A fancy French restaurant.
Our most recent restaurant escapade takes place at Brasserie 8 ½ located in midtown. When we first walked into this fancy French restaurant, our first impression was ‘wow, this is a very fancy French restaurant.’ The restaurant had a descending staircase which led to the lounge area which had nice dim lighting and had a very sophisticated and upscale feel in the way it was decorated. We were brought to our table and had some time to get comfortable. Our waitress, Sarah, was so great in helping us decide what to try. There are so many times where you ask your server what they think is good and you really never know if it is actually their favorite thing to eat or just some generic line they were told to say. But whatever our server recommended, we got, and it was delicious.
For drinks, we tried the Gold Standard which is made with a choice of Bombay Sapphire Gin (or vodka (we got it with vodka)), St. Germain, lemon juice, brown sugar, and mint. This drink was amazing. You could really taste the lemon juice in the drink but it wasn’t so strong where you cringed with how sour it was. The mint combined with the lemon gave a great brightness and freshness to the drink. And the brown sugar rim gave the drink just the right amount of sweetness to it while also adding a little bite with how you had crunch the brown sugar. The other drink we got was the apple spiced margarita. This is made with Jose Cuervo Tequila, Grand Marnier, Thatcher’s apple spiced liquor, and fresh lime juice. This drink is more on the tart and sour side. The spiced apple liquor was very apparent in the drink and paired with the fresh lime juice gave it the tart and sour feel, which wasn’t necessarily bad. But, if we had to choose which drink we liked better, hands down it would be the gold standard.
For appetizers we tried their jumbo lump crab cake and their grilled octopus. The crab cake was made with celeriac remoulade, grain mustard sauce, and horseradish. The crab cake itself was sweet and tender. And paired with the mustard sauce added a sharp savory taste that helped cut through a lot of the sweetness of the crab. The grilled octopus was made with butter beans, Brussels sprouts, and espelette pepper. The octopus had a nice smoky flavor to it and the sauce that went along with it was very bright and balanced out the charcoaly taste of the octopus. The Brussels sprouts added another dimension of smokiness to the dish. Grapes were also added to add a little sweetness to the dish and not allow an overwhelming feeling of smokiness. Overall, these appetizers were tasty and well thought out.
For our entrees were decided on getting the duck two ways and the steak frittes. The duck prepared was both a roasted duck and a duck confit made with poached quince, braised red cabbage, black currant gastrique, and cranberries. The duck itself was cooked really well. It was moist which was important because duck can dry out very quickly. We enjoyed the roasted duck but the duck confit was our favorite preparation of the duck. We really enjoyed pairing the duck with the cranberry and raisins added because it gave an extra sweetness to the duck along with making it even juicier. The steak frittes was made with a dry aged sirloin served with a choice of an herb butter, au poivre sauce, or a béarnaise and had a side of pommes frites. Our waitress recommended this dish strongly which is why we decided to go with it. The steak itself was large and cooked really well. We asked for the cook to be medium on the steak and we got just that. We had the opportunity to try each of the sauces and out of the three, the béarnaise was definitely the way to go. It was creamy, a little tart, and slightly acidic but tasted great with the steak. The au poivre sauce was a little spicy and had a nice kick to it. You could really taste the peppercorn it was prepared with and this sauce it great for those people who enjoy a little bite back with their meal. The herb butter was creamy and flavorful. It was seasoned well and was a solid choice with the steak. The pommes frites that came on the side were delicious. Not too oily and seasoned perfectly. It wasn’t an aggressive seasoning where you had to put it away after a while but rather had enough seasoning where it popped as soon as you put it in your mouth. We could not stop munching on this side.
For dessert we tried their crème brulee, their chocolate molten cake with a side of espresso ice cream, and their beignets. The crème brulee was a standard French crème brulee which means that it was really, really good. It’s always a good time when you have the opportunity to crack the brunt sugar with your spoon. And the custard inside was so rich and had a very bold vanilla taste that it made such a good and lasting impression on your palette. The chocolate molten cake was rich and the cake itself was very moist. The espresso ice cream was good and really woke us up out of our food coma which we really appreciated. And the beignets were tasty too. They were extremely fluffy and we really loved dipping it into the raspberry sauce that they gave us.
All in all, Brasserie 8 ½ was such a great place to dine in. It was a real treat to experience elegant French cuisine such as this and given the opportunity we would definitely come back and enjoy the food again.