🍔 REVIEW: Jean's on Lafayette 🍸
is every nyc restaurant the same?
GM everyone happy Monday. I have been eating like a demon the last week. On Friday, I went to one of NYC’s buzziest new restaurants, Jean’s on Lafayette and I want to discuss it and the trend of every restaurant being the same.
First some headlines—
Rothko’s No. 7 sold at auction for a staggering $82.5M. Midwits on Twitter were questioning why Rothko was so beloved. This tweet helps sum it up—
NYT dropped their list of the 71 best dressed “people” of the year. The list has some questionable choices surely aimed at tapping into the zeitgeist. Here are the worst picks:
Taylor Swift
Any politician on the list
The Sphere in Las Vegas (I hate these picks that aren’t people… cockroach at the Met Gala was also mentioned)
… and here are some of my favs:
Gwyneth Paltrow during her ski trial
Jacob Elordi… duh
Phoebe Philo
Restaurant Talk
Jean’s on Lafayette has been going viral on TikTok for its flashy bistro fare. Some of the most ‘shareable’ items have been the roast beef sliders, the lobster roll with bisque flight, and the BIG COOKIE. I have been intrigued to try it.
Prior to a few weeks ago, Jean’s literally asked for your Instagram before making a reservation (LOL). But a friend and I were able to secure a 10pm res on Friday. This is the type of place you eat at really late.
Restaurant was packed to the brim and buzzing. As I walked in I was relieved to not see a single Chrome Hearts trucker hat. Relief washed over me.
The bar is big and made of beautiful marble, and the martini was quite good. After being seated we got to work. First up was steak tartare on toast. Pretty good! There are so many ostentatious apps you can order, but we kept it light.
For mains, I felt compelled to get the burger, fries, and another martini. My friend got the Bolognese. The burger was giving upscale McDonalds, but the fries were quite good.
As someone who has mostly sworn off dessert this year, minus a few exceptions, my main purpose for dining here was the BIG COOKIE ($18) After getting a sample of said cookie from a generous table neighbor… my inner fat kid was ready to roll. I gotta say… the cookie was really really good. Honestly, it was the best part of the meal.
Generally speaking, the food was fine… the vibes were try-hard (saw a lot of flash photography going on) and it got me thinking about the homogenization of NYC dining.
At three different restaurants last week… I had the same meal: burger, fry, martini. Seemingly the top pairing at many establishments is this trendy, safe bet. NY Mag’s Grub Street wrote about this earlier this year. Every new restaurant has reached a singularity of mediocrity… where the food matters significantly less the the vibes.
On the flip side, many people tell me about hole in the wall establishments in Queens and I’ve been seeing famous TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee try random spots on his NYC food tour. But the likelihood of me making an effort to go to the best taco spot in Queens is so so so low, and I think other people in the city would agree. I don’t like food enough to take an hour and a half train ride.
So in a world where we are strapped for time, don’t want to have a bad meal, and need good vibes… it seems like the singularity of burger, fry, martini is here to stay.
I did have two really good meals at some random places which I will mention—
Wu’s Wonton King: I had some pork, duck, and steamed rice & cabbage.
Misi Pasta: The sausage sandwich with salsa verde was amazing. I wanted the special latkes but they were pre-order only (dumb) so settled on a delicious chocolate panacotta.
Now What?
To burn off this indulgent week (its the holidays) I ran 11 miles yesterday, all the way from the Upper East Side through Central Park and down to Battery Park.
Jake Bell is a content marketing strategist based in NYC. He specializes in branding, art direction, creative strategy, content creation, and making things cool.
To get in touch visit www.jb.studio
Like video? Check out his TikTok
Like fit pics and pictures of chairs? Visit his Instagram.