Hadn’t seen one friend since the start of the pandemic — other than on Zoom — as she had moved to Florida. She was in town for an engagement and so we met midtown for lunch at La Grande Boucherie.

I’d been to other Boucherie  French restaurants. This one is quite grand, hence the name, with an expansive, Art Nouveau-style space with year-round outdoor dining in the glass-enclosed outdoor space  (40-foot ceilings) in the atrium between 53 and 54th Street.  I found it reminiscent of Brussels’ (Belgium) Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, the first enclosed glass shopping area designed by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer completed in 1847.

With their timeless French bistro classics on the menu, we three all ordered their salad niçoise with some lettuce topped with seared Ahi tuna, haricot verts, tomatoes, olives and an oozing organic egg with each half topped with a white curled anchovy ($28). We all asked for dressing on the side. With that, we were served fresh butter and French bread.

They graciously had served their vanilla-specked, fruit-topped creme brulee on a plate where they had written “Happy Birthday” in chocolate and added a candle.

La Grande Boucherie
Midtown
145 W 53rd St
New York, NY 10019