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La Sirene is French Genius

My visit to La Sirene had been a long time coming. Last year, Gao Di intended to take me there for my birthday but we neglected to look up the address and decided to stop walking west any further. Big mistake! This year we did my birthday right by finally going to this amazing French restaurant. This is hands down one of the best meals I’ve had in NYC. Now to the food run-down.

We started our meal off with the Tartelette de Chevre Frais – a Goat Cheese Tart with Shallots ,Truffles, Grape and a Veil of 90 days Aged Swiss Cheese, a signature La Sirene dish. This was arguably my favorite part of the experience. This goat cheese tart is hard to comprehend. Topped with swiss cheese, this combination of cheese flavor and textures is one of the most delicious things I have ever had. So delicious that it deserved two photos. Yum!

La Sirene is also known for their mussels, they have four types to choose from! We went with the Moules Rochelaises Originated from La Rochelle - Steamed mussels with curry, diced apples, and light cream. This light creamy curry sauce gave the mussels a really rich flavor.

For an entree I got the Kassulet Toulousain de la Maison, a Cassoulet with Cannellini Beans, tomato, Garlic Duck Confit, Slab Bacon & Pork sausage all Braised with Noble Duck Fat. The menu’s note  reads, “Yummy but GREASY!! It was created for Warriors to defend the City! Don’t take it if you can’t bear it ”

Like the note says, this meal is insanely greasy but it is pretty awesome. The duck confit is super tender and the pork products all taste amazing from being submerged in duck fat. The cassoulet has a LOT of beans. I’m not sure if I would get this again, it was delicious and worth it – I like to think of myself as a warrior, but I just don’t know if I can handle that grease and all those beans again! Delicious, but there are other things on the menu I want to try.

Gao Di ordered the Tournedos Rossini, Seared Filet Mignon Over Bread Toasted With Foie Gras, Shallots, Port & Red Wine Truffles Sauce, and this was definitely my next favorite thing from the goat cheese tart. This filet mignon’s texture was pretty insane. The sauce and meat together was a beautiful combination of flavors. This meal came with a side of four pureed vegetables – mmm, perfect accompaniment to the filet mignon.

Although we were sufficiently stuffed, we decided dessert was necessary to make the birthday experience complete. We rounded out the meal with La Sirene’s Big Profiteroles au “Bittersweet” Chocolat. Profiteroles are usually small and filled with some kind of cream. La Sirene does their profiteroles to a grand scale – filled with ICE CREAM and covered in a Hot Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce – this is an amazing dessert. They really don’t skimp you here, these large profiteroles are easily shareable.

Like I said, La Sirene really has to be one of my best restaurant experiences. I love its small unpretentious environment – the waitresses are super friendly and give great suggestions! While on the pricy side, La Sirene is also BYOB and they don’t charge you a cork fee and are happy to pop open your beers. This way you know you’re spending your money on amazing FOOD and not blowing it on a $10 Kronenberg. This restaurant is amazing and I will be back when I’m ready to splurge again. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself one weekend to an amazing meal at La Sirene.

La Sirene is located at 558 Broome St and Varick St

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L’Ecole, French Culinary Institute Meal in Pictures

This is what a meal at the French Culinary Institute’s restaurant, L’Ecole, looks like.

Standouts: Pork belly appetizer was deliciously fatty. Lamb chop was amazing. Beer flight was a great run through different beer flavors.

For photos of the rest of the meal go through the jump… (more…)