Francie — Restaurant in New York

Slightly disappointed, to say the least. Came to Brooklyn for this dinner for two and I wish I had spent my money and time somewhere else. Extra points for innovative creations, but expectation was a bit too high to start.

Appetizers Soufflé Cakes It's a savory soufflé with seaweed butter, Meyer lemon, and caviar. The soufflé cakes aren’t really soufflé: it is lacking the airy quality and not jiggly. The texture is bit dense and tastes reminiscent of an old-fashioned sponge cake with good amount of eggness. Next to it was butter with seaweed and caviar, being very overpowering in flavor. The seaweed butter is pretty contagious as it makes everything it touches seaweedy. The caviar wasn't like the popping kind that has burst-in-your-mouth sensation: it melts and adds a bit of ocean-salinity to the sweet sponge. And I definitely did not taste the Meyer lemon flavor: it got buried under the ocean I bet.

Foie Gras Canelé Another sweet-savory combo, but this one is really delicious. The canelé is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, filled with smooth and silky foie gras. The butter aroma lingers on the canelé and makes it extra addicting. It was hard to cut with a knife due to the crispy exterior, but once opened, the inside foie gras has a rich, buttery texture that melts in your mouth, with a delicate yet indulgent flavor with a slight nuttiness and sweetness from the reduction of white wine (don’t quote me on this, just guessing).

Entrees Spring Lamb Three slices of lamb with green garlic persillade, ramp, and spring onion soubise. The lamb was coated with an exterior crust, could be nut or bread, which provides textural contrast to the tender meat, which was mild, gamey, yet rice and satisfying. The sauces were pretty aromatic. The green garlic persillade adds a vibrant, herbaceous note to the lamb, contributes a bright, zesty contrast to the lamb’s richness. The ramp has a garlicky-onion flavor, and the spring onion soubise is mildly sweet, balancing the stronger flavors with its mellow creaminess. I liked the dried carrots on top, a nice touch to the eye and the tongue.

Dry-aged Crown of Duck The duck breast with swiss chard, parsnip, soppressata jam.

After the duck is roasted, it is presented to the guests with daily flowers. Then, it is taken back to the kitchen, where it is carved, and the duck meat is served to the guests. However, the bones are not given to the guests (I wish I can take it back to fry or to make broth, wasn’t an option).

The duck skin is a little greasy and soft, and the meat’s doneness varied. I enjoy eating the edges of the duck, while the less-cooked parts in the center can be a bit raw and tough to chew. The duck itself is flavored with mostly honey and paired with jam. On the side is served with a red wine sauce with bacon/lardo bites, but the flavor of sauce couldn’t save the meat’s texture. It has a slight resemblance to the texture of Peking duck, with less crispy skin and duck aroma.

The sides it came with were pretty strong, but too cloying if you have more than a couple of bites. One side is reminiscent of a mashed potato except it is made with parsnip and paired with an abundance of brown butter and diced apple bits. Two spoons down and you are numbed. The Swiss chard is too bitter to me. There is almost no flavors besides the pine nuts added to the chard. The flavors felt detached.

We didn’t choose to have any dessert as we were pretty disappointed with some of the dishes. Service wise, I think this place isn’t too busy so you have unattended waiters and servers continuously stand in front of the open kitchen, like a stand punishment. Wasn’t the best experience in the Michelin...

TLDR: Unquestionably one of the best meals I've had in 2023. I hate to say it but everything was good. Standouts for me were the foie gras canelé, house salad, lobster ravioli and of course - the duck. Bottom line, this is epic-level food. They have a star but if the Michelin Guide stripped it away, I wouldn't care; that means I can eat here easier then. Go watch the Eater video.

