15-05-2025
After Four Decades, New York's Quatorze Bis Still Sets a Standard For French Bistro Fare And Bonhomie
With its red facade and yellow awning New York's Quatorze Bis would fit right in on Montparnasse,
How naïve of the New York food media to proclaim the French bistro food is back in fashion when it never fell out of it. French bistros have been a fixture in New York ever since they lined the streets of the Theater District back in the 1940s. There were many others elsewhere, not least Quatorze, which Mark Di Giulio and Peter Meltzer opened back in 1984 on 14th Street in the Village and later moved uptown to East 79th Street as Quatorze Bis, then moved again, three blocks away to 81st Street.
The red banquettes, white tablecloths and French posters give Quatorze Bis a feeling of Parisian ... More charm.
Since Peter Meltzer's passing, Alex McNeice, the restaurant's General Manager from the 79th Street location, has joined Mark as a partner at the restaurant's newest location.
So Quatorze (Bis) has been going string for nearly forty years. In all that time its classic décor has changed little. You are still greeted by the lipstick red façade and yellow awning, and inside are the same Parisian posters, red banquettes, white double linens, flowers, and wooden floors. The yellow menu mimics those of Paris models and there is a nightly blackboard menu of specials. For some reason the cheery lighting of the past that allowed you to see everyone in the room has been lowered at night, so that now you can't.
Young chef Alex Standoff keeps French tradition going with fresh ideas of his own.
The greeting is as warm as ever, especially since Quatorze Bis fills up with a local regular crowd of upper east siders who know not to show up in t-shirts and baseball caps. The young staff seems to bounce on their feet, and their welcome, menu explanations and recommendations are part of the atmosphere's bon vitalité. Though it's a small room (65 seats, now with tables outside, and a bar counter for nine) the noise level never rises to the distress of some many other places.
Good bread begins a meal of steak frites and asparagus at Quatorze Bis.
Over the years I've probably sampled every dish and most specials on the menu––now prepared by young Chef Alex Staniloff––but some I can never resist ordering time and time. I look at the modest wine list of about 50 selections, choose a simple regional bottling, tear off a piece of a warm baguette and slather it with the generous amount of butter (itself at the right spreadable temperature) provided to a table.
There are oysters of various species available, and from Thursday to Sunday 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, guests can enjoy a selection priced at $1.50, with gaufrettespotato chips, and a selection of red, white, rosé, and sparkling for $10 a glass.
A pretty Gruyère and bacon tart is always on the menu at Quatorze Bis.
Outside of a Jewish or German deli, you don't often see creamed herring on a menu, but here it is––nicely balanced with cream and the briny, cured taste of the herring. Always a treat to find is the browned bacon, leek and Gruyère tart with a fine pastry crust, and the plump seafood sausage has been on the menu for as long as I can remember for good reason. For a salad, the chicory with bacon and hot vinaigrette is a savory starter, but I can never resist the French onion soup with its sweet caramelized onions in abundance covered over with a good slab of bubbly, golden Gruyere so hot you have to wait minutes before attempting an assault with a spoon.
Calf's liver and bacon used to be on every bistro menu, but no longer, so I was very happy to see it still at Quartorze Bis, perfectly cooked till rosy, full of flavor and glazed with sauteed shallots and the fat of the bacon, which goes very well with either the superb frites or mashed potatoes that seem composed of equal parts butter.
Oysters are offered for a $1.50 each on certain nights at Quatorze Bis.
I always order trout when I find it, but the sample that night was rather flavorless. It could have used a treatment like amandine. A large portion of half a roast chicken on the other hand was full of flavor and came with crisp skin, so it really didn't need a somewhat thickened sauce on top.
How can one not order some beef at a bistro? So I tucked into a grilled sirloin as good as I've ever had ––immensely flavorful, with a minerality and an ideal chew that was very Parisian indeed, crusted on the exterior and rose-red as ordered.
Other evergreen items on the menu include hearty boeuf à la bourguignonne, choucroute garnie and cassoulet, though they only have so many portions each night, so place your order as soon as you sit down if that's what you crave.
Profiteroles with chocolate sauce and glass of Sauternes.
Desserts are wonderful old favorites, including plump profiteroles with a deep dark chocolate; succulent poached poire belle Hélène; and a hot apple tart that was crisp and sweet and had the real taste of good apples.
There is also cheese available, if you like, and a number of after dinner drinks you might consider.
As noted, New York has always welcomed good Parisian bistros, not least a slew of newcomers just in the past year that people say they've just 'discovered,' when the old standbys have been all along been hiding in plain sight. Quatorze Bis has been one of the best and most consistent for four buoyant decades and it now is drawing another generation to its bright red doors.
QUATORZE BIS
1578 First Avenue
212-535-1414
Open for dinner nightly and for brunch Thurs.-Sun.
