New York City: Balthazar with old friends

Last month two of my friends, Natascha and Magnus, happened to be visiting New York City at the same time, so we decided to meet for dinner at Balthazar in SoHo. Magnus is working as a pilot for a Danish airline and Natascha works as a cabin crew on a business jet, so we were in for a night full of aviation talk.

I love oysters, so we decided to start our French bistro dinner with half a dozen to share. I don’t remember what kind of oysters it was, but they were just like I prefer them to be (that is, neither too meaty, nor too small), and they tasted delicious together with the red vinegar, cocktail sauce and lemon which came on the side. For the main course, I stuck to the maritime theme and ordered moules frites, while the rest of the table went for steak frites.

Just like the oysters, moules frites is quite a safe bet. As long as the ingredients are fresh, those two dishes are impossible to screw up, and at Balthazar they were both delicious. I saw the others eying up my mussels and I think they wished they had ordered something a little less ordinary than Steak Frites, even though the fries were very good.

Balthazar has been a SoHo hot spot for quite some time, and even though that kind of places easily get a bit too full of themselves, I don’t think that was the case for Balthazar. Our waiter was friendly and charming as only the French can be, and we were well looked after. The only thing not so charming about Balthazar was the price level, but considering the location and the feels-like-Paris settings, I guess it’s ok, at least for those of you, who don’t mind spending +100USD on a casual meal, but for dessert, we decided to go to Big Gay Ice Cream.

Balthazar, 80 Spring St, SoHo, New York