Les Vagabonds Boucherie is a French steakhouse with a “Bohemian soul” that opened less than a year ago at 58th and First Avenue. It is definitely worth the stop.

We sat down for lunch, awaiting a friend who was coming from a hospital appointment, who said to start without her. We ordered the shrimp ajillo ($28) — Gulf shrimp sautéed with toasted garlic in brown butter — along with a glass of Sancerre ($18). We enjoyed the chat and the wait. Sadly, our friend didn’t feel good enough to join us.

We decided to keep sharing! When we asked the friendly owner, Motrya Tomycz, if we could split the soupe à l’oignon gratinée, she kindly agreed and even brought the onion soup to the table for me to photograph first.

For our main course, we stayed classically French with Canard À L’Orange ($42), a crispy half duck with sautéed cabbage and raisins in an orange-cranberry sauce. This paired well with the house Côtes du Rhône ($15).

Motrya put a candle in the ice cream-filled profiteroles ($12), and we sang “Happy Birthday” together.

I recommend Les Vagabonds Boucherie.
Les Vagabonds Boucherie
Midtown
1070 1st Ave
New York, NY 10022
lesvagabondsnyc.com/