Gotham Magazine
Site menu
  • Parties
  • People
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Real Estate
  • Style & Beauty
  • More
    • Culture
    • Lifestyle
    • Watches & Jewelry
    • Magazine
    • Video
    • GreenGale Network
    • Media Kits
  • Digital Edition
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Info
Sign Up     

Parties

See More
Read More
The Weeknd Celebrates His Birthday at Tao
Read More
The Blonds Host NYFW Party at The Standard
Read More
Maison Atia Launches Autumn/Winter 2019 Collection

People

See More
Read More
How 2 Young Sparkling Winemakers Are Transforming Top Brands
Read More
Video: Oscar-Nominated Actress Rachel Weisz on 'The Favourite'
Read More
Trisha Yearwood on Her New Album & Her Upcoming Performance at NYC's Rainbow Room

Food & Drink

See More
Read More
Intersect by Lexus Opens Its Third Global Location in New York City
Read More
How 2 Young Sparkling Winemakers Are Transforming Top Brands
Read More
The 8 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of Winter

Home & Real Estate

See More
Read More
Matt Damon Just Bought a Major Penthouse at The Standish in Brooklyn Heights
Read More
Italy's Dedar Lands in New York
Read More
Gucci Décor Grows with Extraordinary New Pieces

Style & Beauty

See More
Read More
FLAGPOLE Swimwear Founders Megan Balch & Jaime Barker on Reinventing the Bikini
Read More
These 5 Stars Brought it During Fashion Week
Read More
The Moments You Missed During New York Fashion Week
Culture
Read More
Lifestyle
Read More
Watches & Jewelry
Read More
Magazine
Read More
Video
Read More
GreenGale Network
Read More
Media Kit
Read More

Search Our Site

Dirty French Puts a Downtown Twist on
Gallic Dishes

By Amy ZAvAtto
photogrAphy By Josephine roZmAn
|
October 31, 2014 | Food & Drink

Share

Dirty French melds southwestern Gallic with Gotham chic.

4 - Dirty French Puts a Downtown Twist onGallic Dishes
On a silver platter: Oysters at the restaurant are farmed from Eastern Seaboard beds.

To declare Dirty French one of the most anticipated restaurant to open in Manhattan for 2014 is no gilded overstatement—and neither is the restaurant. Actually, it exhibits exactly what one might hope it would: classic Gallic greatness as interpreted through the downtown-cool lens of three men who grew up here and know exactly what that means.

Only a real New Yorker can know New York—its wrinkles and moods, fashions and phases, history and high-low culture. Partners Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalaznick are each of that rare ilk known as the “Born and Raised New Yorker” (although Rich Torrisi is from that sixth borough, Westchester). And that’s why Dirty French, located in the lobby of the chic Ludlow Hotel and juxtaposed with the shadow of Katz’s Deli on this iconic Lower East Side street, works and works well.

3 - Dirty French Puts a Downtown Twist onGallic Dishes
The team behind Dirty French: Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick; Tatin Pour Deux.

With its mosaic-tile floor and grand, faux-rusty chandeliers, the place feels more classic Paris than 21st-century Lower East Side. The grandly large leather-bound menu, which recounts in elegant script chefs Torrisi and Carbone’s experiences hanging out and training in Lyon and New York with Daniel Boulud, shows that they can do French as well as fettuccine—but in their own way.

Related: VOTE for your favorite new restaurant on the Lower East Side >>

From appearances, the menu takes a less-is-more approach: Hors d’oeuvres, salade, poisson, rotisserie, and sides are all prepared in a seemingly classic way, but this isn’t a chef’s final exam; Torrisi manages to turn the culinary pillars of French cuisine into forward-looking periscopes, bringing food into view that is as familiar as it is unique in interpretation. “We decided to build off classic French bistro dishes and introduce new flavors from different parts of the world, to make it something that is more in line with our New York background,” says Zalaznick.

2 - Dirty French Puts a Downtown Twist onGallic Dishes
Tatin Pour Deux, an apple tart topped with ice cream.

Translation: style and substance. Order oysters, and all eight or so options are initially presented to you perched atop a pile of just-shaved ice on a sterling silver platter by your waiter, who will explain the provenance and flavor profile of each Eastern-Seaboard selection. Lamb carpaccio comes served in onion-skin thin slices arranged in a concentric circle with slivers of juicy, fresh fig carefully scattered about, resembling the most delicious, exotic, and edible flower you’ve ever laid eyes on. Gnocchi Parisienne (one of the scant but stellar vegetarian options) alone is worth the cab ride, with its toothsome pasta browned in butter and tossed gleefully with smoked cherry tomatoes, onion soubise, and a soft, sweetly tangy, velvety version of labneh, a Middle Eastern strained yogurt.

But it is touches like the latter—also found in the spicy, exotic baker’s-dozen cocktail list created by Thomas Waugh—that set Dirty French apart. “Dirty French, like a dirty martini—we are taking something very clean and pure and adding big, bold flavors to it,” says Zalaznick. Nowhere is that translation better found than in dishes like the duck a l’orange, the old French chestnut that shakes a whole new tail feather when Torrisi rubs the superbly tender meat with house-made rasel hanout, the intensely flavored North African spice mix.