Why not 5/5? Let's get that part out of the way first. Came here for a special occasion for a 9:00 PM seating. Checked in at 8:55 PM, simply to check in - not to be seated earlier. The was pretty curt, I am paraphrasing here: "Well, we're running on time. So we're seating to reservations, if you could wait over there by the bar and you're welcome to enjoy a drink." The tone was cold enough that took note of it. We sat over by the bar and waited. 9PM came, nothing. I am fair - as a guest I'm permitted 15 minutes to be late. I think restos can be extended the same courtesy; life happens. At some point between 9:15 PM and 9:20 I was asked if I wanted a drink, we politely declined and preferred to just wait. We finally sat at 9:22 PM. From when I checked in, I was basically staring off and looking down at my watch every few minutes. Not a single apology or assurance that I would be seated soon. If I were just told to wait and they'd come get me, that would have been fine. It was the curtness of the comment and I was told they were running "on time" when clearly, they were not. To be candid, this rubbed us the wrong way enough that if there was no cancellation fee ; I very well may have walked out. I'm glad we did not because I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, other than this part. Happy to connect with the restaurant separately.

They ran out of Roman sourdough which was disappointing but it was after 9PM.

Foie Gras Canelé. Jesus. Crispy, rich, decadent, so unique. I've had lots of foie gras but this was truly special. The look on our faces was like when you find a $20 bill in the middle of the street, just pure - Oh Snap!

Honeynut Bomboloni. A savory donut with pancetta parm on top, one biter of happiness.

Market Salad. Watching the prep on the Eater video sold me. There's over 20 ingredients, all different types of preparation for this dish. There's roasted parts, dehydrated, fresh, crispy. It's a pretty plate to see but I admire the technique and the flavors on this are wonderful.

Lobster Ravioli. I don't order stuff like this but now - I will. Homemade pasta, the filling is minced/actual lobster which gives this fabulous texture. Perfectly al dente, rich, flavorful. The sauce drew me in, I was using the pasta utensil and ladling this magic into my mouth. If you like bisque, this is another level.

Crown Rohan Duck. Dry-aged for 30 days, fanned out beautifully and paired with sides - what else do you need. If you enjoy duck, you'll love this. If you didn't like duck, you'll realize you were silly. Thinly sliced, crispy skin, dry-aged umami - yeah, this is the right one.

Sundae for Two. We saw people getting it, so we got it. I can see why, puts the Luger's one down the block to shame.

I actually walked over to find Chef Chris and thank him - because this was one of the best meals I had all year. I felt it was right to commend him on killin' it. Francie is a place that I will remember quite fondly and will probably be back to sooner...

With the release of the new Michelin guide we were excited to try all the new awardees. Going down the list on Monday, I was excited to snag a last minute reservation at Francie for a late Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, our experience was honestly one of the worst dining experiences we have had in a while, Michelin starred or not.

Our evening started off with our server taking our drink order and informing us that they ran out of bread, small detail but no big deal. After about 20minutes waiting for our server to return, he began to take our order and again informed us that they ran out of the duck. Honestly, the duck was one of the main reasons we wanted to try Francie and while disappointing it was understandable but why not mention that upon our arrival? Of course, we needed more time to review the menu real quick and our server left us again. Well, a good 40minutes after we originally were seated our server returned to finally take our order and at this point we were a little annoyed.

Additionally, in between waiting for our food we ordered an additional drink which they seemed to have forgotten as we had to remind our server of it 30minutes later. It was a pretty calm Wednesday evening at the restaurant, by no means peak hours, so the lack of service was confusing

We ordered the asparagus and duck lasagna to start and the pork and halibut as our mains. The asparagus and presentation of the food was fantastic. The lasagna was great (although portion size was a 2x3inch rectangle, again this is fine dining). The pork was OK and the halibut was quite flavorless and honestly tough and overcooked. Again, I don’t know if it was because it was a late Wednesday evening and past prime time but the food was not up to our expectation at all.

Toward the end of our meal, we also noticed all the other patrons around us being approached by the assumed manager asking them how their food was. We thought, great this would be our chance to voice our thoughts on the evening. Unfortunately, we were the only table he did not acknowledge. I don’t know if it was because it was late or because we did not fit the typical “demographic” of the other patrons but this left us feeling uncomfortable, a feeling I have not felt at a restaurant in a long time.

We left bewildered why this restaurant received such high praise as our experience was so poor. Perhaps the experience would have been up to par on a typical weekend night, but we don’t intend to return to find out. Honestly was not worth the drive seeing as we are not locals of the neighborhood. Considering their location there are so many other great dining experiences next door that I can’t...