I had eaten Christophe Bellanca’s food before, at the excellent, now closed, and much missed L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York. He’s now brought his culinary magic to the Upper West Side, and I recommend that you go, as soon as you possibly can, to Essential by Christophe, conveniently located at 103 W. 77th Street, close by the American Museum of Natural History.

Chef Ballanca grew up in the mountains of Ardeche, France, and has also worked, among other places, at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles and Le Cirque in New York. His classical French training informs the menu here. As their website states, it “showcases his core philosophy: an 'essential' yet elegant and relaxed approach to French fare.”

If he was going for elegant and relaxed: he succeeded admirably. The space is attractive and comfortable, the service hospitable, kind, and well-informed. And the food is exquisite. (Michelin recently awarded it a star, making the already popular restaurant even more so.)

It’s a bit like being at Le Bernardin, but at a fraction of the cost, and with a broader variety of food. There’s an inexpensive bar menu (burger for $24, a pasta and lobster dish for $34, a cheese plate for $28). If you’re very hungry and want to try it all, there are prix fixe tasting menus at $140, $180, and $230, depending on just how many courses you are up for. Or you can do what my party of three did, and just order what looks appealing from the seasonal menu and share it. (The restaurant staff kindly divided plates for us.) We started with an amuse bouche of mushroom cappuccino (which included sweet potato and a Madeira reduction). This combination of ingredients, I admit, does not sound appealing, but it was a small surprising portion of utter deliciousness. I encourage you to put your food prejudices to rest when dining at this establishment. You may find ingredients, and even entire dishes that you previously did not enjoy, transformed into delectables. I can thoroughly recommend the hiramasa, the white asparagus, the cuttlefish, the blue prawns, the skate (with a side of vegetables better than I would have thought possible–carrots have no business being nearly so tasty), the duck, and the warm chocolate tart (with Madagascar vanilla ice cream). 

The menu changes on a regular basis, so I am not sure how helpful these recommendations are; however, I am confident in my belief that the selections offered will remain uniformly excellent.  

This is not the sort of food you make at home (unless you too are a trained chef and have hours to spare to make sauces, and finely slice vegetables, and have purchased imported butter with a higher fat content than what we usually get in the US). But that is the wonderful thing about going out–you do not come to Essential for home comfort, you come to get dressed up, to enjoy the happy crowd, to go where life is happening, to try new tastes, to appreciate the company you are with, enhanced by the environment you are in. Raise a glass! As Barbara Holland put it in her chapter “Going Out” in her collection, Endangered Pleasures, “Evenings out are play, either because we’ve worked hard all day and deserve it or because we’ve been cooped up in the house all day and deserve it. In either case, we heard the world out there whistling for us–throwing a handful of gravel at our windows, so to speak–and said yes! wait! I’m coming.” Make a reservation straight away and bring someone you really like along with you. You won’t be sorry. Have an excellent time.

HOURS

Tues - Sun - 5 pm to 9:30 pm

ADDRESS

103 W. 77th Street, New York, NY

CONTACT

www.essentialbychristophe.com

ph: 646-478-7928

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