After a wonderful day walking around in the City, from the East Village to the Upper East Side, via Central Park, we decided to have dinner at Nice Matin. I went there few years ago and I remember that I had a good dinner. So, why not go back!
First, let me give you some information on the name! Nice is a city located South of France, in the Cote D'Azur. It is known for many things such as the boardwalk (La Promenade Des Anglais) or the flower market. "Nice Matin" is the main newspaper of the city, hence the name.
To give this market feel, they even have a small market on top of their door!
A good reason to know Nice Matin is their burger! Even if you never went there, you may know it! It is the 5 Napkin Burger! Yes, the burger at Nice Matin was so popular that the owners decided to open a burger place where this burger would be the signature dish: that is how 5 Napkin burger started!
The place is nice, with a clean and bright decor, accentuated by the yellow formica tables!
and butter.
Then, I ordered the escargots (snails):
They were not the traditional Escargots de Bourgogne, cooked in butter, with garlic and parsley. It was made of butter, breadcrumbs, garlic and fines herbes, a blend of herbs made mainly of parsley, chives and tarragon. The presentation was very nice and surprisingly, there were 2 snails in each little compartment. It was good, but I prefer the more traditional recipe or to say it better, it would have been better without the breadcrumbs. It did not prevent me from dipping bread in the sauce though!!!
For the entree, I ordered the Moules Provençales (Mussels Provençales):
It was served with French fries:
There was for sure a nice amount of mussels and they were of a very decent size. They were perfectly cooked and seemed fresh. The Provençal sauce was composed of tomato sauce, basil, garlic, shallots and dry chili pepper. It was delicious: tasty and homey, it was not spicy even with the chili pepper.
The fries were very good too and I dipped them in the sauce! They were crispy outside and soft inside as I like them! Clearly better than Pommes Frites!
Jodi ordered the salade niçoise:
It was served with sushi grade tuna that was pan seared. It was composed as well of anchovies, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, olives, radicchio, beans, cucumber, fennel, zucchini, red onion and potatoes. The sauce was conveniently on the side.
The presentation was definitely beautiful with all the different colors. The tuna was excellent and definitely good quality. Know that it is an elevated version of the salade niçoise, because normally, it is made with canned tuna...I doubt you can find sushi grade canned tuna!!! So, it was definitely a good salad and I would think that the price was justified by the use of prime ingredients, especially the fish.
We skipped dessert as the day was full of food stops (yes, I was able to resist to the urge to order the chocolate hazelnut mousse or the butternut brown sugar crème brûlée).
I noticed that the restaurant has a prix-fixe menu and calculated that adding what I ate with a dessert would be 50 cents more than the price of the prix-fixe. So I guess it is not that interesting! Anyway, it was a good dinner in a nice setting. Definitely a nice French restaurant to know on the Upper West Side!
We skipped dessert as the day was full of food stops (yes, I was able to resist to the urge to order the chocolate hazelnut mousse or the butternut brown sugar crème brûlée).
I noticed that the restaurant has a prix-fixe menu and calculated that adding what I ate with a dessert would be 50 cents more than the price of the prix-fixe. So I guess it is not that interesting! Anyway, it was a good dinner in a nice setting. Definitely a nice French restaurant to know on the Upper West Side!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
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