1 - Dirty French Puts a Downtown Twist onGallic Dishes
Wine being poured from a whimsical antique parrot wine decanter.

But perhaps the most iconic melting-pot example that tells you what Dirty French is about is Torrisi’s heady bouillabaisse, a dish inspired by an investigative trek to Southwestern France. “Rich, Mario, and I found this small town outside of Marseille where they served bouillabaisse and finished it with squid ink,” offers Zalaznick. “We were all inspired by this.” When set in front of you in a grand bowl, the classic fish stew will be familiar, sure, with its thick slices of peasant bread slathered in rich, orange-hued rouille—but, like Ludlow Street’s own modern transformation from working-class enclave to downtownloving denizen destination—it goes beyond simple to sublime; familiar to entirely new. Mussels, red mullet, monkfish, and wrist-thick chunks of grilled octopus bob and weave in an opaque, sepia-soaked broth, fragrant with saffron. It is dense, robust, and downright moody in flavor, a bit of smoky char here, a bit of briny sea salt influence there.

All the dunking and spooning is well worth the effort—you are not likely to find anything like this dish anywhere else in Gotham. “I think that one of the most appealing things for us about this project was the neighborhood,” says Zalaznick, “to celebrate it and its exciting history.” But perhaps the thing most deserving of a huzzah is that Torrisi, Carbone, and Zalaznick are making a kind of history all their own. Dirty French, The Ludlow, 180 Ludlow St., 212-254-3000

Tags: dining restaurants food lower east side dirty french french food november 2014 gallic mario carbone jeff zalaznick rich torrisi
Categories: Food & Drink

Around the Web

All Calendar Culture Food & Drink Home & Real Estate Lifestyle Magazine Parties People Style & Beauty Video Watches & Jewelry


Behind the Scenes with Modern Luxury


Popular Posts

Read More
8 Restaurants You Have to Eat at During NYC Restaurant Week

Read More
Score a Reservation at These Top NYC Restaurants on Valentine's Day

Read More
The 8 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of Winter



Behind the Scenes with Modern Luxury




Screen_Shot_2019-02-05_at_4_50_57_PM.png

View Digital Edition

 

 

Click here to read  
the Digital Editions

or Subscribe to the Print Edition:

SUBSCRIBE

  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Info
  • Digital Editions
  • Online Ad Specs
  • Print Ad Specs
  • Where to Find Us
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
    logo
    • Aspen
      • Aspen
      • Aspen Peak
      • Epic Life
    • Atlanta
      • The Atlantan
      • Jezebel
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Atlanta
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Atlanta
      • Charity & Social Datebook Atlanta
    • Boston
      • Boston Common
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Boston
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Boston
    • Chicago
      • CS
      • NS
      • Michigan Avenue
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Chicago
      • Modern Luxury Weddings North Shore
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Chicago
      • Men's Book Chicago
      • Modern Luxury City Guide Chicago
      • Charity and Social Datebook Chicago
    • Dallas
      • Modern Luxury Dallas
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Dallas
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Texas
      • Charity and Social Datebook Dallas
    • The Hamptons
      • Beach
      • Hamptons
    • Hawai'i
      • Modern Luxury Hawaii
      • Ala Moana
    • Houston
      • Houston
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Houston
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Texas
      • Charity and Social Datebook Houston
    • Las Vegas
      • Vegas
    • Los Angeles
      • Angeleno
      • Los Angeles Confidential
      • Modern Luxury Weddings California
      • Modern Luxury Interiors California
      • Charity and Social Datebook Los Angeles
    • Miami
      • Miami
      • Ocean Drive
      • Modern Luxury Weddings South Florida
      • Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida
      • Charity and Social Datebook Miami
      • Styled
    • New York
      • Manhattan
      • Gotham
      • Charity and Social Datebook Manhattan
    • Orange County
      • Modern Luxury Orange County
      • Modern Luxury Weddings California
      • Modern Luxury Interiors California
      • Charity & Social Datebook Orange County
    • Palm Beach
      • Modern Luxury Palm Beach
    • Philadelphia
      • Philadelphia Style
    • San Diego
      • Modern Luxury San Diego
      • Modern Luxury Weddings California
      • Modern Luxury Interiors California
      • Charity & Social Datebook San Diego
    • San Francisco
      • San Francisco
      • Modern Luxury Weddings California
      • Modern Luxury Interiors California
      • CityGuide
      • Charity & Social Datebook San Francisco
    • Scottsdale
      • Scottsdale
      • Modern Luxury Interiors Scottsdale
    • Silicon Valley
      • Modern Luxury Silicon Valley
    • Washington, D.C.
      • DC
      • Capitol File
      • Modern Luxury Weddings Washington
      • Charity and Social Datebook DC
    • Watches
      • Tourbillon