NYC French Bistrots

[ieatfire]

After months of lurking around and thoroughly enjoying myself here, I've got a question:

I'm going to be in NYC at the end of the month, and am looking for a bistro-type place that won't mind a couple of people sitting (and eating and drinking lots) for several hours. Someplace that's got good mussels, bread, cheese and charcuterie plates, and, especially, a kickass hanger steak. The Village/Chelsea would be best, but just about anywhere in lower Manhattan will do.

Merci in advance.

[sammy]

Balthazar, late at night. Has all you're looking for and more. Some of the best french fries I have ever had. Mussels were delicious. My friend had the steak and said it was great. I'm not sure if it was hangar but I'd bet it was available. Their breads are some of the best in the city and they now wholesale to many restaurants and gourmet shops.

Call NOW for a reservation or take your chances at a table in the bar area.

[jogoode]

It's not French bistro but Craft has an incredible hangar steak, maybe skirt, i forget. They have some of the best oysters I've had in the city. Cheese and charcuterie. Possibly mussels.

[phaelon56]

Perhaps not in the same class as Balthazar but a bit more moderately priced and generally easier to get a table at is Steak Frites on West 16th (or 17th?). They're a block or two west of Union Square. I've had better frites (by a small margin) elsewhere but the hanger steak was good, the mussels were excellent and we never felt rushed or pressured to move along, even though we were there for a couple hours.

[Schneier]

Balthazar is where you want to go, but it's way too noisy for my tastes.

[adegiulio]

Capsouto Freres is always a good choice. In Tribeca...

[phaelon56]

Balthazar is where you want to go, but it's way too noisy for my tastes.

I weould say the same of Markt as well. the food is fine but it's a "scene" place (or was when I was there a couple years ago) and seems to be a bigger attraction for people watching at the bar than it is for food.

La Luncheonette out on 10th Ave at W. 18th might also be a good choice. It has decidedly more of a bistro atmosphere than Steak Frites. Haven't eaten there but have heard good things.

[mikeycook]

A couple other options, although I can't be sure they have all of your menu options.

Bistro Les Amis (180 Spring @ Thompson)

My wife and I have gone here a lot. It is reasonably priced by NY bistro standards. They had a hanger steak for a while that was very good. I haven't had it for a while.

La Ripaille (60 Hudson betw. W. 12th and Bethune)

This is actually where I proposed to my wife. It is also reasonably priced, but I am not sure if they have hanger steak or mussels.

Both are relaxing, unstuffy places where you can linger for a while (at least in my experience) and both have solid food.

If you want to go relatively cheap for mussels and frites, I recommend Petite Abeille, which is a chain of a small Belgian places in the city. I have been to the one in Tribeca and the one in the West Village and enjoyed both (almost nothing as good as mussels, frites, and Chimay rouge).

I personally love Balthazar, but at these two places you can have a nice conversation and hear your dining companions.

[alacarte]

The Brasserie (upper East Side)

L'Express (lower Park Ave, near 20th St)

Cafe Deville (3rd Ave, near 13th St.)

[MichaelB]

Park Bistro

[rozrapp]

Park Bistro

While Park Bistro is one of our favorite French restaurants, it would not meet the criteria listed by ieatfire:

Someplace that's got good mussels, bread, cheese and charcuterie plates, and, especially, a kickass hanger steak.

While the two types of bread they serve -- sourdough and French -- are both excellent, I don't remember the last time I saw mussels on the menu; I've never seen a charcuterie plate listed; though they usually offer a steak dish, it's hanger steak only from time to time; and they serve a very limited selection of cheeses.

[Bux]

I'm a fan of Balthazar, but I don't think I've seen hanger steak on the menu, and at peak dining hours the noise can be terribly distracting, but with only two people at the table, you can usually conduct a conversation. The mussels are good and the bread and fries are excellent. I've never had cheese or charcuterie there and don't know what kind of selection they have. The suggestion to go later in the evening when the crowd may thin out a bit is a good one in my opinion. I've almost always had a wait of 15 minutes or more even with a reservation at peak hours. For a table in the bar area without a reservation the wait can be a hour.

Pastis, the sister restaurant to Balthazar is, if anything, noisier, but it's further west in the Village and just south of Chelsea. The menu is different and I haven't been there very much, so I can't say as much about it.

There's a place around the corner from Balthazar, le Jardin Bistro that used to have hanger steak and mussels on their regular menu. As I recall the hanger steak was pretty dependable, but on the whole, the place suffered from inconsistency, although probably a good buy at the price. I don't recall their having cheese, and charcuterie was limited to a pate.

[Suzanne F]

Les Halles, the downtown one, is relatively quiet and uncrowded for dinner, and has the menu items mentioned.

[nywebchic]

How about Le Jardin Bistro ?

[Felonius]

Le Jardin Bistro gets my vote, though I'm not sure if they have mussels on the menu. They have very reasonable prices for NYC as well.

Balthazar and Pastis have solid renditions of all the food items you are looking for, but are so jam packed all the time they may not be keen on letting you linger (unless you're Robert Deniro or Giselle).

I've eaten at Markt a few times and thought the food mediocre at best.

