crown of duck | Johnny Prime

The newly Michelin-starred Francie in Brooklyn was a mix of both great and “meh” dishes. I’m honestly a bit shocked that they received a star, but one or two items that we tried were truly top notch.

We started with the sourdough bread and lard, the duck mortadella, and a duck sausage that was on special for the night.

The duck sausage was the winner of these, but I must also point out that the lard that came with the bread was killer. They should be selling it by the jar. It had a nice hint of lemon to it that cut the fatness just right.

We also tried the barigoule (braised artichoke, fried chicken, mushrooms, egg yolk). This was really unique and tasty, and I’m glad we tried it.

We tried four pasta dishes. Of these, the rigatoni with green garlic and fennel pollen sausage was the best, followed by the tortelli with suckling pig and cracklings (despite the second being slightly too salty). The cavatelli was good for a more veggie friendly option, but the lobster ravioli was a bit of a let down to several of us.

For the mains, we ordered two entrees for two: the rib steak and the dry aged duck crown.

Both were beautifully cooked and presented.

But the duck was the star of the show. Perfectly crisped skin atop a layer of buttery soft rendered fat, with juicy, succulent, pink duck flesh beneath. Big win.

The steak was just meh. There was something sweet going on that didn’t sit well with me – I believe it was a molasses glaze. I still ate a shitload of it, but for the price point of $175 I would never order it again. It was too small in addition to having a confusing flavor profile, especially with the weird maple hollandaise that it came with. 6/10.

Over all, I highly recommend coming here for the duck apps, the rigatoni and tortelli pasta dishes, and the duck crown. Skip on the rest. For drinks, they do make very nice cocktails, but they’re pricey.

FRANCIE
34 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11249

My wife and I came here with her sister and brother in law for a nice duck meal.

We started with the chips and dip, which are pork rinds served with a chicken liver mousse:

These were fantastic, but my favorite item of the night was this wagyu and uni tartare dish.

Just absolutely perfect. This wasn’t on the menu, and it was compliments of the house!

Next up was this really tasty blood sausage dish, which was probably one of the best blood sausage plates I’ve ever had. It was not encased, not too salty, and mixed with some delicious toasted seeds and oats.

The charred broccolini wasn’t too charred, and mostly stalks and stems as opposed to the florette heads, but I really liked the addition of grapes to this.

The snap pea salad with clams, black bean and rice cake was nice as well. We didn’t even order it!katskatsu

One of the other stars of the night was this iberico “katsu sando” pork sandwich. These things are getting popular in NYC, typically with expensive wagyu beef, but this pork version was excellent and we didn’t blow the bank account to try it.