L’Abeille Proves Yet Again New York’s Love For Fine Cuisine, Refined Service And A Civilized Ambience

It will not be true in most U.S. main cities today, however New York has by no means ceased to benefit from the circulate of stylish, critical new eating places regardless of the restrictions of the pandemic. Simply up to now yr town has seen the opening of Daniel Boulud’s Le Pavillon, the hovering Cucina 8 ½ and Brazilian-Italian import Fasano, the New York department of Tokyo’s Serashina Horii, in addition to different current eclectic newcomers like Frevo and Depraved Jane, all now joined by the enchanting new L’Abeille.

Situated on a really quiet cobblestone avenue in TriBeCa —not one police automobiles and ambulances traverse —

it’s one lengthy room with French home windows, a compact boxwood and marble bar and exquisite golden lighting—notably so now that the times develop longer and the forsythia is in bloom—together with small lamps on the tables, extensive plank flooring, an air duct cannily was an ornamental component, beautifully snug chairs and moss inexperienced velvet cubicles.

Brazilian designer Marta Carvalho has executed the other of what so many restaurateurs and designers fail to perform (or disregard)—a room with a really tall ceiling whose baffling makes it wholly simple to converse on the tables with out elevating one’s voice by a decibel. Add to this the choice to not have music of any sort enjoying and also you’ll really feel that that is what civilized eating is all about, not the cacophony of most trendy eating areas however an oasis of calm the place the one sound is that of genial individuals having fun with one another’s firm.

As is so usually the case in advantageous eating places, L’Abeille’s girls patrons get pleasure from dressing nicely in such an atmosphere, whereas amongst their male buddies hoodies and t-shirts abound, in distinction to the darkish fits worn by a really succesful employees. They’re led by the stunning Satomi Takagi and beverage director John Mckenna, who has stocked an excellent, if dear, wine checklist.

L’Abeille is French for “bee” and a pun on chef-owner Mitsunobu Nagae’s identify. He and companion Rahul Saito shared the identical perception that New York would undertake a sublime however unpretentious French restaurant of a sort the four-year-old, immensely in style Le CouCou is.

Born in Japan, Mitsunobu moved to Lyon, France, to attend culinary faculty on the esteemed Tsuji Culinary Institute and was impressed by grasp chef Joël Robuchon’s delicacies. His first chef place was at Régis et Jacques Marcon in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, then Le Doyen in Paris, earlier than becoming a member of Château Restaurant Joël Robuchon in Tokyo, changing into a trusted lieutenant at L’Atelier Joël Robuchon in New York (now closed).

There are two menus at L’Abeille: a $180 seven-course tasting menu (with wine $95 further) and an à la carte menu at $125. Since my spouse and I wanted to style as many dishes as potential with out each being served the identical meal, the chef was adequate to swap from each menus, starting with pop-in-the-mouth fried balls oozing lobster and béchamel, then a luscious foie gras crème brûleé topped with candy onion ice cream. I may inform this was going to be a meal particular for each its rigorous understanding of French method and a contemporary sensibility.

Two varieties of fine bread include soy butter (even higher had it not been soy). There was additionally a creamy disc of foie gras torchon with caramelized mango and a delightfully spicy chutney that went very nicely with each an Alsatian Pinot Gris and a Chablis.

Subsequent had been translucent uncooked scallops with a beet gazpacho and makrut lime oil, the form of dish which may nicely be discovered at Le Bernardin or Nobu. Nubbins of very tender poached lobster meat in a vanilla dressing with rosemary and nutmeg, a homage to Alain Senderens, who created the thought three many years in the past at Lucas Carton. Mitsunobu sides it with gnocchi and a big spoon of caviar. Lobster is also grilled with Madeira-scented croquettes, the just-arrived fats white asparagus and a beautiful inexperienced pea foam.

I haven’t seen tilefish shortly on menus, and I forgot what a pleasing texture its flesh has, right here pan-fried crisp in a ruddy discount of a bouillabaisse sauce, added to with a fennel puree, potato and lemon, which was quite a bit for the fish to deal with.

Roast pigeon was completely rosy with a pores and skin glazed with miso to offer it a pleasant saline contact and coloration, lashed with a bourbon sauce, whereas American wagyu beef of superb high quality (that means not cloyingly fatty) had a Madeira sauce tinged with espresso and a facet of spring’s new asparagus.

For dessert we had a chocolate blanc and orange flower blossom with burnt honey ice cream, ending off with cookies and jelly sweet.

The Robuchon impact on Mitsunobu is obvious within the intelligence of taste pairings and lightness of the meals, even in a seven-course meal. A few of Mitsunobu’s Japanese heritage additionally comes by, in fact, simply as Asian flavors have change into ubiquitous in French delicacies all around the world now. Open simply two weeks, L’Abeille is clearly drawing a crowd with each sufficient curiosity and cash to get pleasure from an expertise that, if uncommon elsewhere today, could be very a lot an ongoing a part of what provides New York a particular cachet. It’s a restaurant to be taken significantly with out straining to look something greater than genially refined in its customized delicacies and thoroughly cadenced hospitality.

L’ABEILLE

412 Greenwich Road

212-542-3898

L’Abeille is open for dinner Tues.-Sat.