Le Veau d’Or

I pretty much love everything coming from the Frenchette and Le Rock crew. Every time I’m in Tribeca, I want to swing by Frenchette to sit at the bar and order a bowl of the Brouillade. And every time someone asks for a good place to have lunch in midtown, I suggest Le Rock.

So I was pretty darn excited to try Le Veau d’Or. Expectations were high, and when they day arrived, I probably looked at the menu five times to figure out my gameplan. Huge thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law Kathie for the birthday gift card that facilitated the experience. Everything was perfect and I will now spend the rest of my days dreaming what it would be like to be a “regular” here.

Let’s start with the atmosphere/vibe/ambience. You get a good sense from the photo above. Old School meets New School. Beautiful room with awesome music (e.g. Talking Heads) gently piped in. Our server, Andy (as in Warhol) was a refreshing, passionate, attentive, cool conversationalist who made a big difference in our enjoyment of the evening. We didn’t even need the gold cow on our table!

Cocktail service is an imperative. Elizabeth had the popular Marie Antoinette (with tequila) and I had the special called a Southpoint. It was a straight-up Manhattan, with about 50% of the typical sweet vermouth replaced by yellow Chartreuse. Both of my Southpoints when down too quickly.

The menu was insane. There were so many things I wanted to try, but I guess I will just have to keep coming back. So, my Bucket List for future visits includes frogs legs, the fluke goujonettes, the potato souffles with caviar, the pate en croute, the oeuf en gelee, the duck, and the simple omelette. And everything else.

What did we order?

  • Tete de Veau Ravigote (in mustardy paste with bits of hard boiled egg); Ultimate List
  • Salade Lyonnaise (with a perfect egg)
  • Le Delices Veau d’Or (liver, kidney, sweetbreads) in a rich sauce
  • Poulet a l’Estragon (with morels)
  • Frites (perfect)
  • Spinach
  • Salted caramel ice cream
  • Cheese plate (with the best slices of grainy bread

I would re-order everything I had. But there are so many things I want to try.

Le Veau d’Or is special. Everyone there was enjoying it as much as we were. This is the type of place I will have to return to regularly. The walk home afterwards felt incredible.