Perched on the highest flooring of Saks Fifth Avenue, L’Avenue attracts a trendy crowd each earlier than and … [+]
Consuming locations in massive malls have a protracted historical past, not least in Europe, the place Harrod’s in London, Printemps in Paris and KaDeWe in Berlin are each trendy and exhaustive. Within the States, each main retailer as soon as had a restaurant, a few of them fairly spectacular, a few of them elegant tea rooms for the women who lunch. Exterior of New York, Marshall Fields, J.L. Hudson, Neiman Marcus, Bullock’s an
Le Chalet is L’Avenue at Saks’s informal cafe and terrace flooring.
d others had been all very totally different, and New York led the pack with extremely individualized eating places in Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, B. Altman, Finest and Co. and others that outlined their very own explicit fashion and clientele they catered to. And there was all the time consideration paid to patrons’ youngsters. I recall fondly one which had a milk bar with Graham Crackers.
Such locations misplaced their reputation as of the Nineteen Seventies, owing to altering tastes and the sluggish demise of malls themselves. Fortunately, a lot of those who survived the twentieth century have given the shop eating places a real renaissance, none extra so than Saks Fifth Avenue, which opened in 1924.
What beforehand had been a modest eatery on the eighth flooring is now a swank Le Chalet café and terrace—Rock Middle is throughout the road—and on the ninth flooring is L’Avenue, which in league with the Costes Group restaurant of the identical identify in Paris has given New York one of the lovely and chic areas of the current previous, designed by Philippe Starck.
The entry hall to L’Avenue at Saks winds in the direction of the eating room.
You enter on East fiftieth Avenue, reverse St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and ascend in a non-public elevator to a dimly lighted tunnel that leads round corners to a eating room the place you might be graciously obtained by a handful of beautiful hostesses and proven to a desk, previous glass circumstances of objets d’artwork in a French moderne eating room finished in tones of taupe and caramel, with fastidiously modulated lighting that’s very best for seeing who’s coming and going, whereas glowing desk lamps do the identical for the beautiful meals and chinaware.
Such class I didn’t count on; certainly, I didn’t know what to count on, believing L’Avenue is perhaps an upgraded model of a conventional division retailer restaurant. I additionally puzzled who would need to eat there, particularly after six o’clock, when Saks closes. Opened in 2019, then hit with the Covid closings, L’Avenue had had little publicity or critiques. (God forbid the New York Instances or New York journal ought to cowl a spot so refined!) But it has clearly drawn a crowd, largely younger and lots of fairly trendy. It’s a spot the place ladies actually gown up, maybe with the day’s purchases downstairs (there’s a Loubutin boutique adjoining to Le Chalet); male patrons present their very own feeble trend sense by sporting a variety of black t-shirts and darkish denims.
Dim sum is certainly one of a number of Asian dishes at L’Avenue at Saks.
You’d count on Govt Chef Cedric Domenech’s menu to be more-or-less fashionable French, however there may be a great deal of Asian gadgets on it, in addition to the ever present burrata. Some dishes, referred to as “classics,” are unique to the Paris venue, together with vapeurs de crevettes “Lily Wang” ($23), referring to the chef at Hôtel Costes in Paris who first created the dish for L’Avenue. It’s a variant of har gow Chinese language steamed shrimp dumplings, with crispy shallots and scallions served with chili dipping sauce and a candy black mushroom soy sauce.
Breast of hen is seasoned and served with chutney.
Crispy hen spring rolls ($23) derive from Thai cookery, served with lettuce/mint wraps and a glowing ginger-chili dipping sauce. On the French aspect is splendidly creamy contemporary duck foie gras terrine that wants nothing greater than toasted nation bread and superb butter. A carpaccio of yellowtail ($38) is a refreshing spark as an appetizer, and Thailand comes again into the image as a foremost course with plump marinated shrimp with a pineapple-chili chutney and velvety peanut-coconut sauce ($42). (A bit of extra spice wouldn’t damage the Asian dishes.)
The traditional French masterpiece of simplicity—which takes a variety of know-how to get good—is Dover sole “belle meunière,” evenly floured and seared in loads of butter, then deboned and served with a tangy lemon beurre blanc ($90). I can by no means flip down a dish with contemporary morels, and Domenech lavishes them on a bowl of cream-rich macaroni ($34). Blanc de poulet bio ($28) didn’t sound very attention-grabbing, however what got here was a succulent poached hen breast enhanced with curry seasonings and sided with candy chutney.
Desserts are superbly conceived at L’Avenue at Saks by pastry chef Stephanie Oliveira.
Pastry Chef Stephanie Oliveira has labored over the “Costes crackers cheesecake” of Paris, utilizing barely salty French LU Tuc butter crackers, first made in 1846, instead of the standard Graham Cracker within the crust, then finishes it with a fromage blanc ice cream. Additionally really helpful are her vanilla tart ($16) with poached rhubarb, strawberries and crème fraîche ice cream, and a raspberry panna cotta ($16) with coconut crumble, raspberries and olive oil sorbet (which is tagged as vegan). Banoffee—a portmanteau of “banana” and “toffee”—($18) is a gloppy British candy plentiful with banana ice cream, smoked caramel ice cream, rum caramel sauce and caramelized banana. The one distasteful oddity was an over-the-top tackle Women Scout s’mores ($19) with chocolate mousse, toasted marshmallow and Graham Cracker ice cream that got here underneath a glass cloche full of acrid smoke.
The wine checklist is solidly chosen, not enormous, with a wide selection of wines by the glass ($15-$34) and an intensive cocktail menu. Wine bottle costs might be stiff, nonetheless, with some at a 300% mark-up. Good to see a New York State Riesling on there.
L’Avenue has seen a soigné success that has clearly been constructed on phrase of mouth and delicate advertising, and if it stays on the occupancy and commonplace of tastefulness it now enjoys, it needs to be a template for modernity and stylish, in distinction to the drained faux-clubbiness of a spot like Ralph Lauren’s Polo Grill. L’Avenue seems like a real evening out, with an aerie’s view and a welcome nonchalance not simply encountered lately with such a excessive stage of delicacies.
L’AVENUE AT SAKS FIFTH AVENUE
80 East fiftieth Avenue
212-940-4099
Opened seven days per week from 11:30 AM to 10 PM.
