Its summertime and green is in vogue, from luxuriant trees casting dappled shadows in parks to the brilliant hues in our soupbowls. While P was in town, we drank a lot of soup, some grassy and light, others creamy and savory. We had a favorite though, and it came as part of Tocqueville’s value-for-money lunch prix fixe. It was a vichysoisse, chilled to refresh on a hot summer’s day, creamy to the point it smoothly slid down our throats, and a verdant green from the lightly spicy spring garlic that while much milder than the mature bulbs still retained a distinct garlicky scent without being overpoweringly so. I could drink a bucketful.
The rest of our meals were good too, with an exceptional bread basket, competent entrees and refreshingly light desserts. The tilefish cooked a la plancha retained its firmness and succulence, while the chicken confit was well flavored but a tad dry. Ruoyi licked her plate cold tangerine souffle with tea ice cream clean while the scoop of intensely dark chocolate sorbet on my sorbet platter elicited numerous oos and ahs from the table.
It is a pity then that the service was as terrible as it is, such that I hesitate to recommend this restaurant for the well priced lunch and amazing soup. While we were showered with attention at Jean Georges in the same week (which itself serves one of the best value-for-money lunch in the city), our server was negligent and rude. He could not explain dishes well enough for a restaurant of such aspirations, poured water sloppily, dropped instead of placed utensils on the table, exhibiting a frowny face and a nonchalant attitude throughout the entire meal. Even the sommelier, who was amiable at least, carelessly poured red wine into a wine glass that had already been used for a previous, different wine in the $15 3-pour tasting before we pointed it out to him. Perhaps the restaurant was understaffed with only 3 servers and the sommelier performing double-duty in response to the light lunch crowd, but maybe they might consider increasing and training manpower, such that people who lunch might actually start visiting Tocqueville instead of nearby Union Square eateries that are packed full of business and pleasure lunchers, a demographic Tocqueville could capture if they got their act together in the front -of-house.
Tocqueville Restaurant
1 East 15th St (Between 5th Ave & Union Sq West)
