My spouse and I dined at Balthazar for brunch on a Saturday
afternoon in mid-October 2017. Balthazar is open daily for breakfast,
lunch/brunch, dinner, and in-between. We booked our table using the online Open
Table reservation system, and reservations are recommended for this popular
dining spot.
Balthazar opened in 1997 in trendy SoHo on Spring Street (between
Broadway and Cosby) in a building that once housed a tannery/leather warehouse.
(Balthazar recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, a milestone for
any NYC restaurant.) Restauranteur Keith McNally (originally from London, but a
resident New Yorker for more than four decades) owns Balthazar, along with
other NYC restaurants including Balthazar Bakery, Augustine, Cherche Midi
(named after a Parisian street, and previously called Pulino’s), Lucky Strike,
Minetta Tavern, Morandi, Pastis, Schiller’s, The Odeon, and Café Luxembourg, as
well as a location of Balthazar in London. He also operated NYC’s now-closed
Pravda and Nell’s. Forbes magazine once called Balthazar “NY’s most iconic
restaurant”.
Balthazar offers a French-brasserie atmosphere, with high
tin ceilings, warm overhead lighting, interesting accent lights, gold-painted
walls, tile floors, huge antique
mirrors, and large windows that permit a view of the restaurant’s red awnings.
For drinks and light snacks, you can sit at the curved wooden bar, or at a
table or booth in the bar area. The adjoining main dining area offers seating at
regular free-standing tables, as well as at tables that share red leather
banquettes. A raw bar in the rear of the space adds a focal point, as does the
front entry vestibule topped with a large clock. Balthazar Bakery occupies the
storefront next door, and seems to have been once connected to Balthazar itself
via a doorway that is now blocked by additional table seating. Restrooms are
located on the basement level (although there must be some provision for those
with mobility issues).
This bustling restaurant serves classic French food,
including favorites like onion soup, escargot, salad nicoise, cote de boeuf, steak
au poivre, and steak frites. In fact, the fries at Balthazar are ordered so
often that the restaurant employs two full-time prep cooks to produce nearly
200 orders per day. (More statistics: Balthazar seats about 180 diners at one
time, and serves up to 1,500 guests per day!)
We shared the steak tartare and the smoked salmon as
appetizers, followed by the beef stroganoff and steak frites as entrees. For
dessert, we ordered the famous banana ricotta tart (which has remained on the
menu since the restaurant opened 20 years ago), which our waiter delivered
sporting a birthday candle to honor our celebration.
Our brunch at Balthazar was a success, and we can finally cross
it off our “to eat” list!
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