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“Bar Breton”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	French	Flatiron	Moderate	Good

ooden sconces topped with extra wide chocolate linen shades and earth-toned walls painted with ornate floral patterns that are often seen on china patterns in his native land. Straight wooden booths for two and four occupy the front part of the restaurant while the rear offers a collection of tables made of reclaimed wood from a Vermont barn, with an eclectic collection of mix and match antique chairs (some are not suitable for adult-sized rears, or at least not my adult-sized rear), and an authentic soapstone sink from upstate New York with vintage Kohler faucets.

I read the menu and was intrigued by the presence of galettes, the buckwheat crepes indigenous to Brittany, filled with sweet and savory fillings. The one that caught my eye in particular was one filled with ham, cheese and topped with a sunny side up egg ($16). I love anything with a fried egg on top. I’d be interested in a cardboard reporter’s notebook topped with one, so a gooey ham and cheese crepe sounded pretty fantastic to me. It did not disappoint. Craig and I shared one, and aside from the marinated mushrooms, which seemed to get in the way of the egg, ham and cheese, the galette was heavenly—hot and gooey, smoky and cheesy, and lovingly glossed with the oozing yolk of a sunny side up egg.

Though galettes are the hook of this sweet neighborhood tavern (somewhat oddly located on 28th and Fifth), in some cases they were hit or miss. During the day, the galettes are served as they are in Brittany—a wide circular crepe filled up with eggs, cheese, chorizo, what have you, with the edges folded over to form a square. They’re great. But at night, Cyril rolls the crepes up to form these sort of long thin logs that he slices into 5 or 6 pieces for easy sharing. This is a nice idea, but it’s a mistake. The buckwheat crepe is too dense (they are gluten free which may add to the problem) and too dry to be layered on itself so many times. These crepes are meant to be one layer, not six. All I ended up tasting was the rather hearty, bready crepe, not the filling. The smoked duck galette ($13) suffers the most from this nighttime treatment. It’s altogether too dry and the filling is quite skimpy. But the galette filled with ripe slices of forme d’ambert, Anjou pear, honey and walnuts ($10) works much better, as does the one filled with horseradish crème and chiles and topped with sheets of wild smoked salmon, capers, radishes an ... [more, click below]

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Posted: January 14, 2009

Other restaurants in Flatiron :
+ Suenos   + Amuse-- Closed   + Dos Caminos   + Lucy-- Closed   + Gramercy Taver   + Veritas   + Fleur De Sel   + Bolo -- CLosed   + City Bakery   + Shake Shack   + Kalustyan's Cafe   + Devi   + BLT Fish   + Sugarcane   + BLT Prime   + Barca 18-- CLOSED   + Beppe   + Barbounia   + Boqueria   + Eleven Madison   + Lonesome Dove-- CLOSED   + Hill Country   + Olana   + Wildwood   + Primehouse   + Allegretti   + Bar Breton   + Aldea   + SD26 by Bao Ong   + ABC Kitchen   + Ciano   + The NoMad   

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