Balthazar--Manhattan

212.965.1414

Okay another institutional restaurant though not quite as "famous" as the other, lesser institutional restaurants I've critiqued.  Balthazar has been an industry standard sort of speak.  A place that is so well run, so consistent, and so fashionable that it is the bar for those looking to open a restaurant with the hopes of opening more.  So this is kind of a first for me, because I'm all a flutter with praise. First of all, Mcnally is a genius.  Not in a traditional I'm-solving-difficult-math-problems way, but rather he is quite masterful at creating restaurants that have an autonomy yet at the same time consistent service and operational standards.  Goodness gracious, I'm sounding a bit nerdy here.

This restaurant generally regarded as one of the better French bistros in NYC.  And why not?  They have oyster towers and a multidude of waiters and all sorts of official looking people scurrying to and fro.  It's big, and overwhelming, and when I'm there I feel like Ernest Hemmingway could sit down next to me.  To be honest there's a fair amount of Eurotrash, and since we went on our anniversary (and wifey wife is as pregnant as can bet) the snooty Soho Maitre D stuck us in the way back.  But who cares?  The French cuisine-arguably the most sophisticated cuisine on the planet- was exectuted with authentic detail.  Wifey wife had the onion soup and then a fish special and I had the steak tar tar and the mussels.  All of it was quite delicious.

So Iconman, what's with all of this reverence?  How is it you can shit all over 11 Madison Park and Peter Luger but you are practically offering Mcnally a rim job?  Good questions beloved nine.  I have respect for people who quietly create a perfect brand, without the pretension or ego.  I wasn't offered a menu of just proteins, nor was I expected to be impressed just because some douchebag local 111 waiter decided to eventually serve me.  No, with Balthazar, like any well run establishment, I left completely satisfied.