Jarnac
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 05:11PM Note: Jarnac closed in June 2009 due to a rent dispute. Its owners now operate Bistro de la Gare. The Jarnac space became Recette.
*
A friend and I went to Jarnac a couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday night. This is a casual French bistro in Greenwich Village, not far from the Meatpacking District.
We both started with the Duck Rillettes ($10.25), which came in thin wrapped pastry dough and packed plenty of flavor punch. We then tried the Cassoulet-Braised Pork Cheeks ($24), with duck confit, pork sausage, great northern beans, tomato & garlic. It’s a heavy meal, which neither of us was able to finish. The dish comes painfully hot, to a point that some of the flavor potential is cooked out of the ingredients. Your server provides an extra plate, along with the advice to spoon the cassoulet in stages onto the plate for cooling. It’s a bit too much of a production, with the danger of a scorching burn if one miscalculates.
Our table was comfortable, service was friendly, and we were pleased to find a reasonably priced wine list. In nice weather, be sure to get one of the window seats (which we had).
Jarnac (328 W. 12th Street at Greenwich Street, West Village)
Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *
Reader Comments (2)
i came across this review of the jarnac cassoulet by accident. As the chef/partner of jarnac since it opened, we never served the duck rillettes in "thin wrapped pastry dough". that's the first signal that you seem to be unware of what you were eating. second, the cassoulet is cooked for the time it takes for the dish to be hot! Sorry you didn't enjoy it but from the sound of your review you didn't know what you were ordering
Thanks for the comment, but I stand by the recollection. It could be that the server misinterpreted our request, and what was sent out was not what we ordered.
As for the cassoulet, I can only compare it to the same dish served in other restaurants.