05.27
On St. Patricks day, after inching through thousands of drunken retards in Times Square, I dined at Bar Americain, a restaurant owned by “Iron Chef” Bobby Flay.
Upscale without being “posh”. What you have is classic American “bar” food, prepared gourmet-style and served by impeccably polite waiting staff.
My appetizer was a plate of kettle-style potato chips with blue cheese sauce for dipping. Simple and excellent.
My main course was this: a “Kentucky Hot Brown”. Essentially, the grilled turkey/cheese sandwich of the gods, topped with crisp bacon & tomato….
One end of the turkey was a little dry, but it was otherwise mouth-wateringly good. The beverage you see in that pic is a rather excellent stout from Brooklyn.
The wife chose this as her main course: a grilled pizza, topped with bacon, caramelised onions and toasted garlic.
She rated it as excellent, though she prefers the cheese on her pizzas to be more ‘browned’ than was the case here.
For dessert, we shared this wonderous entity: the Bourbon Praline Profiterole, with vanilla bean ice cream and berries.
Bourbon…dessert. How can you go wrong? It was glorious.
The interior of the place is beaut. High-ceilinged, and not too loud despite the lunchtime crowd. It makes for a wonderful refuge from the insane bustle of Times Square. It is also one of the few places where the waiters can address you as Monsieur and Madame without coming across as insufferably pretentious.
Elegant yet cozy. A simple menu filled with depth and complexity. Lively but not noisy. Gourmet-quality but not expensive. Bar Americain is the best of both worlds.
Recommended without hesitation.
Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the best French onion soup I’ve ever had, made with Vidalia onions and sharp cheddar. I would have thought Vidalias would be too sweet for soup, but I was deliciously, gloriously wrong.