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Bastille Day fetes are happening all over the city on July 14 through the weekend, celebrating independence, croquettes and all things français. New York’s restaurants and bars don’t disappoint with these delectable French feasts and tippling affairs.
RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Bastille Day in NYC
Le Coq Rico
The New York outpost of the Paris original celebrates its French heritage and fresh new bar program with the homage-paying Lady Antoinette cocktail ($15), a thing the queen herself would have loved: a vodka base combined with almond syrup, fresh raspberry syrup and a chocolate dollop, rimmed with French pralines.
Wallflower
This charming West Village nook is offering liquid courage to all revelers with half-off glasses of champagne all the live long Bastille day.
North End Grill
The elegant patio at the Battery Park City restaurant lends itself well to feeling chic with their $50 deal for a dozen oysters and a bottle of Krug Champagne.
Benoit
On July 14, this Parisian midtown bistro will serve up live jazz and specials like a bouillabaisse-style clambake for two ($38), featuring lobster, mussels, littleneck clams, corn and rouille croutons. Dessert and drinks specials are on offer, too: French-American peach verbena ($10/slice), and a happy hour of select wines under $10, or a wine flight of three glasses of pinot noir or chardonnay ($15).
Rotisserie Georgette
This posh Upper East Side dining room beckons you to the bar this Fete de la Federacion to try something a mite lighter: a special new whole-roasted wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon. There are also nips to be sipped—pastis cocktails, refreshing rosé—and crisp crudites to be gnoshed.
James Beard House
An annual affair, the James Beard House’s Bastille Day fete features a special Creole-style menu including Maine lobster salad with Red Bliss potatoes and fried leeks. Other options include a braised duck with Louisiana shallot aioli, redfish and grits, and amaretto ice cream for dessert.
Le District
On Bastille Day proper, Le District invites guest for a festival featuring French dishes, as well as live music and wine specials. Come back Saturday, July 16 for the all-day fair, when Le Bar becomes a Petanque lawn complete with live DJs, an ice cream cart, crepe station, cotton-candy machine, VIP Moet and Chandon Bar and $7 food-and-drink specials. Ooh la la.
Rebelle
Duck into Michelin-starred Rebelle for their Bastille Day bash on July 14 for live jazz and food-and-drink specials like the $55 Plateau De Mer full of oysters, clams, shrimp and crab, or the $22 duck burger with sides of Swiss chard, comte and rich duck-fat fries. Enjoy Magnums by the glass ( $19–$25) and classic cocktails like the French martini, Black Rose and sidecar for ten bucks each.
Le Boudoir
Le Boudoir lives up to its everyday sensuality on July 14 with its all-night celebration featuring a new Franky Marshall original, a dessert cocktail joining the permanent menu with its debut on Bastille Day, called “Let them Eat Cake” (a sumptuous vodka drink with Acqua di Cedro, creme de cacao, vanilla, cream, fresh lemon and sprinkles). The chic mood will be set by gypsy jazz group, Sweet Megg & the Wayfarers, playing live for the occasion.