Let me hand you the keys to unlocking a real and authentic French experience in a NYC restaurant with a secret garden in Hell’s Kitchen—Le Privé.
After a few failed attempts at finding genuine and, the keyword here is affordable, French food in a NYC restaurant, Patrick and I had given up. All the French restaurants in NYC were either hiding from us or too expensive. On a Saturday afternoon as we were walking through Hell’s Kitchen, I stopped in front of a restaurant called Le Privé, which in English translates to private. I heard some French chitter chatter inside. I was instantly intrigued. A small see through kitchen displayed chefs and cooks hard at work inside the restaurant. I took a peak inside and noticed elegant chandeliers, dim lighting, a long marble bar, and small square wooden tables lined up and down the narrow restaurant. At the end of the restaurant, I could see some light breaking in through a clear door. It seemed like there was a secret garden at the back of Le Privé, in the heart of New York in Hell’s Kitchen, and no one seemed to know about it.
Le Privé has a small outdoor garden settled within the walls of Hell’s Kitchen. Sunlight filters through the palm trees overlaying the pattern on the colorful mural at the back that reads Sois belle à ta façon, in English that means be beautiful in your own way. A sea of red café tables dominate the outdoor area. A romantic high brick wall covered in synthetic ivy with roses tumbling over each other lines the left. A small fountain and wooden door is nestled into a corner of the secret garden. It’s a hidden tropical oasis in a NYC restaurant. Pat and I sat down and decided to put Le Privé to the test. We ordered an assortment of tastings of the best Le Privé has to offer.
The cuisine offered at Le Privé is classic French with a hint of Creole influence. It’s unlike anything ever experienced in New York—but actually. Owner Sanjay Laforest has close ties to Créole foods since his father was Haitian. He says that after careful research, he realized there was not one NYC restaurant that offered classic French with a Creole influence, hence his decision to open Le Privé. He worked with the New Orleans head chef, Reagan Angelle, to help him devise the menu.
Waiters and staff, Eunis, Berte, and Leïla, came over to take our order. The entire staff either spoke French, was from France, or another European country. It felt like I was straight back in France. The idea behind Le Privé was to create a NYC restaurant that had more than just good food. It was meant as a second home, a place where relationships could be created and fostered. Not once did Le Privé make me forget that. It’s one of the few NYC restaurants that has actually made me feel right at home, within minutes I felt like I was building a relationship with the staff. I was speaking French with the staff. I was chatting with Eunis about our common travels to Morocco, I was chatting with Berte about her hometown of Oslo, and Leïla about her favorite French foods. Once again, for someone as multi-cultural as myself, I felt right at home and felt like I had just met a handful of amazing NYC people. Eunis opened a bottle of white wine and Pat and I clinked our glasses and began to reminisce on our most recent memories from Paris.
L’Assiette de Fromage
We started off with a platter of curated fromage or cheeses. Our platter consisted of époisses, petit basque, roquefort, and truffle goat cheese. My personal favorite was époisses. Slicing through the cheese was like slicing through a uniform, butter yellow soft and creamy cheese. Almost like Brie, but even softer believe it or not. The exterior is thick and rugged and can range from orange to brick red in color. On the palate it is soft and melts in your mouth, just like butter. It has a super subtly fruity yet distinctive balance and creamy sensation. It’s definitely rich, but in my opinion this is the go to if you are craving cheese.
Patrick’s favorite, along with a lot of the French waiters who worked at Le Privé, was truffle goat cheese. It actually is not a French cheese, it’s a cheese that was Americanized, but everybody loves it. It’s smooth and creamy and white as can be. You can taste the earthy undertones of truffles when you spread it onto your fresh baguette from Le Privé. This cheese completely changed our perception of goat cheese. I highly recommend it.
For an easily digestible and everyday cheese, I recommend the petit basque. It’s a semi-hard cheese that is dry and smooth with an earthy and nutty, subtly sweet flavor. This is the type of cheese you can eat for any occasion at any time of day. Lastly the strong flavored roquefort. I was told a secret by one of the French waiters that to bring down the strong flavor the French put butter on it to make the taste milder. All the cheeses were served with a side of red currant gastrique. Gastrique is like a sweet-and-sour sauce made from fruit and vinegar to accompany cheeses and meats. Spread it over the baguette and its fruity flavor accompanies the cheeses so nicely in the summer!
L’Assiette de Charcuterie
Our second platter was a charcuterie platter. It included jambon de bayonne (a type of French prosciutto), rosette de lyon (a type of salami), and canard fumé (smoked duck). Our favorite out of all three had to be the rosette de lyon. Afterall, Lyon is considered almost like a mecca for charcuterie. The dark sausage was cut up into small bites for us to delight in. You taste hints of garlic, sea salt, and peppercorn throughout. Our second favorite was jambon de bayonne. It is a specialty in the South of France. It’s a bit moister than your Italian prosciutto and has a few nuttier flavors and silkier more fragile texture. It was sliced so thin, it melted in our mouths upon contact. Lastly was the canard fumé. It’s a smoked duck breast that is air-dried to perfection, we had never had duck like this before. Its flavor is slightly similar to cured ham, but also completely unique in flavor. It was a new taste for us! L’assiette de charcuterie was accompanied by dijon mustard, cornichon (or pickled cucumbers), and red onion marmalade.
Moules Frites
Eunis brings out a batch of steaming moules frites, or steamed mussels with a dijon, chardonnay, fennel, garlic, and basil broth and a side of heavenly, golden crispy yet soft and not overly fried French Fries. I could not believe the gorgeous juiciness of the mussels. I used the fries to soak up the broth with a flavor that was not too overtly dominant over another. The fries were better than any I had eaten in a while in New York. Top notch fries, a must order!
FUN FACT: Moules Frites are the national dish of Belgium. It is thought that the dish actually originated in Belgium.
Beignets and Complimentary Port Wine
Today, the dessert known as beignet are most commonly associated with New Orleans. These doughnut like squares are served piping hot with what seems like layers on layers of powdered sugar. I was not sure what to expect. I bit into a hot and sweet beignet. Powdered sugar got all over my hands and my face, the square-like doughnut was covered in it. The powdered sugar stuck to the roof of my mouth as I chewed through the soft, yet chewy hot dough. My eyes widened, a clear sign that I was immediately starstruck by this dessert. The beignet was out of this world and the complimentary port wine served with dessert accompanied helped me wash it down perfectly.
FUN FACT: Beignet is the Louisiana state doughnut.
As you leave Le Privé, the staff invites you to come back and stop by the bar, even if it’s just to exchange a few words in French (or in English). You leave feeling like you’ve instantly become part of a tight knit community. Le Privé has more than just good food, it is a second home, a place where relationships are created and fostered over food. Whether that’s with the international staff, with a group of friends, or through joyous occasions like work events and parties (they are great at throwing parties and events in this intimate space!). Le Privé offers special nights and offers on a regular basis to try and foster a continuous sense of community among frequent guests—National Margharita Day, buy one get one free, free Veuve Cliquot pourings for an hour during Bastille day, Oscars night, and more. Intimate spots are hard to come by in New York, so keep this secret garden and NYC restaurant as private as possible, and share it only with your closest friends. Help your friends uncover the key to unlocking France at this NYC restaurant, Le Privé, in Hell’s Kitchen.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Le Privé. All opinions remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company.
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