From the restaurateurs behind such ubiquitous New York eateries as Pastis and Balthazar, Minetta Tavern dates back to 1937 when it lured the likes of Ernest Hemingway, E. E. Cummings and Dylan Thomas to its Greenwich Village address. The interior dining room looks much the same as it did in the early 20th Century with black-and-white tiled floor and walls strewn with equally monochromatic photographs of luminary and celebrities dating through the restaurant's history. Dinner is best enjoyed from one of the leather booths that surround the main dining room, with bistro tables lining the center under a white, pounded-tin ceiling.
The Food
Reminiscent of Paris’s great steakhouse brasseries, Minetta Tavern is a dinner and weekend brunch hotspot for village locates that begins with continental starters like Oxtail and foie gras terrine, stuffed squid and petit omelets. Main course derived from land and sea includes a fillet of trout with jumbo lump crabmeat, Tavern steak with crispy fired and poulet Fermier Roti that retraces the origins of the classic brassier rotisserie chicken. More traditional Cote de Boeuf for two, lamb saddle tranche, and veal chop are also house favorites.
Last Word
Stylish French brassiere with storied past in New York’s Greenwich Village.