01.03.09
Review of Le Gamin, Wednesday November 2008
132 W. Houston & Sullivan Sts., 212-475-1543 (now closed)
Great for: appetizers, burgers, eating late in SoHo
Princess Dominique wanted steak close to home one day and this was the best reasonable-money option we could come up with. (New Boyfriend is adjusting well to my demanding palate.) Fortunately they were open quite late, as we walked in around 10 pm.
B had soup of the day to start, a fantastic butternut squash. I don’t even like that vegetable and I was enthusiastic about it. My frisée aux lardons was just as good; somehow I enjoyed the very strong taste of bleu cheese. I also appreciated how soft the lettuce was. We had high hopes for the rest of the meal.
B, at least, was not disappointed. He liked his burger with everything on it and good French fries. My entrecote (shell steak) with salad and gratin dauphinois instead of fries was not quite as satisfactory. Other than being an exceptionally fatty cut, overly chewy in places and a bit raw in others, it was good. Of course, that took some of the enjoyment away. I did love the potatoes and the generous helping of salad, though.
The waiters were uniformly nice. The décor was as well, kind of standard brasserie but not too corporate. At first I thought they had really strange music. There was weird porno electronica, which gave way to old French caterwauling, then Pete Tong on BBC 1, which was when I realized it was just an eclectic iPod on shuffle. All in all, cute and mostly yummy.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $65 (no drinks)
Noise level: Not too much
Chance of walking in: Good, it’s on a bit of an odd corner. But sadly, it’s closed now.
