Landmarc

Carebear, my dear friend from the good old days of UVA, has had a busy couple of months. Despite her countless travels each weekend, she has been diligently trying to schedule a belated birthday dinner for me. And this past Thursday we made it happen. She had mentioned something about going to a place in Tribeca called Landmarc and after catching a glimpse of it from the bustling sports bar Buster’s Garage across the street, it seemed it would be a promising spot for a dinner date.

I walked in to Landmarc and zigzagged through the crowded dining room to meet Carebear and CottonCandy at the bar in the back. The bar was small and ¾ of a circle in circumference. I overheard one woman asking, "Is this the only bar?" And the bartender quickly responded "Yes!" There was a small mantel to its left where the girls were sipping their half-bottle of wine. I shared a small glass with them and the hostess whisked us away to our table a short 5 minutes later. The dining room, though crowded felt large and airy with its high ceilings. The I-beams and exposed brick warmed up the space and the lighting was just right-on the darker side with candles placed on each table. Note there is also an upstairs dining room.

When we sat down, CottonCandy blurted out in laughter. To her sudden shock, she looked closer at her wine receipt from the bar and noticed the tab was a whopping $58! She had misread the wine list and ordered what she thought was an $18 dollar half bottle. And no, it sadly was not Montrachet or Chateau Petrus. God bless her. Cotton Candy took it gracefully with a smile and a laugh, which I know I would NOT have been able to do.

When we sat at the table, the server immediately brought us the wine list and asked “Bottled or tap water?” At the risk of unknowingly ordering a pricey bottle of water a la Kona Nigari ($33.50/2 ounces), we stuck with tap. The first thing I noticed I liked about the place (besides the meat cooking on a barbecue pit behind the bar-vegetarians beware) was the menu. It came in the form of a small fold-out city map which we had to open to glance at its offerings.

The executive chef of Landmarc Marc Murphy is well traveled, being the son of a diplomat, and his international experience is apparent in the French/Italian fare chez Landmarc. This also explains my hardship in describing what sort of food it offers. A sort of smorgasbord of a little bit of pasta and a little bit of steak tartare, along with various other items on the menu. Despite some delicious sounding Italian dishes, the theme of our dinner was French.

Menu Memorables: For an appetizer we chose the warm goat cheese profiteroles with a roasted red pepper salad. This was a perfect size dish for the three of us. We each got our hands on a mini- profiterole. It was a sort of profiterole sandwich, and in between was a thin layer of goat cheese. The goat cheese was on the mild side, almost bordering a Boursin spread. I wished the goat cheese was more on the stronger side. In the middle of the profiteroles were the soft and delicate roasted red peppers. For the entrees, Carebear went with a large (you can choose small/large portions of both pastas and salads) endive salad with blue cheese and walnuts in a sherry vinaigrette. And when it came to the table immediately asked myself "Why hadn't I thought of that?" I had never seen and endive salad quite like this. It was a pretty white pile of chopped endives mixed in with walnuts. The cheese and walnuts were evenly dispersed throughout and the vinaigrette meshed all the flavors into one sweet crunchy success. CottonCandy chose the steak tartare with grilled country bread and field greens. The tartare was neatly packed into a small round patty and sat resting on 6 slices of thick bread. I snagged some of the steak/bread combo and enjoyed the bitter and salty tartare mixture. I went with my French cuisine crutch: a hangar steak in a green peppercorn sauce, served with fries and field greens. What I liked about the steak selection is you could build your own steak entrée: hangar, strip, skirt, filet mignon, rib eye, or grilled portobello. Then you pick a sauce: green peppercorn, shallot bordelaise, dijonnaise, chimichurri, butter maitre d'hotel, or béarnaise sauces. Landmarc was very generous with the steak- it took up half of my plate. It was cooked to a little on the rare side of medium rare, but oozed with flavor and tenderness. The peppercorn sauce added a spicy kick to it. And calling what came with it french fries did not do it justice. I will have to call them frites here because that’s what they were. Excellent frites a la Belgique! They were a little bit on the thicker side and cooked crispy. Some of the best frites I’ve had in the city. They were tossed with freshly chopped herbs and were oh so tasty.

When the server came to ask if we wanted dessert Carebear and I were stuffed. CottonCandy had seen spools of cotton candy being fed to eager patrons and decided to try one of her own (hence her new name on Mona’s Apple). It was just like what you see at the carnivals-a big pink sparkling cloud. I’m not a huge cotton candy person but had to try a taste and it was like walking into the land of Little Miss Strawberry.

Dinner at Landmarc was a treat. And I have Carebear and CottonCandy to thank for bringing me there. Thanks ladies! Landmarc serves up some classics with grace and style in an atmosphere that cries, "Come back! Come back soon!" There is a lot more at this restaurant I hope to try and next time I will order my own serving of the endive salad.

(no reservations taken except with parties of 6 or more)
179 West Broadway, b/t Leonard and Worth Streets
212-343-3883