buvette

It's almost Bastille Day, so today my post will be about my favorite place for French eating in New York.

About this time last year, just after moving here, my friends and I discovered a sweet little French restaurant called Buvette. I think we were probably looking for somewhere to celebrate Bastille day. And I think I also fell asleep on the bar, exhausted from moving in and absorbing all of the newness of the city, while two of my favorite wine fanatics analyzed the finer points of a champagne into the early hours of the morning.

We have spent more time there over the past year than I could have imagined possible. From dinner with the girls (sometimes just chocolate mousse shared over extended analysis of other peoples weddings), to dinner with parents, to lingering sunday suppers that started when it was still light outside, to dinners (with my favorite crazed wine fanatics) that turned into five hour long bottle ordering competitions, this place has been a staple of my first year in this city.

If you go, this is what you must do - start with martinis and then ask for the beets. The beets are the single greatest creation you will ever eat...  so you will have to order a second plate of the beets. Then on to the duck rillettes all while annoyingly asking your waiter for more and more bread (and more and more wine). Eventually after the haricots verts have vanished and the cheeses and meats cleared away the server will appear at just the right moment with a quivering mound of chocolate mousse, usually without you even asking for it, which will result in you almost crying with joy that he sensed exactly what you wanted. Really, he had just overheard you talking about the mousse for the last two and a half hours.

Anyway, It really is the best little place. Go try it!

Bon weekend!