All the dish by Brand Goldfarb - Brief Article

PARIS IN NEW YORK

As any seasoned traveler knows, there is no better way to soak up the atmosphere of a foreign city than by parking yourself in a restaurant or cafe there, pointing to what the couple next to you is having, and letting yourself be transported by whatever the waiter brings to the table. But how many of us know that one of the greatest ways to travel to Paris can be done by staying on the island of Manhattan? The abundance of Paris-centric restaurants dotting the New York culinary landscape right now means that a trip to "the city of light" is, at most, a cab-ride away. Herewith are six quick fixes when you've just got to have Paris.

MAN RAY 147 West 15th St., 212-929-5000

What happens when a hot Paris based-restaurant offering American-inspired cooking is imported to New York? Well, when names like Johnny Depp and Sean Penn are listed as investors, you get New York's restaurant-of-the-moment. Located in a former firehouse, man ray has been transformed into a split-level establishment, with vague Asian influences upstairs (a mural depicting a sari-clad harem), and 19thcentury French below (lots of tufted claret-colored velvet). Though more Pier One than Moulin Rouge, it's a multi-culti environment in keeping with the food. With offerings ranging from the playful (baked scallops with baba ghanoush) to the prosaic (gently seasoned rack of lamb), executive chef Frederic Kieffer has composed a Frenchman's version of a New York menu--just consider the foie-gras and shiitake offering from the outstanding sushi menu--New York never tasted so... French.

LUCIEN 14 First Ave., 212-260-6481

The vest-pocket bistro is as much a New York cliche today as pastrami on rye, which is all the more reason to celebrate when you come across an example that actually feels like the real thing. Open for little more than a year, this narrow storefront operation has many of the elements one associates with classic Parisian bistros--tile floors, old mirrors featuring the day's menu--but none of the pretensions these elements typically give a New York operation. Escargots, steak frites, confit de canard, creme brulee--Lucien delivers the kind of well-executed French cooking for which one usually has to cross the Atlantic, or take out a second mortgage. It's a reminder that "French food" is eaten by an entire nation of people with all sorts of incomes, and not just those who can afford to buy their shirts at Charvet.

LE ZINC 139 Duane St., 212-513-0001

When Chanterelle's David and Karen Waltuck made the decision to open a modern, bistro-style restaurant serving homey cooking, they wisely elected to forego the traditional trappings of the setting in lieu of one more in keeping with the spirit of their menu. Sure, the bar is zinc and the walls lined with banquettes, but surfaces seem perfectly happy with unadulterated cream-colored paint, gray upholstery and the gradual addition of art posters pasted to the walls. It's a modern, unnostalgic take on a Parisian classic, one in keeping with a menu as comfortable with traditional French bistro items (steak frites, roast chicken, a transcendent pot-de-creme) as ones that owe their roots to other traditions (curried onion fritters, Chinese-style pork). Le Zinc says Paris, but it does so with a nod to other ethnic roots.

PRUNE 54 E. First St., 212-677-6221

At the heart of all true French cooking is one unifying concept-freshness--and it's a philosophy that's in clear evidence at Prune, a restaurant that gives fresh meaning to the words "country French." Though the offerings of this small, neighborhood operation embrace a larger repertoire than what one typically associates with the French classics (there's a pastrami duck breast) the quality of the ingredients used and the simplicity of the preparation reveal the restaurant's true heart. With items such as grilled pork chops wrapped in bacon, warm lentils with smoked tomatoes, rack of lamb with white beans, all served up in a spare yet inviting setting, Prune is nothing so much as a slightly offbeat Parisian restaurant with country roots, transported to the East Village. It's truly a happy marriage.

BALTHAZAR 80 Spring St., 212-965-1414 PASTI S 9 Ninth Ave., 212-929-4844

Under the steady hand of chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, Keith McNally picks up where he left off with the decades-old-now Odeon and Cafe Luxembourg. This latest duo of restaurants offers diners what can only be described as the most true-to-France meal ticket the city has to offer. From the more upscale belle 6poque setting of Balthazar with its oversized mirrors and nicotine-stained walls, to the romanticized workaday environment of Pastis' wide plank floors, McNally has cleverly recreated Paris in New York, sparing no expense and avoiding kitsch along the way. It doesn't hurt that the food--be it Pastis' braised beef or Balthazar's famous towering platters of shellfish--is as fine as any you'll find in the best Parisian brasserie (or that the fries at both joints may be even better). Proof to the patriotic sentiment that in America anything is possible.