Eating at Francie. NYC. A Michelin Starred Modern Fine Dining Brasserie

Francie is a New York City, Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant that is perhaps most famous for their duck, but the establishment also offers a number of other notable dishes as well. Their souffle cakes with seaweed butter and caviar was one I had to try, but I also had a few other nice plates. However, one did fall a bit short of the mark. Nevertheless, I enjoyed a pretty fine meal at Francie. Today I'm at the beautiful Domino Park in the neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and I'm very excited for this evening for two reasons, really. One, I get to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant, and two, well, I get to go to a restaurant and it's probably a hell of a lot warmer than it is right now because it is freezing out. Today is January 4th, so this will be my first real restaurant adventure of the year, and I always like starting off the year with a bang, you know, something that's memorable that automatically gives the year a sense of color. So that's why I will be going to a Michelin-starred restaurant for dinner. I'm going to a place called Francie. It's a brasserie, it's been open for two to three years now, and I can't wait. Out of all the dishes the restaurant offers, they're most famous for their duck. You can't even look up the restaurant without seeing 10 million pictures of that duck, and it looks absolutely amazing. I really want to try that duck, but the only problem is it's not meant for one person and it is quite expensive. Now I'm pretty confident that I could probably finish it myself, but I think it would just be better to enjoy it amongst a group of people. However, the restaurant does offer a number of other great-looking courses, and I can't wait to try a good variety of food. So without any further delay, let's start heading to the restaurant, enjoy a good dinner, and warm up. Francie is located near the Williamsburg Bridge and is only a block away from the famed Peter Luger. The restaurant opened its doors during a difficult time, December of 2020, but it persevered. New York Times critic Pete Wells gave the restaurant a glowing review, and Michelin bestowed a star on the establishment in its 2021 guide. Francie is housed in a beautiful building, which was designed in 1888 as a bank. Inside, however, you wouldn't know of the space's former history as it has the appearance of an elegantly designed modern restaurant with an open kitchen. However, Francie does have a private dining area called the vault, which gives a nod to the building's previous purpose. Overall, I really enjoyed the look of the restaurant and its atmosphere. I first took a look at the food menu, which comes from chef Christopher Cipollone. He previously worked at the Michelin starred and sadly closed restaurant Piura in the West Village before moving to the West Coast. It was when Cipollone teamed up with restaurateur John Winterman that the pair opened Francie. To me, the menu was incredibly appealing with a great variety of food. There's a noticeable Italian angle with the pasta selection, but it really seemed like there was something for everyone. I'd definitely want to try the duck someday, but it's clearly costly, not to mention the fact that the price really jumped from when the restaurant first opened and the dish could be had for only $88 compared to the $148 it goes for today. I was also interested in the prime cote de boeuf, which is also a dish to share, and it sounded extraordinary. Next, I turned my attention to the beverage list, which had a pretty good selection, but I knew that I was going to be spending a lot on food, so I just stuck with water. First up were the souffle cakes, which were included on the snack section of the menu. The dish contained seaweed butter, Meyer lemon, and caviar. The smell was the first thing I noticed, and it smelled amazing. I was so hyped to try the course. Besides the duck, the souffle cakes are easily one of Francie's most notable offerings. My first bite was one of pure joy. The souffle cakes were so light, springy, and fluffy, and had a remarkable flavor of their own. They didn't really have a noticeable eggy taste that characterized some souffles, but were just plain delicious. However, it was with the addition of the butter and caviar that the dish truly came alive. I loved the seaweed taste of the butter, and the caviar lent a nice saltiness and brininess, not to mention a bit of decadence to the souffle cakes. The Meyer lemon was welcome as well, as it provided a subtle freshness and acidity. I did have to exercise a bit of restraint when it came to spreading the delicious butter, as I didn't want to run out before I finished the cakes. Simply put, the souffle cakes were the perfect start to my dinner, and the dish is a must order. However, my second course was unfortunately nowhere near as impressive. I went with the agnolotte with parsley root, potato, and caciocavallo. Now there's no denying, the pasta was beautiful with its stripes, and it was perfectly