Le Cafe Louis Vuitton dazzles like a giant snowflake over the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. The exquisite, sleek and stylish restaurant on the fourth floor of the Louis Vuitton store is the best dining place ever to coexist with $10,700 Cappucine BB handbags and $1,460 LV “trainer” sneakers.
It’s more upscale than Daniel Boulud’s Blue Box at Tiffany’s next door and has a much more sophisticated menu than Saks’ L’Avenue. Opened two weeks ago, it’s already a “must” not only for fashionable ladies-who-lunch, but also for foodies from uptown, downtown and further afield.
It was no secret that the stylish Vuitton store (you won’t believe the space used to be Nike) planned to have a serious restaurant. But no one expected anything quite like this French-themed collaboration between mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr, executive chef Christophe Bellanca and Louis Vuitton parent LVMH.
Starr’s downtown gem Le Coucou and Bellanca’s Essential by Christophe on the Upper West Side each boast a Michelin star. Further sweetening the Michelin mix is the fact that executive pastry chef Mary George was previously at the two-starred Restaurant Daniel.
Bellanca came on board after he was approached earlier this year by his friend Arnaud Donckele, the chef at Louis Vuitton’s famed St. Louis restaurant. Tropez. Donckele put her in touch with Starr, who checked out Essential “to see what I’m doing,” Bellanca said. They both hit it off immediately.
But how can Bellanca be in both places at once? He is not.
“I will never compromise Essential,” he told the Post.
The Louis Vuitton cafe does most of its business in the morning and afternoon, so he’s there early. Later, he goes to Essential, which is only open for dinner.
The cafe has a long waiting list for lunch reservations (and often long, snaking queues) – for good reason.
It’s a transportive place to spend a December afternoon. The library styled dining room with hundreds of books on the shelves is decorated with comfortable chairs that you don’t want to get up from. The cozy fabric banquettes are lined with more plush cushions than those at Park Avenue’s Scully & Scully. Dark and light wood accents and orange throughout the space glow in the natural light that pours in through a tall, ornate window.
Bellanca’s French-tinged menu ($24 to $48 entrees; $39 to $62 mains) is accessible for everything from a breakfast waffle with smoked salmon and cream cheese to the very traditional sole and nice Dover Meuniere. “I’m an old school guy. The only way I know how to cook it is on the bone,” Bellanca said of it.
The best-selling ravioli, “monogram flower,” is a picture-perfect quartet of spinach ravioli filled with fontina, gruyere, taleggio, and chopped spinach; topped with black truffle and washed with truffle emulsion. It’s decadent but not overpowering, remarkably light on the tongue despite its rich elements.
Burger lovers fed up with today’s mainstream “smash” variety will be delighted with the Cafe’s offering ($32). The medium-thick patty is made from Pat LaFrieda’s dry-aged steak and hanger. It has great depth of flavor, enhanced by Vermont cheddar, fresh lettuce, sliced onions, tomatoes and pickles on a warm potato bun.
Of George’s desserts ($18 to $24), not to be missed is the vanilla entremet, a cubed, textured wonder of Madagascar vanilla, caramelized milk jam and caramelized almonds. Not too sweet, it’s a great way to end a meal—and tempt you to buy cuter sneakers than Nike ever knew.
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Image Source : nypost.com