If Petite Patate, the new restaurant from chef Greg Baxtrom, feels like it’s been there for long enough to get comfortable, that’s because it sort of has. Baxtrom followed his 2016 solo premiere Olmstead, still one NYC’s best, with Maison Yaki at this address in 2019. Back then, practically everything new was on skewers, and the piercings here shined brightest. Maison Yaki was quick to earn public and critical praise, including a place on my list of that year’s top spots.
Then came 2020. Maison Yaki endured the same pause and subsequent sputters as everywhere else before ultimately flipping into Petite Patate this past February. Baxtrom opened Patty Ann’s and Five Acres in between. On a range from not-great Patty Ann’s to wonderful Olmstead, French bistro-inspired Petite Patate is in the pretty good center.
The space is more or less the same. Its primary mood and hue is rouge, and the floor tiles’ jagged shapes are kaleidoscopic. The high-tops that used to hug the right-hand wall have been swapped for standard tables, and the space between them and the long, fixed-stool bar is still very narrow. As before, the dining room widens farther back around the open kitchen, and there’s an outdoor space beyond.
As before, the listed cocktails are on draft, and the vesper, made with vodka, gin and a lightly bittersweet apéritif, is properly cold and satisfying. At $13, it is also below market rate in an economy where lesser cocktails rise above $20. Likewise the slightly more viscous vieux carré (rye, brandy, Bénédictine) at its own appropriate temperature and for a dollar more. À la minute drinks like a gin martini ($17) are exact as well.
The small plates are mostly appetizers, but there’s also a French onion soup (soup is a course) and duck fat confit potatoes, which could pass as a side, should you order the unaccompanied sea bass. The escargot en croute ($18) is a delight—its crown of snails encircling their high, light and golden pastry, suffused and emerging from their lovely blend of garlic, herbs and parsley. The shell food itself is perfectly prepared to firmly yielding, the sauce is a pleasure and their encasement is nice in places. Where it’s soft and fluffy everything coalesces; where it’s brittle and flaking, it fails to connect.
A duck liver pâté’s ($14) is also almost there. The spread is silky, rich and deep, seemingly slightly sweetened with a bit of beet, which is also whittled and pointlessly positioned in the blend’s center like a vampire’s sharpened fingernails emerging from the wrong side of the earth’s surface. Pistachios add a crunch that you also get with three pieces of toast teetering on the dish’s edge in a needless threat to fall and would be better portioned as four.
Most of the seven entrées arrive with frites, and those are terrific, slim and salty and impeccably crisp-to-practically-whipped outside to in. They’re in abundance beside au poivre burgers, gussying up grilled chicken paillard and running over from a cup that comes with mussels à la bouillabaisse ($30). The bivalves are uniformly plump and tender as though quality-inspected by the shell. Their broth steals the show; perky and smooth and saline and best as hot as it’s served so don’t get to chatting.
Patates also pair with the steak ($38) which, at six slices, looks a little paltry. Pre-cut, it also illustrates a doneness spectrum from almost rare to nearly medium, rather than the requested middle of the two conceptually close, but tangibly disparate finishes. The grilled New York strip’s flavor is pleasant, however, the beef’s natural notes are amplified by an otherwise light touch and mostly neither helped nor harmed by the fancy-sounding porcini & bone marrow glaçage underneath. Since the steak more or less tastes good and its pieces look like they could have come from different heat sources, it might be more successful if they put it on a stick.
Vitals
The Vibe: Petite in hues of rouge with friendly, welcoming hospitality and neighborhood proclivities.
The Food: French bistro-inspired with good escargot en croute, pâté, mussels, and a pretty ok steak.
The Drinks: Great vespers and vieux carrés on tap, and equally nice live-made cocktails like gin martinis. Beer and wine are also available, but there is only one red by the glass. It’s fine.
Petite Patate is located at 626 Vanderbilt Avenue. It is open Tuesday-Saturday from 5pm-10pm.
