Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, simply known as Jean-Georges, opened a month ago a high end market at South Street Seaport, the Tin Building. This gigantic market proposes various restaurants serving French, Japanese, Chinese and Italian cuisine in the middle of a busy market place where you can get vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, cookies and all sorts of delicacy that would make you want to move in.
So we decided to try their brasserie called the T. Brasserie or Tin Brasserie that is located on the first floor. Beautiful place with a decor that truly makes you think you have flown to France before realizing it. And they do serve classic French dishes like the pate en croute, escargots or steak tartare. But, that day, they had a special that I could not miss: cuisses de grenouille a la Provencale or frog legs Provencale that were made with parsley, garlic and tomato. This finger food (try to eat frog legs with a knife and fork) was perfectly cooked: overcooked frog legs can quickly dry up. It was crispy and I appreciated the fact that they did not put too much garlic so the dish was not overpowered.
I ate that with a glass of 2021 La Croix de Peyrassol rosé from Provence while Jodi sipped a cherry and yuzu carbonated soda specially made in Brooklyn for the Tin Building.
While I was devouring my frogs legs, Jodi had a heart of lettuce salad that was composed of avocado, radish and fines herbs, with a red wine vinaigrette.
For her entree, she ordered another appetizer: their baked brie, served with a lemon jam, pistachio and honey, but instead of being wrapped in puff pastry as you would usually find it, they used kataifi. This was delicious: the kataifi and pistachio have a nice texture that complemented well the melted cheese. That is the top of dish that is great with some salad in fact.
On my side, I went for the pepper wood grilled NY strip that had a pepper crust and was sitting on a pepper sauce. So, I was a bit wary that there would be too much pepper, but it was not the case at all. The crushed pepper on the crust was surprisingly not overpowering, letting the perfectly cooked thick piece of meat be the star of the dish. It was served with fries that were skin on, slightly crispy.
Of course we could not leave without trying their desserts and we decided to try their Meyer lemon meringue tart that was superb, not too tart (the lemon sorbet that came with it was and I could have done without it) and not too sweet, even the meringue on top that , to the contrary balanced well the tartness of the lemon curd that was sitting on some frangipane (almond “paste”). A must have for sure that I appreciated with an espresso.
Overall, it was a nice meal, with delicious food and a very courteous staff who made sure we had a great time. As this post is published, the restaurant only opens from 8am to 5pm, but will extend times later in the fall. So, this is definitely a place to check out!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Tin Building by Jean-Georges - 6 South St, New York, NY 10038