L Ecole

We really loved coming here for lunch. Not sure why it closed or if it will re-​open. We came here at least twice a year. Always had a good meal. Service was outstanding. Price point was perfect.

Great price for the quality and quantity! Did the three course prix fixe with the wine pairing and enjoyed every bite for $ 68. The reason I’m giving it four stars is because there weren’t many vegetarian options (which is often the case at prix fixe).
I had the warm petatou with goat cheese to start, which was potato. Very filling. I then had the spinach fettuccine. Instead of duck, they substituted mushrooms, which were delicious. I felt so full during this that I could barely eat even though it was tasty.
To finish I had the seasonal fruit tart. This is gluten free and was a very «fall» like dessert. It reminded me of eating apple pie, but with a twist.
Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant!

Dining at the L’ecole was a super delicious experience. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect given the fairly mixed reviews and so decided to come for restaurant week to see for myself.
I thought the food was stellar, from the appetizer to the dessert. The appetizer portion of the spring vegetable pasta was a bit big, but otherwise the dish was artfully prepared, fresh, and tasty.
I highly recommend the fish with chorizo and clams. You can’t go wrong with any of the desserts.
Good work, future chefs!

News has been going around about the closing of L’Ecole by November this year. Once the news had sunk in, I had to make sure to visit L’Ecole at least this once.
They have different menus for different days of the week and also different time slots. So, make sure you take a look at the menu if it interests you before securing a reservation.
My boyfriend and I went on a Friday night. L’Ecole wasn’t your fancy fine dining restaurant but they’re pretty close. The wait staff was prompt and helpful. The food throughout the entire night was very good. The dishes that are prepped by culinary students here are probably on par with dishes at the most expensive restaurants out in NYC. I was definitely pleased dish after dish during that evening.
–House-​Made Orecchiette w/​Late Summer Squash — exquisitely light, had the right amount of tomato sauce and wasn’t too overly salty.
–Chef’s Classic: Chef Julia Child’s Quiche Lorraine — very flavorful, the quiche wasn’t heavy at all, the salad was dressed in a light coat of vinaigrette.
–Braised Cod w/​Chorizo and Clams — this dish was a bit on the salty side since the sodium from the chorizo and clams infused the broth, cod was cooked nicely though.
–Pan-​Seared Long Island Duck Breast — this dish was really good, simple yet done right.
–Chefs Classic: Chef Jacques Torres’ Fontaine –this wasn’t a favorite and I don’t know why it was ordered, it contained dark chocolate and a berry filling inside a phyllo pastry — the pastry was excellent.
–Peach Upside-​Down Cake — my favorite to end the night with, a fluffy cake which was not too sweet, perfect portion.
I’d like to come back one more time before L’Ecole completely closes. It’s a pity that Broadway-​Soho will lose such a gem.

The Quick: Definitely in my top 5 favorite NYC restaurants. The tasting menu is actually affordable and always changing. Dine when the student chefs are preparing, they usually bring you additional small tastes.
The Details: I’ve dined here countless times and have never seen a repeat menu. The food is fantastic and such care goes into the presentation. I absolutely recommend doing the wine pairing as well; their sommeliers are extremely knowledgeable and interesting. You will enjoy anything you try!
The Damage: Price Fix menus for different # of courses. Go big or go home $$$

Restaurant Week 2015 Dinner
Booked a table for two on a Wednesday night at 5:45 PM; the restaurant was practically empty. We were greeted and seated immediately by the hostess who was professional and courteous. The restaurant has a classy vibe to it and it is located right in SoHo.
I ordered the Salmon Tartare for an appetizer, and it was my favorite part of the meal. Seriously, give it a try. For the entrée I had the pan-​seared duck breast which was delicious but nothing mind-​blowing. I had a glass of pinot noir to complement my meal ($ 14) instead of the wine pairings because I wanted a decent-​sized glass of alcohol (sorry not sorry) #noragrets.
All in all, this was a great spot and it was a great experience. If you are deciding for a spot in restaurant week, give this place a try!

