La Marchande overall score: 80
My wife took me here for a nice dinner last week. I’m calling this a French steakhouse. Not sure if that’s correct, but I feel like it fits into my review categories nicely.
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
Flavor: 7
Sadly, the boneless domestic wagyu rib eye was WAY over salted. I hunkered through half of it, but I could not finish and had to give up. It was a beauty though, with a great crust. 5/10.
My wife had the bacon wrapped venison loin, which was much better, despite the little snaggle of connective tissue in the middle.
Nicely cooked. Irony without game flavor. Lean and clean. 8/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
There’s a good selection of cuts here all day long, but they don’t have enough dry aged selections. I would also like to see more traditional Angus on the menu, as opposed to all the fancy wagyu cross breed shit.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
My steak was like $105 for a pound, which is about right for the domestic wagyu varieties. Portions here are good for everything else, and plating is definitely understated but elegant.
Price: 8
The prices here are average to slightly above, which makes sense for the location near lots of FiDi businesses.
Bar: 8
The bar here is small but nicely appointed as you walk in. No sidewalk people watching views, but its snug and cozy. They made some nice drinks too, both standard cocktails and their signatures.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I mentioned there was venison, which is rare and nice to see. They also offered a Peri Peri chicken dish, which I’d love to try. It feeds two and is only $68.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
We started with the beef tartare summer roll with lemongrass sauce. This was really nice, but they just need to wrap it a bit tighter. This was probably the best dish of the night, with a close second to a side that I’ll discuss below.
Skip the marrow. The table-side service is unnecessary (at least it wasn’t theatrics), and it was mainly just a fancy bread service or sandwich. Probably better off getting a burger and fries for a few dollars less.
The mushrooms were ever more over-salted than the steak We actually had to send them back, which is wild because we NEVER do that.
They replaced it with this bean cassoulet thing, which was actually quite good and was a close second for my favorite dish of the night.
The miso creamed spinach was nice. As you can tell, there’s a distinct theme for trying to bring Asian fusion into the menu.
For dessert, they forgot to bring out our Vietnamese style egg coffee, but the basque style cheesecake was nice enough.
Seafood Selection: 8
We didn’t take on any seafood, but they did have some nice looking shellfish and tower selections, as is common with steakhouses. The king crab cake was a whopping $45. I wonder if that is any good. Too rich for my blood!
Service: 10
Service was really good here. They brought out some complimentary bubbles at the beginning and end of our meal, since my wife told them it was our anniversary on the reservation. They also comped the drinks, desserts and the bogus side for us, which they replaced gratis as well. This was a really great gesture, and they genuinely tried to make the evening nice despite the mishaps. They did forget our coffee, though. I was done complaining for the night, so we just let it slide. A for effort, I guess.
Ambiance: 9
Gorgeous dining space, with big private booths that you can curtain off if you’d like. I really dig the space. Very elegant but casual. A nice balance.
LA MARCHANDE
88 Wall St.
New York NY, 10005
