A Balthazar Lunch

It was a rainy October Tuesday and I took off for my birthday, so my mom and I headed to New York City for lunch, dinner, and some sightseeing. I haven’t been to the city for quite some time and was looking forward to finally trying a couple particular restaurants. We headed to SoHo for lunch at Balthazar.

The iconic French brasserie known for their traditional French fare remains one of the most popular places in the city. It was packed and we were immediately seated at a small table in the middle of the bustling restaurant.

We started with a couple hors d’oeuvres. I had the Onion Soup Gratinee, one of my favorite soups.

It was good and topped with a nice amount of Gruyere cheese.

We also tried the Escargots covered in garlic butter.

They were great and we used the bread to soak up the delicious garlic butter.

I ordered the Toasted French Ham and Gruyere Cheese. It’s served on country bread and comes with a small salad. I forgot to substitute the salad for their yummy pommes frites, so we ended up sharing some.

My mom had the Balthazar Cheeseburger. A simple burger with cheese, lettuce, and red onion. It came with their lovely twice-fried fries.

We enjoyed our mains and dessert came out soon after.

The Strawberry Shortcake was wonderful, made with local strawberries, crème fraîche shortcake, rhubarb and rich whipped Chantilly cream.

After lunch, we stopped next door at the bakery to pick up a couple goodies.

We had a few hours to kill before our dinner reservation so we walked all around the city.

We took a short break and stopped by Épicerie Boulud located inside Westfield World Trade Center for some lemonade, coffee, and the shortbread cookies from Balthazar.

We walked off our French lunch for a couple more hours before heading towards Greenwich Village for dinner.

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Balthazar
80 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 965-1414
Website