Featured Brunch: L’Ecole, You Can Croque Home Again

Arthur Bovino — July 09, 2009

Steak Tartare with Quail Egg and Baguette Crouton at L’Ecole

It’s an odd feeling to get invited to brunch at a restaurant where you once cooked. It was one I experienced weeks ago at L’Ecole (restaurant page), the SoHo restaurant and public face of the French Culinary Institute (view site) where I graduated from the Classic Culinary Arts program in 2006.

Brunch includes a bread and pastry basket, appetizer and entrée, and coffee. Of eleven appetizers, we requested the four most popular and were advised to order the Seafood Sausage and the Steak Tartare. Passing up Smoked Salmon with Bagel and Cream Cheese and Fried Calamari was easy, not ordering Cauliflower or Onion Soups was more difficult. These excellent, classic soups hold nostalgic places in my heart from learning to make them here.

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AlwaysHungryNY: Bouley Market’s Croque Monsieur

The Gluttoness — May 15, 2009

It’s early in the morning, you’re starving, and you want something substantial to eat on-the-go before you settle in at the office. It’s a toss up between your staple bagel and cream cheese or a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich to comfort you after last night’s extra drink. If you’re nearby Bouley Market in TriBeCa, you have the luxury of forgoing your usual breakfast for the sensational: a handheld Croque Monsieur. This hot ham and cheese sandwich is said to have been devised as a French fast food snack, but richer executions with Mornay or béchamel toppings have rendered the convenient, unwieldy. Bouley Market has reclaimed the portability and preserved the decadence.

Rather than coating the sandwich in sauce, two thick-cut slices of Bouley’s homemade white bread are soaked in béchamel and joined with a thin layer of ham between them. The soaking creates a consistency like moist, savory French Toast. While it’s cooked, the sandwich becomes covered in a bubbled, overflowing layer of melted Gruyère cheese. At room temperature, the congealed cheese coating reinforces the sandwich’s approximate English translation, “Mister Crunch.” Even without egg, it’s a great breakfast sandwich.

While eating a Croque Monsieur on the run may give you a stomach ache, the price won’t. It rings up at the register at a very reasonable $3.52.