Balthazar, New York, NY, Tasted on November 9, 2004 — It's impossible to talk about Balthazar without talking about how it makes you feel. And as desperately as I try to focus exclusively on the food (which is excellent at Balthazar) the atmosphere is so warm, textured, and friendly, that it can't be ignored. Is it wrong to love a restaurant not just because the food is excellent, but because the restaurant makes you so happy when you walk in? If so, I'm guilty.

But here's they key to this equation. If the atmosphere and environment made a promise that the food didn't keep I wouldn't be writing about Balthazar on this site. But the reality is quite the contrary. The promise of warmth, refinement, and good taste as not only delivered on by the cuisine, but it's emphasized and underscored by the food served at Balthazar. I hate categorizing restaurants because it's so incredibly limiting, but Balthazar really is perfectly executed French bistro fare with genuine warmth, great flavor, and fantastic attention to detail.

We showed up at 11pm on a Tuesday night. The first words out of the hostess' mouth were "do you have a reservation?". That should give you an idea of how popular Balthazar is. We started off with the Onion Soup Gratinée. While Alex felt he'd had better (note: French Onion soup is Alex' signature dish to eat), I thought the broth was silky with a beautiful balance of tangy cheese. Essentially, a delicious flavor bomb.

Next up was the Balthazar Salad with Haricot Verts, Asparagus, Fennel, Ricotta Salata, and Truffle Vinaigrette. The salad was fresh and interesting. In the words of the various actress judges on Iron Chef, DebDu opined that it was “like springtime”. The salad was followed by the Warm Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart. This dish was definitely good though the range on the flavors was somewhat narrow. It did have a lovely cheesecake-like consistency.

Two stars came up next. First was the Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter, Sage, and Walnuts. The ravioli were soft perfect pillows of brown buttery goodness. The pumpkin filling bordered on a being a velouté it was so soft and smooth. As if that hadn't made us die and go to heaven the Balthazar bar Steak with Pommes Frites and Maitre D’Butter arrived soon after. I'm not sure what to say about this other than: imagine a hyper-flavorful steak slathered in delicious butter. That pretty much sums it up.

I think if I lived in Manhattan I'd eat at Balthazar once a week. I'd probably have to limit it to one dish per visit or I'd have to be inserted into the restaurant by crane. If you're only in New York for a few days, I'd still stop there as you're unlikely to find an experience as rich and yummy almost anywhere else in the world, even Paris.

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Note: Sorry for the age on some of these New York visits. I promise if I felt the data was out-of-date I wouldn't post. I have my spies constantly verifying. :)