very fine and somewhat underappreciated restaurant under a very good and underappreciated chef. (Bill Telepan).

Given the size and location and "celebrity" of the chef this new venture is destined to become a "tourist" spot. (not that there's anything wrong with that).

[iheartoffal]

Hmm, well, I'm glad I only went there for a cocktail!

[rich]

I going to start out by saying that I very much enjoy Bobby Flay's other two NYC restaurants. However, the meal I had at Bar Americain last week was very disappointing. It is grossly overpriced for what you get and the food that is served is just okay.

I could give a litany of things that went wrong, but suffice to say the worst was the Rack of Pork experience. We were two couples and the other gentleman ordered the "rack." While waiting (for an eternity) between apps and main course we were discussing how many chops would constitute a rack. I was high with four, the two wives said three and my friend said two.

We were all wrong, the "rack" turned out to be one (1) 3/4-inch pork chop about the circumference of bottle of wine. The chop would have filled up a small bread dish at best. For $27, the profit margin was probably $26.50. When I asked the waiter why the menu referred to a "rack," he told me that the chop was cut from a rack. Please - don't insult me!

By the way, my 3-ounce piece of salmon was tasty.

[rooftop1000]

Last Sauturday we went to see a matinee of Spamalot. Since buying the tix I had planned and overplanned going to Bar Americain, even debating meeting up with more people to try more items...I wanted just apps 7 of them maybe dessert.

We arrived out front at 4:15 of course they dont start serving till 5. We wondered off towards Ninth Ave and went to the Mercury Bar. Had oysters, crab cakes, wings, and coconut shrimp should have had a cheese or garlic bread to round it out but hit a bakery for a yummy instead....all total tax tip beers and bakery 85 dollars nothing to write home about but solid food.

So we "done good " huh??

T

[jturn00]

Oh, god. I hope things have improved! I am going to go there tonight for my mom's birthday.

Edited February 23, 2006 by jturn00 (log)

[Daniel]

Please report back.. I havent heard much about this place since it has opened..Maybe if you go expecting the worse anything above it, will be a surprise..

Edited February 23, 2006 by Daniel (log)