Didier's quintessential Roasted Escargots which you will not be able to get enough of!
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Ooooh la la Mademoiselle Peachy has found a new French place to adore and we could not wait a minute longer to tell you about La Sirene, found downtown in a most unlikely location, southeast of Soho, North of Tribeca, in Hudson Triangle. Near a tunnel! Avoid the tunnel, and make friends with the Escargot. We began with a Salade du Marche which for you non-Francophiles is Mixed Green Salad Vinaigrette. Owner Didier Pawlicki makes his own vinaigrette fresh. Open since May 2007, La Sirene is a great French place you possibly don't know about yet, since it seems so hidden to us. Didier showed us he knows what he's doing in this review, plus you should know that he owned a restaurant in Paris in Montmartre from 1986 to 1999. Didier is a graduate of a Culinary school in Toulouse, and is FRENCH, bien sur. (of course). His mom has a hotel in Southwest France, "Le Celeste."
Our favorite part of our La Sirene experience was without a doubt the incomparable Escargots a la Bourguigone!!!
These roasted escargots are among the best we've tried, and their superb butter and garlic sauce was totally phenomenal. Didier intelligently combines this sauce with shallots and breadcrumbs for consistency and he stuffs the shell with them, which makes them even more fun to eat.
This escargot is one of our most favorite culinary items of this past summer.
Peachy endeavored to get every bite of that amazing sauce out with fresh bread.
After our appetizer and green salad choices and the tremendously sad disappearance of the escargot into someone's stomach, Didier suggested we try the Baked Goat Cheese Tart.
Because we are polite and professional, we tried it, however, among the foods Peachy personally does not like most is goat cheese. Goat cheese is delegated to our panelists...just like lamb and cheesecake. We are amazed to tell you that you that we sincerely liked this and with the combination of ingredients this dish boasts, you can hardly taste the goat cheese. Its official name is Tartelette de Chevre Frais aux Echalottes, Truffles, Raisins Confit et Voile de Vieux Gruyere. The black truffles of course enhanced this tremendously, and in addition to the goat cheese this combination includes shallots, red grape confit and a veil of 180 days aged swiss.
A beautiful summer dish at La Sirene is Linguini aux fruits de mer: seafood linguini with white wine saffron sauce, scallops, mussels, Alaskan Pollak, octopus from Portugal and shrimp.
It is screaming summer!
We really like how Didier presents vegetables at La Sirene. Entrees come with a tray of four vegetables on the side (one per entree) and the vegetables that came to the party the day we arrived were chayote, butternut squash, cauliflower puree, and carrot puree. We can't remember the last time we saw vegetables dressed up so elegantly like this! They were delicious.
Didier insisted we try the Braised Rabbit Stew with oyster mushrooms, carrot and cream sauce. It was incredibly rich and a bit gamey. (However, rabbits are our favorite animal and we would never order them because we love them, regardless of their taste.) If you are into eating rabbit, you will love this.
Though we ordered the Seared Hanger Steak (with roasted garlic!) Didier wanted us to try another steak : Tournedos Rossini, a bestseller.
This is no ordinary steak. It is seared Filet Mignon Topped with Foie Gras (Pate Style), Shallots, Port and Red Wine Truffles Sauce. The menu says absolute luxury, and we'd say every bite of this confirmed that.
Can you think of a better combination than fois gras, meat and sauce by a French person?
La Sirene is Terrific Takeout!
Another hit is the Banana Brulee, an original creation by Didier! It's his version of banana pudding served cold, and not a creme brulee exactly. Try it!
