French bistros take all-American turn

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 8, 1988 by Joe Edwards

French bistros take all-American turn

Manhattan's love affair with bistro food is spawning several restaurants whose menus have a French accent but whose ambience is that of the all-American coffee shop.

Florent and Reggie's at 496 Ninth Ave. between 37th and 38th streets, an unlikely neighborhood for French food, is the latest of the bistros that have sprung up off the beaten track.

But there are others: Restaurant Florent, a popular, two-year-old bistro by night and diner by day at 69 Gansevoort St.; Chez Brigitte on Greenwich Avenue near Seventh Avenue South, with 11 seats one of the smallest restaurants in New York; and Everybody's, a tiny boite on Second Avenue between First and Second streets in the East Village.

Florent and Reggie's, which is scheduled to open any day now, will be operated by Florent Morellet, who also owns Restaurant Florent; Reggie Young, who helped open Memphis on Columbus Avenue; and David Brought, who has worked at The Four Seasons and Tre Scalina and most recently was sous chef at Provence, a popular Greenwich Village bistro.

Morellet's new place is situated in a no-man's-land of meat wholesalers and prostitutes, but it is within hailing distance of the new Jacob Javits Convention Center and nearby offices and residences, including the huge Manhattan Plaza artists' complex on West 42nd Street.

Like Restaurant Florent, the restaurant will be unpretentious and offer a good value, according to Morellet, who noted that dinner entrees would be priced from $7.75 to $13.50. But the decor is fancier--what Morellet called "high-style 1950s--a mix of contemporary and postmodern. Furniture includes the original cast aluminum chairs from the old Dubrow's Cafeteria, which closed several years ago.

Florent and Reggie's is "not a simple coffee shop like Florent," Morellet said. Many of the dishes will be the same bistro-brasserie fare that is served at the downtown counterpart, but the menu will be "more country than Florent and a tad more fanciful in plate presentation."

Among the unusual-for-Manhattan menu items are croque monsieur sandwiches --grilled ham, cheese, and egg combinations--and on-premises-made dessert selections that include apple charlotte rousses and country tarts.

Morellet said the food would reflect influences from Provence in southern France. At least two other restaurants specializing in Provence-style dishes, Aix-en-Provence on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea and Eze in midtown, have been attracting a lot of attention lately.

Florent and Reggie's dinner menu has eight or so entrees--including grilled chicken, leg of lamb, veal, skirt steak, and fish; sauteed frog legs; and boudin noir with apples and onions-- all served with vegetables and fries and a choice of mustard, shallot, or persil sauce. Prices range from $7.75 to $13.50.

The menu also has two soups, four salads (including frisee with goat cheese and garlic confit), sausages and pates, cheeses, gratinees, and miscellaneous items, such as escargot in garlic butter and homemade tripe. Special dishes, such as cassoulet, cous cous, pot au feu, duck steak, and bouillabaise, will be featured on the same nights every week.

A lunch menu lists many of the same items but also additional salads, a pasta and fish of the day, burgers, egg dishes, and charcuteries. Chicken and vegetable pie and sausage and leek pie will also be featured at lunch.

Young said that in addition to the 70 or so seats, the restaurant will have counter stools for customers who are so inclined. The restaurant will also add take-out and delivery service for nearby offices and residences.

Brought, who was a Four Seasons saucier for about three years, has designed the kitchen to include grills and vegetable steamers. Prep work and storage are in the basement.

Meanwhile, downtown, Restaurant Florent continues to pack in customers attracted by its simple, reasonably priced bistro fare and out-of-the-way location. The restaurant is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and is situated in the heart of a meat-packing district just north of Greenwich Village. Except for customers headed for Florent, the neighborhood is deserted at night.

Florent is a traditional coffee shop before 6 p.m.--all bright, fluorescent lights, formica, and stainless steel. The daytime menu is all bacon and eggs and hamburgers--dishes geared to the district's truck drivers and meat packers. At night the decor is the same, but the menu is French bistro-- grilled meats and fish, cassoulet, pot au feu, gratinees, and charcuteries.

Chez Brigitte, a hole-in-the-wall on Greenwich Avenue near Seventh Avenue South, is known for low prices and home-cooked meals. The menu features beef bourguignonne, veal ragout, roast chicken, chicken fricasee, mutton gigot, and veal cutlet, with entrees priced in the $6-to-$8 range.

Customers have a choice of sitting on one of six counter stools or five stools facing a shelf built into the side wall. The tiny storefront restaurant is equipped with a six-burner gas stove and oven, a bainmarie, and a refrigerator case. A sign in the window informs passersby that "Chez Brigitte will seat 250--11 at a time."