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Chez Fifi.
Photograph: Paolo Cruz
I suppose I ought to know at this level that in order for you prime actual property — say, a townhouse on East 74th — you have to be ready for a bidding struggle. So it goes currently with Chez Fifi, a 1920 townhouse turned pocket-size French bistro on 74th and Lex. Since its opening in January, Fifi has been, by seemingly common settlement, each unbookable and unmissable. New York doesn’t need for French bistros; cognac-scented au poivre sauce flows just like the Seine by way of these components. However in the best way that generally occurs by way of a exact and perverse alchemy of hype, value, luck, and shortage, Fifi is the one to go to.
All of that, in fact, makes it unattainable to get in. I attempted for weeks to get a desk with no luck. I used to be ready to consign it to the hype heap of historical past, however one thing annoying occurred: Folks stored asking me about it. So I did what I least love to do, and I reservation-laundered with considered one of my best-connected associates: Get us a desk, and dinner’s on me.
On a current Wednesday night time, I caught what I’ve (and possibly you’ve) been lacking. Fifi isn’t massive, counting 40 seats within the ground-floor eating room with one other 28 within the allegedly unreservable upstairs “salon” bar. What few seats they’ve are going quick. Certainly one of Anna Wintour’s former assistants was at one desk after I walked in, and Jon Hamm confirmed up along with his spouse at 9:48 p.m. One other night time, a spy advised me, Sacha Baron Cohen and Chris Rock had been in the home. Petite is the purpose. Fifi is a manufacturing of the We All Gotta Eat group, which additionally runs Sushi Noz a number of blocks away, a spot with 14 seats.
The restaurant is paneled in mahogany, which supplies it a taste of Paris’s nice Le Voltaire, the Nineteenth-century restaurant on the Quai Voltaire, the place you may as well get a totally first rate, however possibly not sterling, steak frites. At Voltaire, considered one of my all-time favorites, historical past and legend conspire to raise the expertise. (One night time there, Lee Radziwill, eating with the Reinaldo Herreras, practically made off with my raincoat accidentally.) Fifi, regardless of the little Paris-blue placard asserting “Place de Fifi” by the door, can’t but depend on generational goodwill. It has to make do with Zack Zeidman’s menu, which trusts that the classics will promote themselves.
On the whole, the nearer you hew to the anticipated, the higher you’ll be able to anticipate to do. Escargots, served in shell with the normal tongs, had been letter-perfect. A starter omelette, served open-faced (“a plat”) underneath a bathe of Périgord truffles, wasn’t the fluffy cloud of Pépin tutorials, however I discovered I didn’t care. Txangurro, a Basque appetizer of deviled crab, however, tasted extra like bread crumbs and accouterments than crabmeat. Steak frites, dressier than traditional with filet mignon au poivre, received excessive marks at my desk and, at $69, comes as shut as you’ll discover to a cut price. Like loads of different spots, Fifi provides the ominously “MP” côte de boeuf (round $300 the night time I went) as an expense-account splurge, alongside a named-for-the-restaurant roast rooster, with foie gras jus (allegedly), potatoes, and salad, which rings in at $70 for the half and $135 for the entire.
Lounge lengthy sufficient, and the room’s coziness creeps up on you, as do the solicitous workers and the attentive drinks menu. (Martinis gave the impression to be circulating extensively, however Tira Johnson’s wine listing had some attention-grabbing surprises: I used to be completely happy to pattern a 30-year-old Portuguese Cab by the glass with out the Coravin upcharge it might have carried elsewhere.) Whether or not Fifi will hold its current warmth because the novelty dims stays to be seen. However taken with Cafe Commerce simply down the block, it augurs a resurgent Lexington Avenue restaurant row. The excellent news is that if subterfuge and horse-trading to safe a desk isn’t your concept of a really perfect aperitif, outdated dependable Orsay close by has most of the identical bistro classics — with out Hamm, certain, but in addition with out headache.
Chez Fifi’s menu doesn’t stray from the classics.
Photograph: Connor Cowden
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