Voulez vous manger avec moi çe soir? Yes? Well then, let's go to Balthazar, where the dining room's beautiful dark woods, smallish tables and French menu require only a dash of imagination to feel transported to a Parisian brasserie. Beyond a healthy selection of traditional entrées such as duck confit with crispy potatoes, wild mushrooms and frisée salad, and seared organic salmon with corn, leeks and chanterelles, Balthazar also has an extensive wine menu and a raw seafood bar offering "fruit of the sea": oysters, littleneck clams, crab and lobster. While the likes of New York magazine have hailed the restaurant, which opened in 1997, as nothing short of "an evocation of a Paris brasserie that outglows anything within Brie-tossing distance of the Seine," be advised that its popularity has spawned a bit of a table-cramping momentum that may yield confining leg space or too much information overheard from the next table. And so it's convenient that the adjacent Balthazar bakery offers delicious breads, pastries, soups, sandwiches and salads to go. Berets and pointy shoes optional, but reservations recommended. Full bar. Serving breakfast, lunch and late-night daily. Sat-Sun brunch 10 am-4 pm.
Where The Locals Eat rating
Best Brasserie (French)
Top 100 Restaurant, New York City
"Opened by Keith McNally in the spring of 1997, Balthazar offers a French menu prepared by chefs de cuisine Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson. Diners can also choose from an extensive wine list, a raw seafood bar, and breads and pastries from Balthazar bakery. Balthazar is renowned for its exceptional design. The building was converted from a leather wholesaler's warehouse to an airy space that can accommodate over 200 people in the dining room and at the zinc bar."
– Balthazar website
"Our favorite [time] is late at night, for a helping of duck shepherd's pie or the impressive boudin noir, or early in the morning, for a serene breakfast croissant and a fishbowl-size dose of restorative café au lait."
—New York magazine
"A Balthazar, breaking croissants in the morning is as sexy and fulfilling as whiling away the evening over steak frites and escargots."
—Time Out New York
"[Balthazar] is a triumph of art direction and set decoration, but with a vivid kitchen to match."
– Newsday
"No quibble at all with the oysters. And no quibble at all with desserts. But no great excitement about having revisited Balthazar, and no great urgency to go back."
– Frank Bruni, The New York Times, March 22, 2007
How others rate Balthazar
The New York Times
** (very good)
Top Pick
New York magazine
*** (generally excellent)
Zagat 2009
23 food rating (very good to excellent)
James Beard Foundation
Keith McNally, nominee, Outstanding Restaurateur 2009 (national)