Brasserie Les Halles
So I've already written about our New York trip, and while there are probably a hundred other little stories that I can grab from it, I think the one that I find most noteworthy is our dinner at Les Halles.
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| Brasserie Les Halles (Source: highlimitzz flickr photostream) |
Now, the only reason we thought to visit this restaurant was because of the infamous Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations notoriety. The man certainly has his way of convincing us what food is worth eating and what's worth ditching. Because of this trait, we thought, what better place to visit than the brasserie that he used to cook in and still associates himself with, right?
Off we went to get dinner reservations at their Park Avenue location. I was pre-warned that the place can be packed even on weeknights and well into the evening. Which meant Les Halles was one of the earlier dining reservations I made, probably two weeks before we were meant to take our flight to the concrete jungle of dreams. This is where I got acquainted with Open Table.
Open Table is the ulimate gift to mankind. At least to the foodie people out there anyway. It's an on line service that allows you to make bookings at the restaurant of your choice anywhere in the United States of America and I loved it! All I had to do to finalize our dining IT was to go on line, pick my restaurants and make reservations with my laptop while I was sitting in bed, enjoying an episode of Modern Family and munching on some Ritz crackers and a glass of red. Easy! No more overseas calls, no more shuffling through the restaurant diary while the maitre d' and I tried to figure out which dates and times worked, all of that was perfectly laid out on line for me and completely automated. My O.C. soul is happy.
With late dinner booking on hand, we were finding our way to Les Halle. It was like trudging to mecca, and it felt like everyone was headed to the same place we were. When we got there, there was a clump of people outside waiting and hoping to be seated. Peering inside, it was packed to the rafters. We actually got a bit worried at this point thinking what if our reservations are a sham? Surely the automated on line reservations thing was just too good to be true? But we got in. It was a bit of a squeeze with the hostess literally needing to pull the table out for those of us opting to sit on the couch and pushing it back in once our tushes found the appropriate grooves. We measured, and our table was less than 6 inches away from the next one on each side. To say it was packed felt like an understatement then and now.
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| My one and only Les Halles souvenir & it wasnt even mine |
It was tight, dark, and not at all posh. It felt like a dark brasserie from the 1900s with faux (? or where they real ?) gas lamps. Not swanky at all but we loved it. It was so alive. Unfortunately, given the space and lighting constraints it was a bit of a challenge to take pictures -- it was possible, but like I said before, I still dont know enough about my camera to manage a decent photo indoors in the dark. Didn't really matter though, as soon as we had the menu all thoughts of photos were out the window. I only remembered once the dessert was out and only because I wasnt having any and needed to do something with my hands so I didn't order the flambe while I waited for the team to finish.
Don't ask me what everyone else had as I could not have cared less. I do recall that I had the most divine onion soup ($8.50) to start which I say was even better than what I've tried in Paris, then a nice medium steak au poivre ($23.50) for my mains. Yes my friends, I may be tiny, but I do love my steak. Coupled with a nice glass of red, this dinner definitely found its way to my top 20 list of best food experiences ever. [Btw, the guy waiting on us was funny, he smirked at those that ordered Coke with their meal rather than wine! haha We wouldn't be offended though as it was a travesty to waste good beef on soda but you cant force vino on someone who doesn't drink either] Well, I might be biased mind you because of the whole Bourdain thing, but it was still well cooked steak and it doesn't take more than that to convince me.
Will I be back? Yes, I still miss that thick gooey onion soup -- much more than I miss the steak actually. Maybe next time I'll try the lunch menu and see if I learn enough about my camera to take photos this time.
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