Brasserie Cognac recently opened a restaurant branch right next to Central Park South. At first glance of the menu, it seemed rather basic, but I figured if a restaurant opened in this area, it should be pretty decent. On a Saturday evening, we were able to walk in without reservations and were seated immediately. My first thought looking around was that there are a decent amount of tourists. This restaurant is part of the Serafina family.
Sirrah is a fairly new restaurant near the Meatpacking District. One of its appeals to me was that it offers a relatively decently priced prix fixe menu. I felt like it was similar to some of these French restaurants, e.g. Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote, that offered steak frites. Reservations are pretty easy to get, even a day before so we got a 5:30 PM reservation for a Friday. Because the weather was nice outside, they also opened the side doors to let fresh air in. The entrance to the restaurant is not very loud.
Le Chêne (Le Chene) is the first solo project for husband/wife team, Alexia Duchêne and Roman Duchêne Le May. The menu features refined French recipes with an extensive wine list. When I looked at the menu, it was appealing because it seemed to resonate French with a slight rustic feel to it. I was able to book a reservation for 2 a few weeks out without issues. You can’t miss this restaurant with its yellow door.
Le Veau d’Or is French for “the golden calf”. Making reservations for 2 for this was incredibly difficult as it gets sniped the moment the reservations come up. Luckily I checked a random time, and I noticed there was some 5:00 PM slots opened on a Wednesday. This is one of the hottest restaurants in the city because it’s a revived restaurant from the Frenchette and Le Rock chef/owners, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr. The food is expected to taste much better than the restaurant’s previous life.
La Tête d’Or by Daniel is a tribute to timeless flavors and traditions with infusion of French flavors. What attracted me with this restaurant was that chef Daniel Boulud has a pretty decent track record of delivering good refined flavors. We went to Le Gratin previously, and we were very impressed by the taste of everything. As usual because he also holds some type of celebrity status, this restaurant is located in a posh area very close to Eleven Madison. I was able to book a reservation about a week out for 5:30 PM on a Friday night.
Zimmi’s is a new little French restaurant that recently just opened in the West Village. Its menu comes from chef Maxime Pradié, who draws influences from homestyle Southern French cooking. I looked on Resy, and I was able to get a reservation for 2 at 5:15 PM on a Friday evening. When I arrived, it really resonated the classic West Village restaurant, where the word “quaint” and “rustic” are often used together to describe the ambiance and food.
We’re in a mood of exploring some of the food places down near the Financial District. I was looking around, and there weren’t too many options. Le Gratin happened to be from renown chef, Daniel Boulud, so I figure this would be a safe choice. This is located right next to the Beekman Hotel, and there are entrances via the street or through the hotel. We easily made reservations for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Friday without much advance notice.
We’ve walked past this restaurant several times eating at various restaurants prior to watching a theater show. Tonight, we had to eat something before our 7 PM show. We made a reservation for this restaurant for 5 PM without any trouble. When you walk in, it seemed like a very bustling restaurant. Looking at the menu prior, I didn’t find it all that interesting, but we thought this was a good day to try it since we had to eat fast.
This restaurant has been on my radar for years, and we finally got a chance to try this. What was appealing to me was the price and options that they had. Not only was it steak frites, but you had the opportunity to try different types of steaks if you really wanted. We had an early afternoon theater showing, and this location was within minutes. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Sunday without reservations, though they told us that we had to finish our food within 2.5 hours.
Frevo was a restaurant that has been on my partner’s list for some time. When we went to Atomix Bar, the chef had also highly recommended the restaurant. The head chef Franco Sampogna is Brazilian and comes from the region that my partner is from. The entrance to the restaurant has a very tiny art gallery, and it’s been recognized on the Michelin Guide with 1 star. We were able to reserve this a few weeks back without any issues.