Chez Jacqueline – New York Bistros

you’ve seen a strawberry

that’s had a struggle; yet

was, where the fragments met,

a hedgehog or a star-

fish for the multitude

of seeds. What better food

than apple seeds – the fruit

within the fruit – locked in

like counter-curved twin

hazelnuts? Frost that kills

the little rubber-plant –

leaves of kok-sagyyz-stalks, can’t

harm the roots; they still grow

in frozen ground. Once where

there was a prickly pear –

leaf clinging to a barbed wire,

a root shot down to grow

in earth two feet below;

as carrots from mandrakes

or a ram’s-horn root some-

times. Victory won’t come

to me unless I go

to it; a grape tendril

ties a knot in knots till

knotted thirty times – so

the bound twig that’s under-

gone and over-gone, can’t stir.

The weak overcomes its

menace, the strong over-

comes itself. What is there

like fortitude! What sap

went through that little thread

to make the cherry red!

Nevertheless

Marianne Moore

Chez Jacqueline

72 MacDougal Street

New York, New York 10012

212-505-0727

http://chezjacquelinerestaurant.com/

In 1918, Marianne Moore moved to St. Luke’s Place in Greenwich Village and began to socialize with many avant-garde artists. Her innovative poems received high praise from Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and T. S. Eliot. William Carlos Williams wrote about Moore’s ability to describe vastness out of the acute observation of the particular: “So that in looking at some apparently small object, one feels the swirl of great events.”

Marianne was a great personality and was widely recognized in Greenwich Village for her tricorn hat and black cape. She was a great admirer of Muhammad Ali and even wrote the liner notes for his spoken-word album “I Am the Greatest”!

Chez Jacqueline is one of the oldest bistros in New York City. It opened in 1965 in Soho and moved to its current location on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village in1982.

Chez Jacqueline is charming from the street. At night it is wrapped in twinkle lights, and has a blue Mediterranean awning over a red facade. Even though it is half a block from Houston, it seems a world away from the traffic and noise.

We were greeted warmly upon arrival and were given a corner table.

The tables and chairs are old wood and the booths along the walls are traditional red leather. The walls are a mustard color, the lights and candles are soft. Large windows open to MacDougal Street. Over the bar at the entrance are globe lights. An armoire is used as a server’s station for glasses, pitchers, napkins and utensils. There is a large community table in the center of the room.

Even when the restaurant filled later in the evening it did not get noisy. It feels like your mother’s living room. The crowd is older and reserved. It is a place of comfortable conversation and warm feelings. My daughter thought it was a romantic restaurant.

The waiters speak English with a marvelously inflected French accent. The timing throughout the dinner was solid, and the service was attentive and friendly yet not intrusive. It is casual. We were not rushed. The staff and service were good.

The music was a selection of jazz and blues. We heard Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn and Ray Charles. It was right for the restaurant.

Chez Jacqueline’s advertises that its food is “cuisine provencale” and “bistro nicoise” and is as close as one can come to “Nice in New York”.

The bread was better than what we find at most bistros. The crust was dry and flakey, and crumb was nutty and moist, with the right amount of chewiness. It came with deep green olive oil. Our waiter said they buy their bread from Cardinali Bakery.

The menu has many salads including an intriguing “celeri remoulade” (celery root salad) and a “frisee au chevre chaud” (chicory salad with walnuts and goat cheese). The mains included many bistro classics and some creative dishes such as artichoke raviolis, black linguini, grilled Mediterranean vegetables, and roasted duck with cassis sauce. The “provencales” specials are a beef stew, a white bean cassoulet, sauteed calf’s liver and braised pork shoulder with garlic confit.

The specials were risotto with seafood, branzino, trout and lamb. (Branzio is European sea bass which is marketed under many names such as Mediterranean sea bass, loup de mer, robalo, lubina or spigola). The menu is extensive with several interesting mussel offerings, appetizers and salads, and side dishes.

Chez Jacqueline offers a $28 prix-fixe menu (cash only) between 5:00 and 6:30. (Diners at each of the tables next to us mentioned that they were using Groupon coupons to eat for half price.) Tuesday is Mussel Fest ($10 mussels) and Wednesday is Steak House ($15 steaks).

I had the branzino and vegetables, and my daughter had trout with almonds and string beans. We shared the lobster bisque. We had a side of pommes frites. They were average in quality.

The lobster bisque was light and delicate, and dark pumpkin in color. It was a finely constructed and rich and concentrated essence of lobster.

According to the Academie Française Dictionary: “A bisque is a soup made from crustaceans.” Wikipedia describes a “bisque” as:

….derived from Biscay, as in Bay of Biscay, but the crustaceans are certainly bis cuites “twice cooked” (by analogy to a biscuit) for they are first sautéed lightly in their shells, then simmered in wine and aromatic ingredients, before being strained, followed by the addition of cream.

My branzino was grilled: crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. I have found this to be a rather tasteless, generic white fish but Chez Jacqueline prepared it better than most. The vegetable sides were spinach, zucchini and tomatoes. They were not overcooked and retained their flavor. Each of the ingredients had its own flavor space and was clear and well-articulated.

My daughter’s main was a thick trout steak with firm string beans. The flavors were light and clear and the trout was properly cooked.

The wine list ranges from $39 to $84 with a standard selection of whites, reds and roses. The strength of the list seemed to be in the Bordeaux blends. We had the 2011 Malbec (Gouleyant-Vin du Sud Cahors). It was a round and lush wine with violet notes and blackberry fruit at that price point.

We left the restaurant feeling well pleased with the dinner and the experience.

Ratings

Service: 7

Archetype: 8

Food: 8

Energy: 7

Resources

Reviews

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/chez-jacqueline/

Cardinali Bakery and Pastry Shop

http://www.cardinalibakery.com/

Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report