Wow, what happened to L’ecole? I never thought I would be giving this (previously) fantastic restaurant a 1 star review. I dined here a few times years ago, and remembered loving everything — from the delightfully cooked innovative dishes to the wonderful service. I was SO excited to come back for restaurant week, and I left bitterly disappointed.
First, let me introduce you to Michael. He was our tall, lanky waiter who greeted us warmly. He gave us our menus and my boyfriend and I happily started perusing it. For appetizers, we decided on gazpacho and salmon tartare. Next, for the entrees, we saw about 4 fish options. We needed help choosing one so we asked Michael to go over the entrees and describe them a little bit. His response? «Well what do you want to know? I don’t really have the time.» …Uh… what? We asked what he meant by that and he said «I have a lot of other tables. Going over the entrees would take 20 minutes.»
We have never been so taken aback. If he had just described each dish a little bit, it would have taken all of 2 minutes. He was not apologetic at all. I resorted to googling each item for a better idea of what I would be eating. Oh and that salmon tartare we wanted to order? «Sorry, we ran out. I know it’s kind of a buzzkill.» THAT IS A DIRECT QUOTE. Unbelievable.
Thanks Michael, for giving us our first taste of really bad service and ruining our experience. As for the food, there was really nothing special about any of it. I can’t believe this is how I’ll remember L’ecole. I was shocked to hear they were closing in a few months, but if this is what their standard of service is like now… good riddance.
EDIT
A day after I posted the review, the manager called to apologize and assured me that this kind of behavior is not tolerated at L’ecole. I appreciated the quick response and overall, the complaint was nicely handled. Now if only every employee had the same kind of customer service skills the manager did… there wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.

My friends and I came to L’Ecole for restaurant week. The service and food was quite good. For appetizers, we had the salmon tartare, asparagus terrine, country pâté then for the main course we had the duck breast, pappardelle with duck leg, halibut and beef tenderloin. The dessert was the best part… crème brûlée was delicious!
It’s too bad they are closing in November.

I was finally able to try out this place. I was there for dinner. The prefix dinner was very well done. The dishes were all nicely laid out: presentation was immaculate. The food itself was very good too. I had the white gazpacho, then the chicken breast. The breast was very tasty. The skin had a layer of garnish between it and the chicken breast itself. My only disappointment was the dessert. I had the pound cake like dish and it was very boring. The wine pairing for the prefix was just ok too. I would just do the regular prefix with no wine pairing.
A must try for locals.

came here for restaurant week. it was a good dinner but i felt like every dish was just a tiny bit flawed. I had the salmon avocado tartare appetizer that paired well, but avocado was a tad too oily. the fourchu lobster that they so advertised was a bit overcooked so the meat wasn’t as tender and juicy as I normally like it. I also had the pappardelle with duck leg. pappardelle was good, but duck leg shredded, dry and had bits that tasted like bacon. crème brulee for dessert looked like it needed some adjustment between cream and egg ratio because the consistency was strange and that was most disappointing. meal was mildly amateurish for the price of fine dining but perhaps im being too harsh in my review. it’s good for a try during restaurant week. the restaurant tries to creates a good ambiance but our server was somewhat rude.

I came here on Friday night with my friend to have a not so average meal (although he’s been here before), which it definitely wasn’t ! The manager was very attentive not overbearing, in the tradition of the finest French restaurants and was sure to tell us a little about which wine we’d have for each course. The wine list/​pairings complimented the meal, brilliant. Incredible food, service and wine for a very resaonable price. The place is great and the students have outstandigng skills. I’ll pop back in soon!!!

This is my second time here. A culinary institute with senior culinary students cooking extremely exquisite French dishes at a fraction of a cost of a high-​end French bistro. Someone told me that the students cook here as a «final test» for their graduation. Obviously by that time they are top notch chefs.
We came for the Lobster Festival, where you have choices in your pre-​fix menu entrée of choosing lobsters that are caught in Nova Scotia. They are fresher, in a way «sweeter» and quite hefty. I went, however with the branzino entrée and the duck breast entrée (you get 2 entrees if you pay $ 54)
For appetizer, I had the Duck Pâté. The mustard sauce on the side was not needed. It was fine; i’d say a ⁸⁄₁₀ as far as Pâtés go.
My girlfriend had the Salmon Tartare with mashed avocado on top… It was perfect. Never imagined salmon and avocado could be such a tasty couple.
Now on entrees:
The Branzino: Absolutely delicious and tasty (as Branzino usually is). The ratatouille on the side was a perfect complimentary. Small portion but a delight to your palate.
The Duck Breast: Meh. I’ve had better. Didn’t feel the duck taste I was looking for and the plum sauce did nothing to confuse the concept of the dish even more.
I did try the 1.5 lb lobster my girlfriend ordered and I have to say that i made a mistake by not choosing it as an entrée (tip: $ 18 extra for lobster). It was tender, VERY tasty, and fulfilling.
On Desserts (THE BEST PART!!!)
I had the pleasure to order the hazelnut ice cream with the chocolate cake. BEST. HAZELNUT. ICE CREAM. Period.
I am spoiled by Martha’s hazelnut ice cream in Astoria, NY but this one blew the roof off. We wanted to order a scoop of just that ice cream (the chocolate cake was too sweet) but we were late to catch the train :(. But we will come back for more of that!
All in all, they did not disappoint one bit (well maybe on the duck breast) and I can tell you guys, these «students» can cook in any restaurant i go to. They are Michelin Star quality too me. It’s like a festival of flavor every time we go there. Definitely worth the money. Don’t miss out on this Gem!

