After a really nice day of day drinking with some friends at the (very cool yet very particular) Campbell Apartments in Grand Central Station (note: DO NOT WEAR SHORTS!) we were hungry for food. It was my actual birthday, and even though we had enjoyed Sushi Nakazawa just the night before, we looked up what was available last minute on Eater and wound up at Lafayette.
I had just read that the chef was leaving, and I am not sure if he left the day we dined or a few days prior, but we would never have known something was a miss during our meal.
It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside.
First, we enjoyed Egg Lafayette with smoked sablefish & trout caviar. This tasted as good as it looked.
These gorgeous little mouthfuls were all the smokiness you could want with a great texture and combination of flavors.
Mike got theDry-Aged Strip Steak Frites with béarnaise butter. It was good but not overly special. Just a well executed version of Steak Frites.
I got the Skate Wing a la Plancha, summer squash, buckwheat, smoked tomato. I loved this dish. The skate was perfectly cooked and just a bit crispy on the outside, with excellent, fresh flavors and lovely textures from the buckwheat and flavorful foam. If I can be picky, I thought there was a lack of buckwheat. I love the taste of buckwheat and was excited to have it, but under all that skate there was maybe half a teaspoon of buckwheat in total. Not that I left hungry, though, by any means!
Our meal ended with lovely macarons from the kitchen. Light and fluffy and lots of great flavor in these little cookies.
We really enjoyed our dining experience at Lafayette. It all felt very seamless and if I closed my eyes, I would think we were back in Paris. The food was mostly exceptional, especially those egg starters. I cannot wait to go back and try more. I’m especially curious about their brunch!
Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10
