Deux Amis — Restaurant in New York

This quaint French restaurant is quite the gem. I came here for dinner with Lapin yesterday. It was fairly easy to make reservations for the time we wanted. The place wasn't packed but it was fairly busy. Our waitresses were attentive but one of them had a weird sense of humor. We ordered a souffle for dessert and on the menu it said the wait time was 20 minutes. We were talking while waiting for our dessert and the waitress said in a very deadpan voice that we will have to wait 2 days for the souffle and walked away while still talking. I am not sure if she was joking or not, but it was a bit odd.

Lapin ordered Escargots and he loved it. He loved dipping the warm bread into the leftover garlic sauce. I ordered the Vol Au Vent which was delicious. Lapin even remarked it was the first time he heard me using the word "delicious" to describe a meal. The puff pastry was crispy and cream sauce was rich and went amazingly well with the lettuce the pastry was displayed on. The chicken was soft, tender, and melt in your mouth deliciousness.

Lapin ordered Boeuf Bourguignon for his entree. The portion was a smaller than expected but the stew was rich and hearty. The waiter was generous enough to bring extra pieces of bread to soak up all the yummy gravy. I had the pan roasted chicken breast with potato gratin. The chicken was tender but it was a bit bland and underwhelming. The chocolate souffle was good but we both liked the pistachio ice cream that came with it. The pistachio ice cream was sweet and had an understated pistachio taste.

Lapin would definitely visit again, even if its just for the escargots and...

What a gem! There are literally 11 French restaurants in this neighborhood but Deux Amis rings all the right bells. Classic French atmosphere; mahogany bar, white table cloths, burgundy red accents.

We sat at the bar (always my preference). We started with the Gazpacho and Vol Au Vent. The Vol Au Vent was crazy delicious. Perfect starter to split if you’re hungry (intensely satisfying flavors and buttery pie crust). The gazpacho was very basic tomato and very soupy smooth, but nonetheless uber refreshing and light. We were each served warm bread rolls with chilled salted butter with the appetizers.

For entrees, we had the chicken and the burger. The chicken breast was crazy juicy and tender for a breast cut, and served with a altoiid box sized piece of potato gratin. The gratin was unbelievable. You could see the thyme leaves and taste the grounding comfort food vibes. We (as always) ordered the burger rare. It came with fries and salad. Holy smokes was it cooked perfectly. It’s the kind of thing you bite and start singing AND IIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOUU in your head.

Zahir was a legend. He made us feel right at home.

If you’re considering...

We were in NYC for four days while I was taking my HS son to tour two Design Colleges. I also took my 10 year old daughter since my wife was out of the country. In Florida there may be French restaurants but who knows where? Hahaha, but we do come to NYC every year. And did I wear long pants, slacks and a sport coat! NOT a t- shirt and shorts and sandals! The place itself is similar to a Paris bistro, small, intimate and warm decor. The three of us had dinner and this is what we ordered. We had a cream soup that was a today special, lots of these little mini french breads, and two orders of Escargot, then for the main courses Poulet Roti for my little girl, the Bronzini for my son and I had the Le Veau with garlic mashed instead of the Risotto, plus a glass of a very fine Merlot. My children always want dessert so they ordered Creme Carmel and I think Raspberry Napoleon. The entire meal was quite good and we thoroughly enjoyed it. My son selected this venue and I'm happy he did. I recommend Deux Amis, we paid about $230 for the three of us plus tip,...