Les Halles (Downtown)

So last night was Nadine's birthday. For those of you who are randomly reading this (who are you people anyway), you'll be hearing alot about Nadine, we eat out alot together, she is one of my most precious friends. Yesterday was her birthday so a large group of us went to the Les Halles in the financial district.

Before dinner I must note we went a bar called Pound and Pence on Liberty Street. The thinking behind this was the following, we wanted (Marsha, my other most precious of friends, Nadine and I) to go have some nice happy hour drinks and wouldn't it be ironic if we went to some pub establishment filled with Wall Street types. The bar was actually very spacious and warm. The reason I'm mentioning it is because they have a really extensive gin selection. To know me is to know my love of gin. I sampled a Dutch gin Bols Genever, in a gin and tonic. It was clean and really refreshing.

On to dinner

We were seated in a back room there about ten of us. Nadine, Marsha and I got there and met Nicole and DR inside. Our waiter was french, which i have no problem with (I work with a bunch of frenchies), but I usually expect good service coupled with the haughty attitude. I can take you thinking you're better than I am as long as the service you provide is of high quality, unfortunately that was not the case. Only half of our party had arrived and our waiter was continuing to ask us if we wanted something to drink, even after we had said we were going to wait for everyone else to arrive. Then once everyone arrived our waiter was no where to be found. I ordered my steak Bearnaise with mashed potatoes instead of fries, and they brought it with fries anyway. When I pointed this out there was no apology to be found. I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but i do this for a living, we were a fun and nice group of people, common courtesy should apply. There was visible annoyance when we repeatedly asked for drinks we had ordered and asked for the wine list. Sigh. Someone flunked french waiter school it seems.

The food, I started with escargot, which was delicious. To be fair anything slathered in garlic butter is going to be delicious, but god damn it i love me some escargot. Other appetizers floating around included the crabcake (pretty standard, nothing special), mussels with tomato and chorizo (fantastic) and pate (once again pretty standard, good but nothing earthshattering).
For dinner my steak which i ordered medium rare was pretty unevenly, cooked but otherwise satisfactory, the Bearnaise sauce was a bit thick but had a nice shot of vinegar cutting the fat deliciously. Nadine got a seafood choucterie which was very nice, not particularly my taste but well executed. Nicole had some sort of massive mixed grill plate with bacon, lamb chops, and sausages, which was fantastic. Nothing beats a giant wooden board filled with meat. NOTHING. All around the food was well executed, but I must say I prefer the kitchen at the Les Halles uptown.

In spite of the crappy service and the underwhelming kitchen we had a good time and Nadine had a great birthday which is all that matters. After dinner the four of us (Nadine, Marsha, Nicole and I) headed to Souths to have some birthday pie from the little pie company. Here's what I learned. Pie always tastes better with coffee, that has Jameson and Baileys in it.