cooked. However, when I took my first bite, I couldn't help but think, this is it? The dish was just one note. I pretty much got no flavor from the actual pasta, in fact the agnolotte felt more like a textural vessel to transfer the sauce to my palate. The sauce was good, but nothing impressive, it was like a milky, creamy, slightly above average cheese sauce. Frankly, I was just expecting more. In fact, Franci is pretty well regarded for their pastas, and their selection sounds incredible. I just unfortunately chose the wrong dish. It happens. Thankfully, the agnolotte was still good, but I was just expecting a bit more. I wanted something more exciting. Fortunately, my main course was a real winner. I got the porcatini with a tomato mostarda, a potato terrine, and rosemary. Visually, the dish was beautiful, and it really delivered on flavor. The pork tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium. It was so juicy and flavorful, and I loved the pork cracklings which coated the exterior of the meat. Plus, it really added a nice textural component. I also enjoyed the rosemary jus on the plate, which pleasantly complemented the pork. In addition to the meat, the potato terrine served as a nice sort of side. The potatoes were beautiful, they were flaky, but also tender. Overall, it was a great dish, but the only negative thing about it was that it was kinda small. I know Franci is a fine dining restaurant, and smaller courses seem to be the norm, but still, I wish that it was a bit larger. In part, because it was so delicious, and I wanted to eat more. But also, I didn't want to leave the restaurant with an empty stomach. Thankfully, when I finished my main, I still had dessert on the horizon. One unique aspect of Franci is their extensive cheese selection, which is a rarity for fine dining restaurants in the U.S. these days. I would have loved to have tried a few, but it was a bit costly for me, since getting the minimum of three cheeses would have set me back $29. The last time I had cheese at a restaurant was about a year before in Amsterdam at the Michelin-starred establishment known as Zolderijn, where I enjoyed two wonderful Dutch cheeses for about $9. But, considering that cheese is not as common in the U.S. as opposed to Europe, it's understandable that the price would be higher. Anyways, I turned my attention to the dessert menu, where there were some nice options. I went with the sticky toffee cake with orange marmalade and nutmeg ice cream. The dish had a nice look to it. It was simple and clean. Plus, for a dessert, I thought that it was a fair portion size. The cake was nicely baked and paired beautifully with the sticky toffee sauce. If the dish were just those two components, then it would have been a fine sticky toffee pudding, but the other elements made the dish a bit more unique and took it to another level. I particularly enjoyed the nutmeg ice cream. Its flavor was fantastic and really complimented the cake. As far as the orange marmalade, it definitely added a nice touch of color to the dish and a good tart and citrus flavor. But honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the course just as much if the marmalade was left off the plate. Overall, the sticky toffee cake was a nice and satisfying end to my dinner at Francie. With my dessert finished, it was time for the bill, which totaled to $121.94, but with my tip, I spent about $145. That was pretty costly, especially since I was still hungry. Now, I loved the food, even the pasta dish, which wasn't too exciting but was at least good. The service was excellent and I enjoyed the atmosphere, but it's tough leaving a restaurant with room still in my stomach and an empty wallet. Still, I'm going to look at the positives because I mostly enjoyed some excellent food. There are so many delicious sounding courses on Francie's menu and I would love to return to try them all. But hopefully, I'll have a bit more money next time. Ah, that dinner was absolutely delicious. I enjoyed every single thing that I had. The only thing is that I'm still a bit hungry. Those were some tiny portions. I could probably eat maybe two to three more courses. And it was expensive. Now, it is comparable to other NYC, Michelin-starred fine dining establishments, but it's still costly. And because of how much my bill was, it kind of got me thinking that maybe I should have actually gotten the duck because in reality, it wasn't that much more than what I ended up paying. I mean, with the duck, I'm sure it would have filled me up and if I didn't actually finish everything, well, then I'd have some killer leftovers for the next day. But regardless, I really enjoyed every single dish that I had. The food was excellent, although I do wish the portion sizes were a bit larger. But like I said, every dish was delicious. Especially those souffle cakes. My god, were they good. In summation, my dinner tonight at Francie's was excellent. This has been a great culinary start for the year for me. And I'll definitely be back to Francie and the next time, I'm getting that duck.