Love steak frites? That’s all you can get at this classic French bistro in NYC
The scene: This part of midtown Manhattan is a high-rent district, a place for power breakfasts and expense account meals, which makes the large and high-profile corner location of Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecôte all the more mystifying. It occupies a generous piece of ground-level storefront real estate in the base of an office block that is home to financial giant the Blackstone Group, the headquarters of the National Football League and the Irish Consulate, on a street lined with fashionable clothiers. Yet by Big Apple standards the place is a bargain, and it is far from hip or trendy – its menu is not only unchanged since opening, it’s unchanged since the original mother restaurant opened in Paris 60 years ago.
Inside it has a classic French bistro feel, with tables simply covered with white, yellow or orange tablecloths, and then covered with white paper, topped with upside-down generic all-purpose wine glasses and napkins. Tables are set astonishingly close to one another, even though there are a lot of them – it’s a big place that seems to go on and on. Efficiency and speed seem to be prized commodities here, and breakfront-style service stations are conveniently distributed so nothing is too far away for servers – all of whom appear to be women, dressed like maids with black uniforms and white aprons. There is a wall of wine bottles and a heavy dark service bar in back, but the majority of the decor is comprised of many colorful, whimsical paintings, some of Venice, for reasons that become apparent with the namesake story behind the place. The atmosphere is warmer than it should be considering the heavy dark woods and tight quarters, and it has quite the following: The solo diner at the next table told his waitress that he comes every time he visits the city on business, and made his reservation as soon as he booked his plane ticket.
Reason to visit: Steak frites
The food: If you love steak frites, hate choosing what to eat, are seeking a bargain red meat meal in one of the world’s priciest cities, or simply want a fun dining experience different from pretty much everything else out there, Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecôte has you covered. On the other hand, if you are a vegetarian, stop reading and go someplace else.
The original Le Relais de Venise (Venetian Inn) was an Italian restaurant in Paris. After a winemaking French family bought it in 1959, they decided to serve only one traditional and beloved bistro dish, steak frites. For the steak part, the founder chose entrecote, a confusing cut that means different things in different places, but in France is traditionally cut from the sirloin and is in the same family as the New York strip or simply strip steak. Because they already had the name of the restaurant in neon, he added the word entrecote underneath, explaining the rather confusing name that has nothing to do with any cuisine remotely Italian or Venetian.
Today the New York eatery (there was a second location downtown in Soho but it recently closed) is known by fans simply as L'Entrecôte, and has the same neon signage in the window. The original eatery still stands in Paris's 17th arrondissement where it’s known as L'Entrecôte Porte-Maillot, and the group is run by the second generation of the family, along with three outposts in London and one in Mexico City. All serve the same signature dish – and little else.
There is no menu, since you can only opt for the set course – everyone comes for the steak frites, and everyone is having it. You simply tell your waitress how you like your steak cooked: rare, medium, well done, or in the true French style, blue, or extra rare. The waitress then draws a tic-tac-toe like grid on the white paper tablecloth with initials demarking everyone’s choice, so that when you get refills later there is no mistake. That’s the other quirky signature of this place: refills on both steak and fries, though oddly there is a surcharge for seconds of salad. It’s worth it because the salad is really good, and the first round is included in the sole menu option. You get a starter of green salad with crushed walnuts tossed with a tangy and addictive mustard vinaigrette, simple but quite good. Then you get slices of the steak served from large trays filed with various done-ness options to meet the needs of all the guests at your table, alongside a mound of skinny classic pomme frites. The set meal, including seconds on steak and fries, is $29.95. You also get a basket of French bread.
The steak itself is good, pleasantly fatty, and a good value that is easily superior to fast-casual chain offerings. But for many customers, the reason the place is so popular is the special sauce, a butter and cream-based carefully guarded house secret that has a cult-like following. Longtime New York Magazine restaurant critic Adam Platt cites French paper Le Monde for revealing that the key secret ingredient is an infusion of chicken-liver essence, and Platt calls it “ruinously addictive.” It is very good, elevating the already impressive meat, and along with the delicious salad and standout fries, few leave unsatisfied. For me, the exceptional bottomless fries were the very best part, skinny and crispy but with hand-cut irregularity, fresh and hot from the fryer every time they came out, and perfect for mopping up the dreamy sauce.
It doesn’t get much simpler than this, and even the wine list follows suit, just with a handful of bottles, each the sole representative of a grape or region: there’s one Malbec, a Cote du Rhone, a private label L'Entrecôte Bordeaux and just a few others, and all are as expensive or up to twice as much as the entire meal. Then there is dessert, the biggest decision to be made here, if you are still hungry – many guests are not. The slate represents a colorful array of French classics including a pretty good take on profiteroles swimming in chocolate sauce, a merely average cheese plate and a disappointing Mont Blanc, a pureed chestnut and whipped cream tower named for Europe’s highest peak. In general, the desserts are fun and add French fair, but the main attraction is the set meal, a bargain-priced detour to Old Europe in the Big Apple and a hearty, satisfying, fun, change of pace – with that great sauce.
Rating: Yum! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)
Price: $$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)
Details: 590 Lexington Avenue, New York City; 212-758-3989; additional locations in London, Paris, Mexico City; relaisdevenise.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Love steak frites? That’s all you can get at this classic French bistro in NYC
