Lunch at Dirty French in NYC

It’s with this in mind that we write about the shockingly good food we enjoyed over a recent lunch at Dirty French in the Lower East Side’s Ludlow Hotel.

With knowledge and unremitting drive, chefs Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone along with Chef de Cuisine Dai Matsuda have created food that’s stylish, tasty and fun at the same time – all in a beautiful, sunlit, museum-like space that feels as casual as a living room.

We started with the mushroom millefeuille – a dish dancing with culinary possibility. After cutting into the multiple microscopic layers of light, crispy shaved mushroom, we dipped the millefeuille into the bright, spicy green-pea colored curry made crunchy with bits of fresh celery.

The juxtaposition of the refined, delicate mushroom pastry and the bold, spicy sauce was magical.

We don’t see French Dips on a lot of menus these days, so, of course, we had to order the American classic during our lunch.

On one hand, the Dirty French version elevates the classic sandwich to new heights with a traditional French baguette, slow-cooked roast beef and fresh horseradish sauce. On the other hand, eating this sandwich made us wish we had ordered the banh mi for the creatively bold flavors of our meal’s other dishes.

However, we have no second thoughts about ordering the meunière entrée. Made with a brook trout instead of the more traditional sole, this dish was generously prepared with sesame seeds, apricots and lemon. And butter. Lots of butter.

We’re not sure if the deep flavors emanated from the meatiness of the trout or from the audacious preparation, but, either way, it was an outstanding dish that we will long remember.

We chose the citrus tart to end our decadent lunch. The slim tart made with meyer lemons was topped with eight dollops of toasted meringue and reminded us of pastries we’ve eaten in Paris.

Elements like crunchy almonds and tart lemon zest strips rounded out the dessert, not to mention the flavor-zinging salt flakes.

We were bummed since we had really wanted to try the restaurant’s mash-up of French green beans and Asian spices. When we return for dinner, hopefully, we’ll get everything that we order. Until then, we’ll dream about the perfect bite of millefeuille that was the highlight of our lunch.

Pro Tip
Consider eating lunch at Dirty French instead of dinner. Midday meals are a good value, plus it’s easier to score a reservation.