FoodMayhem

We arrived a few minutes before our friends, Elvira and Chris, so I started browsing the menu of The New French 522 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. It was my suggestion to eat there so I started getting nervous as I scanned a list of dishes that was all over the place. They have burgers, hanger steak, mussels and fries, as expected of, what I thought was, a French Bistro. But then there was Pho (a Vietnamese dish), Vegetable and Fish Curry (don’t know exactly what style, could be Thai, Indian, Moroccan, etc), and Pulled Pork (Southern?). Then I spotted something about Yuzu and Scallion sauce for their steak. What kind of restaurant was this?

We relied heavily on our waitress to guide us through choices, decided on a bottle of Gewurztraminer, and just had to keep our fingers crossed. The Mussels and Fries was a main course but we decided to share that as an appetizer for four. The simple garlic and white wine preparation was flavorful, a tad richer than usual, with plump mussels, all wide open. The cone of fries were thin and crispy, just the way I like them, but under-seasoned.

We also shared the House-Made Garlic Pork Sausage: a juicy sausage in crisp skin.  It was another simple, but well prepared dish. It arrives cut into pieces, which made for easy sharing, and the red pepper relish brightened it up and made it a little more interesting. Thank goodness for the greens. (I’m embarrassed here, having just mentioned how my mom always taught me to have balanced meals.)

Lon and Chris both had Hanger Steak, each one cooked the way they asked for it, Lon’s rare and Chris’ medium. The meat was juicy and and the yuzu scallion did not taste as Asian as I expected, more like a chunky scallion chimichurri. It all worked well together and the generous pile of fries here were nicely seasoned.

I was really impressed with the Roasted Chicken Elvira ordered. I hardly ever order chicken because there’s a large risk of it being dry, but this was such an impressively juicy piece. As if to show off, it was a really thick, evenly cooked, cream colored breast, sliced in thick pieces yet the skin was still neatly attached. I didn’t try the rest of her plate but the plate was cleaned and I would order this chicken dish again.

I ordered the Chili and Beer Braised Pulled Pork on Brioche. It arrived later than the rest of the dishes so our waitress gave us an extra bottle of wine on the house! It turned out to be my least favorite dish though.  The sauce was making the bread soggy on the bottom, though the flavor was a nice balance of sweetness, beer-ness, porkiness, and heat. My plate also had a generous heaping of fries so we definitely ate a lot of fries that night, but no one was complaining. After the first one being under-seasoned, the rest were all great, hot, crispy, salty, and addictive.

We were stuffed. The portions are pretty big, so we shared one dessert, Banana Tempura with Roasted Banana Ice Cream. It’s drizzled with chocolate and toasted sliced almonds. This is any banana lovers’ (me and Lon) heaven. The whole plate had a very natural, fresh banana flavor, with a controlled sweetness.

With two cappuccinos, a double espresso, and a mint tea, (and don’t forget, we got an extra entree) it all amounted to about $47 per person (including tax and tip) — not bad at all. It’s a good place when you’re craving Steak Frites or Roasted Chicken, comforting bistro classics. Unfortunately, the space is nothing interesting to look at and the tables are packed closely together, but it’s the kind of place you go to with family, in jeans and a sweatshirt, ready to pig out.

posted by jessica at 09:27 PM Filed under Fusion or Mixed, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.