Benoit NYC

I’ve been to Benoit three times now…once when I left HRG in 2008, once in 2010, and in 2011. It’s a recreation of a famous French restaurant that was converted from a pharmacy into a bistro, and owned by the Alain Ducasse restaurant group. The restaurant has three distinct areas…the bar, which has outside seating, the main dining room, and private rooms upstairs, which look like you walked into an old school pharmacy. (By the way, you have to take a very small elevator up to the private rooms, but it’s worth asking about taking a peek at them).

The evening started in the bar with an unremarkable glass of Chenin Blanc from the Loire valley. That was followed by a much more interesting glass of Lanson Brut Rose Champagne. This was a lighter style rose clearly meant as an aperitif. I hate to categorize champagnes that way as I believe them to be incredibly versatile, but I could not see this holding my attention with food, and there are too many other champagnes that I like better. Grade of C.

My dining partner, Sean, and I were greeted at the bar by Andre, the current Sommelier. Sean has known Andre for years, but I met him originally at Alain Ducasse’s signature restaurant in NY, called ADNY. He’s a terrific Somm, and a nicer guy. After ADNY, I also had the pleasure of seeing him at meals at Adour, and now at Benoit. If you go, and have any questions about wine, spirits, or general liquids, don’t be afraid to ask Andre. He’s that good, and his recommendations are spot-on.

As I was picking out the wines for the meal, and Andre knew Sean, he brought us over the Reserve wine list. This is a ledger style book where the pricing is hand-written for all the wines, of which there are many. Unfortunately for me, the Reserve list was a bit too Reserve for me (read expensive), so I asked for a recommendation. As per our normal, Sean and I were looking for a white to start, and a red with the entrees. We finally decided on two wines, the 2009 J. Mellot le Montarlet Sancerre from the Loire and the 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aine La Chapelle Hermitage.

I didn’t have any expectations on the J. Mellot. I was just looking for something to go with the appetizers, and something that wasn’t overly heavy. What we got was a terrific wine, and a very good value. Sauvignon Blanc often times has a grassy/hay nature, along with a characterization often referred to as “cat urine”. I hate saying it, much less thinking about it or tasting it. However, this wine was bright, full of acid (but not overly so), had lovely citrus flavors and mineral notes. Terrific…Grade of A- based on delivery versus expectation.

Then came the Hermitage. I’ve never had a Jaboulet, much less an aged one. Professional notes on this wine say it has great potential, but is quite backwards and tannic and thus may never really open. We didn’t have that problem with this bottle. The wine was a deep red color and had a bouquet that was actually quite fragrant and floral, with clear notes of red fruit. On the palate the wine was a nice combination of concentrated fruit, showing both smooth tannins and some acid, with flavors of dark berry cassis, grilled meats, pepper and spice. Showing quite well and open, it matched with the food well. A solid experience for me as I usually don’t like syrah-based wines, but the Rhone valley is really a different animal from California in this regard. Grade of B+.

On to the food. Benoit has a lot of starters to choose from, but what caught our attention was a small piece of paper and a golf pencil on the table with our menus. On this paper were about 9 appetizers, and you had the choice of either selecting 3 or 5 choices. Think of it as an Appetizer tasting menu, or a selection of Amouse Bouches (at least in terms of size). I choose a Crab cocktail with avocado & grapefruit, Egg mayo, and the Crispy Pied de Cochon (mostly because I didn’t know what it was).

The Crab cocktail was very good. The sweetness of the Crab was offset by both the smoothness of the avocado, as well as the tartness of the grapefruit. The Egg mayo was one egg split and prepared two different ways. The first was like a deviled egg. I don’t like deviled eggs, but this was quite good. The second was like a hard-boiled egg, but covered in a semi-hard shell made of what seemed to be hollandaise sauce. It was more interesting than great.

Lastly was the Crispy Pied de Cochon. As I mentioned, I didn’t know what this was, but I knew that it would be crispy, which means fried and I like fried, and that it came with tartar sauce. I honestly was thinking that it was fish based. Well, not exactly. Pied de Cochon is actually pig trotters, or to further translate, pig’s feet. I didn’t find this out until I got home and looked it up. All in all, I’m glad I got it, although not because it was great. They were very good and interesting, but the experience was more valuable.

For my entrée I ordered the Duck breast with daikon radish. For those of you who know me, I love duck. Additionally, my personal opinion is that you always get the best duck dished in authentic French restaurants/bistros. When in France, if Duck confit is on the menu, I’m all over it. In any case, this course furthers my theory. The dish was two strips of duck breast, each about four inches long, 1½ inches wide, and 1½ inches thick, served with triangles of daikon radish. The duck had been cooked medium in the center, with the skin still on and crispy. Yum is all I will say.

While I don’t remember what Sean ordered for his appetizers, he ordered the steak frites as his entrée. I expected the steak to be a hanger steak, but it looked like a rib-eye when served. It was done to perfection (ordered medium rare). The frites, which came out in a big bowl, where also excellent. Honestly, not as good as the ones at DBGB the prior week, but still very good and we finished every last frite.

While Sean and I don’t typically do desserts when we dine together, Alain Ducasse’s restaurants often have one of Sean’s favorites…Rum Babba. This is a moist piece of cake smothered in fresh cream, and Rum. At ADNY, when you ordered the Rum Babba, they brought over to the table a Rum cart that would rival any cheese cart for its number of selections of Rum. Not being the fan of Rum that Sean is, I ordered a Chocolate soufflé. I must say that I really enjoy Chocolate soufflé, or soufflé of any type actually. This one was served with vanilla ice cream, but no sauce poured into it. Good, but not great.

Overall, Benoit is a cool place. Not cheap, but the food is top notch French bistro fare. Keep it in mind if you are in mid-town.