Petite Abeille

...is located at 401 E. 20th Street in NYC's East Village bordering Gramercy Park near Stuyvesant Town.

They offer a special every Wednesday - all you can eat mussels and a Stella Artoire beer for $24.95. Each serving is about 2 lbs (including the shells) and includes frites.

"CF", "CM" and I all started out with an order of Les Moules Marinieres with white wine, celery and broth.

For our 2nd helping we ordered Les Moules Rasta with Jamaican curry sauce (not authentic) and crisp apples (an unusual pairing) which was still good.

Then we shared a slice of apple crumble ($7) for dessert. It would have been better warmed up and served with vanilla gelato. Sigh...

But this is a dependable restaurant with good food at reasonable prices. Even though it wasn't extremely crowded service was a bit slow on this night.

Just Like in Paris

Le Relais de Venise is a new restaurant in NYC's Midtown located at 590 Lexington Avenue.

This outpost from the original Parisienne restaurant does not have a dinner menu. Each person is served the exact same thing: salad with walnuts and mustard vinagrette dressing, sliced steak and frites for $24. There are no other appetizers, salads or main entrees. The also served french bread, but do not ask for butter because they don't have any. They suggest you use the bread to soak up the house sauce served on the steak. And don't ask for ketchup because they don't have any. They serve you half of your entree and keep the other half warm. Once you finish your first half they serve you the balance and will also give second helpings on the steak and frites if you are still hungry.

You can only order your steak four ways: blue, rare, medium or well done.

The salad was good. The steak was cooked perfectly and was tender. The fries were excellent.

You do have your choice of several desserts. There is actually a dessert and wine menu. "J" had the apricot and peach melba in a cookie cup and I had the house special Venise which is meringue with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with another meringue, a scoop of hazelnut ice cream, topped with another meringue, covered in whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Both were $6.50.

The food was very good and our waitress had a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor. All of the waitresses were the same black dress and white apron uniform as their Parisienne counterparts.

It was an interesting experience. And the couple seated next to us said it was an exact duplicate of the original Paris restaurant.

Bon Apetit!

LA Burger

Who says people in LA only eat wheat grass and tofu? They also like their burgers too!

I had already dined at Comme Ca in LA last year. But I had already planned another trip last month when Frank Bruni wrote about the glorious burger offered by Comme Ca. So I knew I had to go back and try it.

It was thick and juicy angus beef topped with chedder cheese, lettuce and carmelized onions and house sauce. Plus it was accompanied by wonderful frites all for $16.00.

8479 Melrose Ave.

Hollywood

Upper Upper West Side

I was walking along Broadway and 104th when I stumbled across this little cafe, Cafe Du Soleil, with a great prix fixe pre-theatre deal: $21.95 for a 3-course meal. Sitting outside on a nice warm day was a perfect way to enjoy a summer's evening.

I started with escargot which were good. The sauce was enticing enough that I used bread to soak up the leftovers. Then I had the hanger steak which was mediocre, but the pomme frites were fantastic! Very crisp and golden. I ended the meal with profiteroles - a giant puff filled with vanilla ice cream, drenched in chocolate sauce and decorated with whipped cream and vanilla. The entree was just so-so, but the other two courses were worth the price.