Edited December 13, 2003 by Felonius (log)

[SethG]

I'm a Jardin Bistro fan, but I don't know if it's the place to sit for several hours. It's a popular date destination. A nice place in Chelsea that I never see talked about on eGullet is L'Acajou, at 53 W. 19th Street (btwn 5th and 6th Aves). They have a good bistro menu that I believe includes hangar steak, and I'm no expert but I think they have a good, relatively reasonable wine list. I'm not sure about the mussels, though. They're open until 1 a.m., they're very friendly and casual, and they are happy to let you sit at a banquette for hours, enjoying leisurely service.

Edit: welcome, ieatfire!

Edited December 14, 2003 by SethG (log)

[Felonius]

I'm a Jardin Bistro fan, but I don't know if it's the place to sit for several hours. It's a popular date destination.

You have a point. It's a bit easier to linger there in the summer when the garden seating is open. Then no one wants to sit in the front, so hanging out there usually isn't a problem.

I like the food at Les Halles very much, but I hesitate to recommend it for the same reason. The one on Park Avenue is always crowded and under pressure to turn tables.

[ieatfire]

Wow. I'm happily overwhelmed - they all sound great. Thank you so much; I'll report back after we come back!

[Bux]

I had the mussels at Balthazar this evening. The snow was a blessing. That it turned to rain was even better. Early in the day I called to see if there had been any cancellations. All they could offer was 5:30 and 10:00 PM. I figured people would cancel later. I called back at six and they offered me a 7:30 reservation and actually sat me as soon as I arrived. The mussels were very good. The put cream in the pot, so the broth is rich and they put celery in the pot as well which seems very Belgian rather than French, but tastes good anyway. The mussels were small, but plump and well cooked. The accompanying fries were excellent as well. The bread, both the white and French rye is also very good. In fact, the rye with butter is the perfect bread with oysters. It reminds me of the bread that accompanyies oysters in Parisian brasseries. Interestingly enough, the oysters I've had in Paris in recent years have not been as good as the ones in Balthzar. A carafe of Muscadet was perfect with both the oysters and the mussels.

I thought we might be the only New Yorkers in the place tonight. I guess it was the locals who cancelled and called for take-out food. Mrs. B asked the waitress if all of her tables were out of towners and she said only about two thirds of them. New York, for those who haven't noticed, is full of tourists. It's been hard to get a hotel room at almost any price. Traditionally, the week the tree is lit in Rockerfeller Center, is the busiest week for tourism in New York, but tourism has been slack in NY. This season it seems back in style.

The couple from Seattle had a good time in NY. They spent their money on theater and dining, but the ladies from Wales sitting next to them, were determined to get a lot of Christmas shopping done. We thanked then for their efforts to right the capsizing dollar. New Yorkers will rarely start a conversation with strangers in a restaurant, but we're just reserved, not unfriendly. We'll generally answer questions. At any rate, we gave the Seattle couple some restaurant tips, especially for le Bernardin and Oceana when we found out he was in the fish and seafood business and writing a fish cookbook. She, by the way, collects cookbooks. We also suggested they log on to eGullet.com. Both tables seemed tickled pink to be in NY which was nice to hear.

I noticed Balthazar had a cheese plate, but really don't know how good the cheeses are, or if they arrive cold as in many NY restaurants. A good tip in many restaurants is to order the cheese early in case it's served too cold. I forgot to check on the charcuterie offerings. It was an off night and not only was there no line waiting to be seated at 8:30, but there were a couple of empty tables. My observation may be atypical, but we weren't rushed to leave after dinner. Come to think of it, I am often aware of a line of people waiting for a table and thus self conscious about hogging one myself after I've finished my espresso, but I don't ever recall feeling rushed after dinner or during dinner if I take a few moments to finish my wine before ordering dessert.

[Felonius]

I dined out as well tonight, and was thankful for the inclement weather. I'm very glad to see tourism picking up in NYC, but I've resigned myself to the fact that this also means I will probably not a get a decent meal in this city until January. The restaurants are so packed right now that even weeknights have become almost unbearable in high end dining establishments across the city. I've even had a hard time securing a table for lunch at many of my regular spots. I haven't seen this sort of demand since before 9/11.

[laurenmilan]

Just went out to Bistro Les Amis the other night, very good, unpretentious French bistro. Really enjoyed it!

[jogoode]

I did make the trip and ended up out in Clifton NJ on a Hotwire bid.

Hope you stayed away from Clifton's French bistros and went straight for their hot dogs.

[menton1]

Believe it or not, the best and most authentic French bistro around is Tournesol, in Long Island City, Queens, just over the Queensboro Bridge. Detailed discussion on this thread: Tournesol Thread

[jgould]

good or bad: don't be bashful!

ues: demarchelier, ferrier, orsay, la goulue, l'absinthe, le clown, quartorze bis, jacque's bistro

les: le pere pinard

midtown east: montparnasse, le bateau ivre, jubilee, les halles, madison bistro,

uws: cafe luxembourg

midtown west: la bonne soupe, un deux trois

w. village: chez jacqueline

soho: raoul's

[SobaAddict70]

Jgould, it might be helpful if you could provide a bit more context in rating all of those restaurants.

I note that all of those restaurants are French, although I'm not sure exactly what genre they all constitute (i.e., all bistro as opposed to cafe-style places as opposed to the cuisine of a specific region of France).

Should also note that even though Montparnasse is located across the street from my apartment, I've never been there (not to mention, I've never been to any of the places you mention).

My favorite French place is Country Cafe, on Thompson Street in SoHo. Friendly bistro, wonderful lobster bisque, tarte tatin.

Soba