Amy, Kristin and I had scheduled a Tribeca dinner outing in the New Year and all 3 of us had Racines on our list. It is the NYC location of a Parisian bistro that had gotten rave reviews from the NY Times. It's not quite in the heart of Tribeca - it's more like this grey area between Tribeca and City Hall. The restaurant drew kind of an older crowd despite them having a weird playlist of Biggie and then 80's music.
Regardless of the slight imbalance, it is a lovely place. The menu isn't French bistro food but it is high end cuisine. I was craving cheese for some reason, so we started with the cheese plate ($18) which came with 3 fabulous cheeses ranging from a strong blue cheese to a mild cow's mild and served with a incredibly fresh honey spread and fruit jam. It was served with this amazing warmly sliced bread that made the combination of the cheese, bread and jam wonderfully delicious. Before we got our main entrees, we had each ordered wine and since I'm not a huge scholar on French wine I had asked our waiter for a recommendation. He had told me about one that had a funky/earthy taste and I just had to try it. Lo and behold, the wine (La Grange Aux Bellles, Brise d’Aunis, Pineau d’Aunis) was exactly how he described it. I know it's hard to imagine red wine being described as funky but it honest to god had a funky but pleasant aftertaste.
Before our main entree, the chef brought out an amuse bouche of escargot. I was pretty surprised that they served 4 medium sized bites of escargot as an amuse bouche. Amy and Kristin were a bit weary of it, but I actually really enjoyed it. It had a lot of tasty garlic flavor but I can see how knowing that you're eating snail can be off putting for some people. For my main entree, I opted for the hanger steak with Brussels sprouts and a shredded squash side that was stuffed with beef cheeks ($35). Both Amy and Kristin got the scallops ($35) which looked amazing. They were huge and firm and the one small bite I had was really delicious. Usually just eating scallops isn't very filling, so this dish also came with ricotta and spinach stuffed agnolotti pasta that looked divine. Meanwhile my hanger steak was cooked to perfection. It was the right amount of pink on the inside - it was actually very rare but that is exactly how I like my steak. The Brussels sprouts were nicely roasted but what really pushed this dish over the culinary edge was the squash stuffed with beef cheeks. I mean, who serves you tender hanger steak and then gives you a side of beef cheek?!? It was a wonderful meat dish - very well done.
Shockingly we all still left room for dessert and the waiter recommended the chocolate and caramel tart ($11). As someone who doesn't love chocolate desserts, this is the kind of dessert that I know I should appreciate but just couldn't love. It was too heavy on the chocolate and it was all I could taste, which made it too sweet for me. I wasn't a huge fan but honestly I was so full that it didn't really bother me.
Now that I know that the original place is in Paris - I would love to check it out as well. Neither the decor nor the menu scream French bistro but irregardless, the food is delicious. For those of you who work downtown and looking for a nice place to take a client out to dinner, this would be a great recommendation. Total bill: $75/pp with tax, tip and wine
Photo Credit: Yelp
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