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For all of us Francophobes
out there, welcome to Balthazar, a taste of Paris without the stinky
Seine, language barriers and hydrocephalic mimes. Modeled to look
like an aged brasserie (which is French for bra), this airy space
is filled with vintage mirrors, red leather booths and worn, wood
accents galore. Filled with a mixture of SOHO beautiful people, tourists
who made their reservations a month before leaving Grand Rapids for
NYC and the occasional slumming celeb, Balthazar is all about people
watching and loud surroundings. Now, there are French menus full of
unpronounceable nibblets (most of which contain at least 46% goose
liver) and there are French menus that sound like American menus,
but have higher prices. This joint is certainly one of the latter.
We've been here for both brunch and dinner, and weren't overly impressed
with the food either time, but if you're a fan of light salads and
the like (and judging by the number of nicotine fueled waifs in the
place, there are a lot of fans out there) then this is the place to
come for a semi-reasonable lunch in a cool place. Dinner involved
the typical French brasserie stuff, including steak frite, goat cheese-type
salads, bouillabaisse and soft-shelled crab. Overall, the service
and the food aren't stellar, but if I was a tourist and didn't want
to blow two million on The Gramercy Tavern, I'd come here and get
a real taste of NYC for only 1 mill. [MF]
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