DISH OF THE WEEK: Homard a la Broche at FRENCHETTE

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

It’s not often that I spend well into the three digits on a dinner. But when I am out for a special occasion, as I was at Frenchette, and I’m dropping that kind of money, I sure hope something will turn out to be worthy of a Dish of the Week. I want to make my money go as far as possible.

Frenchette was one of the hottest restaurants to open in 2018 and gained a lot of acclaim for bringing no-holds barred superior French dining back to Manhattan. Truthfully, that’s not the food I get the most excited about. But who can argue with perfectly cooked duck and buttery scrambled eggs?

I guess I can because I truly found the food good but not terribly exciting. And one of the dishes I was hoping to love (the escargots bathed in intensely whipped scrambled eggs) proved way too rich for me with no balance. My body told me to stop eating after two bites. The duck frites which gets a lot of acclaim is nothing more than a great crispy medium rare duck breast and some addicting french fries. A bit underwhelming for $42 if you ask me.

But then came the rotisserie lobster, also known as Homard a La Broche. It’s the most I’ve ever spent for one solo entreé ($62) but the sauce alone sealed the deal for inclusion on this blog.

The sauce was a delicately flavored curry butter fondue. It was so good that I started dipping the bread, the frites, and anything else I could find on the table into it.

And it brought the tender rich lobster to life. The shellfish is slowly cooked until it has a soft bite and holds onto its oceanic flavors. It’s topped with a medley of shaved vegetables that are bright and refreshing. Maybe they help balance out all the other decadence?

Kind of ironic after dropping all this kind of money, I keep thinking about the sauce. The lobster, escargots, duck, chocolate mousse, all that stuff was good, but if I could have just ordered the sauce and saved myself a few hundred dollars, that would have been ok too. Price: $62