PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

I'm not sure the three owners who are all alumni of David Bouley restaurants, really mean to say that Bar Blanc is a bar before it is a restaurant. The narrow space and the whitewashed look lends itself perfectly to the name, and the caipiroska, the vodka version of the caipirinha, was as good as I've had in any bar, but still, there is no doubt that the food is foremost here. The menu is as sparse as the decor, and in neither case is that a bad thing. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. And at Bar Blanc there is no skimping on the latter. An appetizer of two pan-seared jumbo scallops wrapped in a fatty piece of smoked pork belly might not seem like much, but each bite was memorable. The entrees are not much more formidable than the appetizers, but just as delicious; especially the juicy, milk-fed porcelet (an elegant way of describing pork), flavored with chanterelles and roasted brussels sprouts, and the strip steak, grilled over Japanese charcoal (as opposed to New Jersey charcoal?) and accompanied by a bone marrow sauce. Maybe the modest portions encourage patrons to indulge in dessert, and that's smart because the Meyer lemon soufflé is not to be missed. If you can, ask for a table in the back, away from the bar where you might be able to have a quiet conversation.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's New York City 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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