L'Antagoniste — Restaurant in New York

My first time to a surprisingly lovely, small and quiet French bistro in Brooklyn. I came here on a Monday so it wasn't too busy. The atmosphere is intimate and not too noisy. Wine selection is surprisingly adequate for a place of this size. Service was attentive and polite without being overbearing. I did not have an issue with the level of service or the speed the dishes were served.

The ingredients are fresh and it appears to be locally sourced. However, their menu is limited to a few fishes but I guess this is all about quality control with a smaller kitchen. We tried their steak tartare, salad Nicoise, poulet aux Morilles, and le canard a l'orange. Each dish was excellent tasting and presented properly. You can tell the chef puts in effort nd heart into each thing that comes out of the kitchen. Each ingredient serves a purpose to the dish and compliments each other. The chef also seems to be well versed in the use of different salts to control the savory level and bring out the taste of the dish. I don't usually see this too often so a definite compliment to their chef! I'll need to return to explore their other selections in the future.

Update: Been there several times now. Food and service have been consistently good and on par. Each time their soups have been a star (different each time).

L'escargot with bone marrow and foie gras was delicious. Don't forget to dip the marrow sauce with some bread!

They have a filet mignon special that matched all the ingredients such as foie gras and potatoes seemlessly like a medley. Definitely worth a try if...

It is truly unfortunate that I have to give this low review to what has been one of my go-to neighborhood restaurants, but it would be irresponsible of me not to. I have always had a soft spot for this place because the food was reliably comforting and unsurprising in it's unpretentious Franco-Brooklyn bistro-ness. Decent wine list, lovely and quaint ambiance, lovely brunch, etc. None of that was present in our last visit. The food wasn't just bad(overcooked, out-of proportion and poorly conceived), but it was presented to us in the worst kind of quasi-contemporary fashion-food styling that actually makes you angry because it couches itself as superior to your taste and taunts you from the plate as some inferior being that could never truly understand its true meaning or global significance. It was as though this minimalist aesthetic, lack of flavor and petit measure of featured ingredients was actually a sign of class that you were not a part of. In the final moments of this "meal" I felt as thought I needed begin stacking the chairs in the restaurant as a barricade against the oppressive regime of the kitchen and raise a wine-soaked napkin tied to my fork in a sign of warning to the other plebians that might stumble unwittingly into this tyrannical realm expecting the same protection and peace I came for. One can only hope that there is still good somewhere in the leadership of L'Antagoniste and that they find a way to move forward without leaving behind...

Very unique spot in Bed Stuy and definitely not the experience I was expecting. Lets start with the place, I came here for a birthday dinner with my dad and a friend. They seated us immediately and the service was pretty quick, food came out quickly too. The space has lots of small wooden tables like a french restaurant but what was nice was that there was a little more space at each table so you didnt feel like you were going to knock things over all the time. They have a lovely black and white photograph wallpaper which reminds me of old school New York restaurants.

The food- They do work with local farms and have a list on the wall. They also sell wine by the bottle and its relatively inexpensive, we got a sauv blanc which was about $20. What they do with the food is poetry though, the cheese souffle came with a cheese ice cream, the broth of the mussels was good enough to be from France and the pate comes with a small balloon of cotton candy on the side. I wasnt the biggest fan of the steak tartare, but it was soft and really well prepared, the clafutis tasted excellent, but was slightly on the stodgier side.

The wait staff was really good with us, made good recommendations and provided really great service. It does get busy at night though so I do recommend a reservation. They accept cc too and have a lovely patio in the back. I'll return for special occasions, thanks l'antagoniste, for a...