Bar Breton
by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
March 10, 2009
BEEF BOURGUIGNON
254 5th Ave
(28th & 29th Sts)
New York, NY 10001
212-213-4999
Chef Cyril Renaud opened Bar Breton, a brasserie counterpart to his classic restaurant, Fleur de Sel, at the end of last year. Sadly, Fleur de Sel closed last month, so now Chef Renaud is focusing on serving casual fare, like buckwheat crepes also known as galettes, from his native Brittany at Bar Breton.
Open for breakfast lunch and dinner, Bar Breton is a cozy spot, ideal for happy hour, a quick bite or a casual meal. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, with wooden booths along the corridor and a dining room in the back, which looks and feels like a living room, with both individual and communal tables. Lighting is dim — the cream-colored walls tinted orange by the red-trimmed ceiling pendants — evoking a rustic feeling of sundown in a small European town.
On two recent visits, I found Bar Breton comfortably low-key; I could enjoy my meal without long waits or pressure to rush.
The menu is comprised of a mix of modern and traditional Breton specialties, all of which are pretty rich.
I’ve enjoyed the salt baked potato with braised oxtail, snail and Parmesan chip, and the phyllo-crusted shrimp for appetizers. The potato is skinned and baked with shredded oxtail and chopped snail bourguignon. Topped with a large Parmesan crisp, it’s a rich and flavorful dish. The kataifi-encrusted shrimp is fun and crunchy to eat and well balanced by the accompanying cucumber salad.
The galettes, savory or sweet, are, unfortunately, just too dry and dull. Twice I tried the smoked forest ham, Gryuere, fried egg, mesclun and mushroom galette, which is beautifully presented as a large square with the four circular edges folded over just enough to reveal the egg in the center (image above). The mesclun is added on top as garnish. But both times, I lost interest after a while because of the texture of the galette: dry and rubbery.
The beef bourguignon, however, is a dish that should not be missed. In every culture, there is an equivalent beef stew dish, and I love all of them, but beef bourguignon has an unfair advantage with its star ingredient, Burgundy wine. The sauce is thin, not dense, and all ingredients — carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, pearl onions and beef — are cut into delicate pieces. The beef was so tender it moved me. Cleaning the plate with all the remaining bread, I made sure nothing went to waste.
For dessert, both the banana mousse profiteroles with chocolate sauce and the chocolate mousse are nice and fluffy. The crepe with sugar and lemon is simple, and the lemon slices are refreshing, but again it was just too dry overall. But I would have been just as happy closing the meal with a cup of Breton apple cider. They serve several excellent ciders both from Breton and the East Coast.
From the atmosphere to the service and cuisine, I really enjoy the easy comfort of Bar Breton. It’s the ideal setting to savor one of my favorite comfort foods, beef bourguignon.
Also in Beef, Flat Iron District, French
Eric Aerts
Mar 10, 09:07 AM
Hey Celia,
Just figured out that Cravings is your site – I’m a little slow on the up-take. Love it, particularly your new post (my father and grandmother live in Brittany).
In appreciation, I thought I’d share a recently indulged craving of mine – choucroute garnie (Alsace / Lorraine’s gift to the culinary world). If you’re not already familiar with it, it is a casserole of a variety of cured/smoked meats and sausages, slowly cooked in sauerkraut, potatoes, and onions, with white wine, juniper berries, pepper corns, and other optional seasonings. Prepared correctly, the meats become fork-tender and the kraut becomes buttery with the mixing of all the flavors – comfort food on steroids.
Needless to say, choosing the right meats and sausages is an integral part of the dish’s success, so on Sunday, Emiko (my wife) and I went to Linden (NJ) to a small, but locally-famous Polish delicatessen, called Syrena.
Waiting on line at the meat counter and nearly swooning from the amazing smells, it was clear that we were the only non-Poles in the very crowded store. The other customers waiting on line with us sensed our struggle to decipher the Polish signs – labeling the 15 or 16 varieties of kielbasa hanging on the wall – and within minutes, they, and the man behind the counter were schooling us (with samples) in the ways of Polish sausages. To call that pink stuff made by hillshire farms and sold in supermarkets “kielbasa,” is criminal. Every variety we tried was sublime and entirely unique from any of the other versions. One in particular (I will post a photo to your FB page) was so magnificent, that I think it may inspire a weekly pilgimage to Linden. It is smoked to the color of dark mahoganey (“all smoke – no steam” the man at the counter proudly announced) and is at once delicate and aromatic and rich. It was only one of several amazing meats (ham hocks, salt pork, and others sausages) that went into the pot, but I believe the consensus was clear that this was the star of the show and lent a lot of flavor to the pot.
If you like, the next time I go – I’ll pick up some of this Polish ambrosia for you.
E.
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