It goes without saying New York’s West Village is packed with so many great neighbourhood food gems, including lots of great French ones that keep pulling me back. From tiny bistros tucked down side streets to bigger, buzzier brasseries built for a proper night out, here are my seven favourites, that work for different moods and budgets.
1 Buvette
If your wallet’s feeling healthy, you’re in the mood for sharing, and want a reason for a special breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, this cosy French bistro on Grove Street is your best bet. The little plates are divine – the steamed eggs at brunch are worth being late to work for, the Croque Forestier (roasted mushrooms and gruyère) is the croque to order over the classic monsieur, and the coq au vin, served in its own little Staub pot, is the one to get come evening. Don’t leave without the aligot if it’s on, a decadently cheesy mashed potato that’s closer to fondue than a side dish, or the tarte tatin to finish. The surroundings are traditional and cosy, all marble bar and a handful of tables, with a back garden patio for warmer days. For dinner, it would be rude not to start with a good old French 75, and the wine list is strong enough to just keep going from there.
Be warned, like so many New York restaurants, they don’t take reservations, so you have to be willing to get there early or wait at the bar. It’s worth it though.
Find Buvette New York at 42 Grove Street, New York, NY 10014
2 Le Gigot
Situated in a lovely spot on what I call New York’s hidden restaurant row, this tiny French bistro is one of those perfect restaurants you want to keep a secret. It’s small and cosy and a local favourite for romantic dinners, serving beautifully presented Provençale-style dishes: a petit bouillabaisse built on a saffron fish broth, a proper duck confit cassoulet with cannellini beans and bacon, and an apple tarte tatin served warm that’s worth saving room for. The dining room feels like it’s been lifted straight out of the French countryside – rustic, candlelit, and small enough that it never quite loses its intimacy even on a busy night. In good weather, see if you can nab the amazing window seat that opens onto the street, perfect for lazy lounging.
Find Le Gigot at 18 Cornelia Street, New York, NY 10014
3 Cafe Cluny
Café Cluny is a small and cosy corner restaurant with an elegant decor and candle-lit ambience at night. It’s sophisticated yet laid back and totally unpretentious even though they do receive high-profile clientele, such as Bradley Cooper (who was SITTING NEXT TO US last time we were there). The food is upmarket, classic French-American style – the corn-and-crab fritters are a firm favourite, and the burger holds its own against places that only do burgers. Breakfast and brunch are just as strong as dinner here, which isn’t always the case with restaurants that lean this smart in the evening, and the coffee is the best in the West Village.
Find Cafe Cluny at 284 West 12th Street New York, NY 10014
4 Tartine
Ah, West 4th Street, my favourite in New York! It’s cosy inside this postage stamp-sized restaurant, but a bonus if you can get a table outside on a warm summer night, so you can hear the cello player serenading evening strollers with some of New York’s most beautiful brownstone townhouses in the background. The food is home-made style and unfussy – the spicy chicken and fries is the dish most people order without even looking at the rest of the menu – and platefuls are huge for the prices you’re paying. Oh, and it’s BYO, so come prepared with a bottle from the shop down the street.
Find Tartine NYC at 253 West 11th Street (corner of West 4th Street)
5 Boucherie
Best for: Lively group dinners and French brasserie classics
A proper West Village institution for a reason – this French brasserie and steakhouse is set inside the old Circle Repertory Theater, and the space still has that theatrical scale to it: a sprawling dining room, a butcher counter you can sit right up against, and an intimate second-floor gallery if you want something quieter. The menu leans into French classics done properly – steak tartare, escargot, cassoulet – alongside a genuinely excellent dry-aged steak and Wagyu programme if you’re in the mood to splurge. Buzzy rather than romantic, so book this one for a lively dinner with friends rather than a quiet date night.
Find Boucherie at 99 7th Avenue South
6 Libertine
Tucked onto the corner of Greenwich and Christopher Streets, tiny Libertine does one of the best martinis in the neighbourhood. It’s also proof that a genuinely great French bistro doesn’t need steak frites to earn the title; here it’s all about cuisine du marché – market-driven French countryside cooking. Start with the sourdough and Normandy butter, before indulging in Jambon Persillé (a parsley-flecked terrine of cured ham hock and pork shank), the Oeufs Mayo topped with trout roe, and the lobster chou farci if it’s on – a stuffed cabbage dish that’s become something of a signature. The tiny unfussy space with patched tile floors and a tin ceiling, anchored by a red oak bar has an interesting 150 year history: a longshoreman’s pub in the 1870s, then a cafeteria, a speakeasy, a gay bar, and a hub for the Black Power art movement, before an 18-year run as an Italian restaurant.
Find Libertine at 684 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10014
7 Le Chêne
Le Chêne is the newest and most talked-about name on this list, and it’s easy to see why. Chef Alexia Duchêne (whose résumé includes Le Taillevent, Frenchie and Passerini) runs the kitchen while her husband, Ronan Duchêne Le May, a former maître d’ at Café Boulud, oversees a wine list serious enough to take up 44 pages. It’s small and glamorous rather than grand – cherry banquettes, off-white lime-washed walls, and genuine Basquiat and Warhol pieces on the walls, which attracts a cool crowd. The food nods to French tradition with a twist: an oeuf mayonnaise built as an homage to the chef’s favourite tuna melt, a potato gratin borrowed from Joël Robuchon’s 1930s recipe, and a signature Pithiviers Terre & Mer I’d happily build a reservation around. My advice: go for the wine and the small plates rather than a full sit-down dinner – where this one truly shines.
Find Le Chêne at 76 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014