Pedi um burger com fritas e estava ótimo! Porém achei o preço salgadinho! O garçom que atendeu tinha mau hálito o que me deixou enjoada! Achei ele super sem noção pois na hora de pagar o valor deu USD 20,50. Então dei 50,50 para «ajudar» no troco e ele perguntou se eu queria o troco de volta! Hello!!! Claro que vou querer! Se acha que vou dar tip de 30 dólares? Muito sem noção!

Got the three course special for $ 44, and also got the grande matching wines.
Our booking was at 7pm — the greeting was lovely and we sat at the bar and ordered a cocktail which was delicious. We then got seated at 7:25pm and were advised that we needed to place our order in the next 5 minutes!!! We quickly ordered — the country style pâté I ordered was nice but to me seemed more like a terrine. The salmon starter was delicious, as was the gnocchi. The mains were also lovely, although my horseradish crusted fish didn’t have much of a kick to it. The side of book choy also looked pretty sad unfortunately. The grande wine pairings were fantastic. Dessert was fantastic! Overall good value for money but if you want a full dining experience without being rushed, this is probably not the best place yo go as it closes at 945pm so you can’t even stay on yo have a few more drinks.

I love pre-​fix course menu’s because it enables me to eat as much as I want — no judgment.
For sure, I ordered the 4 course menu selection.
You’d initially think, with all these menu items, the portions ‘must’ be small — well on the contrary they were pretty big! Very filling, I almost felt bad not finishing certain parts of my meal.
As the menu changes as the selection is modified to the season, i’m not going to harp on the amazing meal I had.
I’d recommend anyone to try this place out!

L’Ecole, you’re doing it right.
This is a Restaurant Week review, but I would absolutely return. I had such a hard time choosing from the menu. for RW, they had one of the most varied menus. Here’s what I went with this time:
* We began with an amuse-​bouche of a potato leek soup shooter with crisped shallots. It was to die for.
Country Pâté — great portion, delicious, get it.
Oven-​Roasted Truffled Chicken — didn’t get much truffle in the chicken jus but the chicken was juicy and the Potato Mousseline was delicate and flavorful.
Cranberry Linzer Torte — yes yes YES with that Chestnut ice cream. This was delicious!
The wine list was actually quite reasonable and we found a delicious French cab franc that paired well with each dish. The service was perfect and everything I would expect from a learning environment. I am coming back for that fettucine with mussels and chorizo, and for the Octopus Tandoori. You heard me. Coming back.

Abandon hope all who enter here!
Well, not exactly. This place is actually phenomenal, but there was one thing I did have a problem with, so I’m going to help you out right now. I went here for restaurant week lunch last week. I’ve wanted to come here before but it didn’t work out so i was rather excited to finally get to come by this time around. I was made even more excited by looking at the menu online. Everything sounded great and they had a very large selection to choose from, which is awesome for a restaurant week menu. Here’s where you may run into some problems: the menu posted online is NOT what they will have in the restaurant. They change the menu often so what is posted may be out of date. Really that’s not a huge deal, but it was a bit annoying.
The food i did get though was great: started with this very light duck confit ravioli, which is funny because for my girlfriend’s entrée she got the seared duck. Nothing wrong with doubling down on the duck though, because as you know, ducks are delicious! The other thing was, my gf actually wanted their beef dish, but they were all out of it. It wasn’t even 130pm when we sat down for lunch so how could they be out of something already? It was weird. My entrée was their signature burger which comes with gruyère cheese… which is fantastic to put on anything. It comes with fries as well and three different sauces for dipping… ketchup, a very smokey bbq, and another sauce that had a butternut squash base… ughhh. Delish!
My gf got the wine pairing with her 3courses and everything was great. Her dessert was the chocolate cake with orange thingy… which was too much chocolate for me, of course. I got the olive oil cake with orange which was not too sweet and had a very good crème fraîche (sp*) with it. All the food we had was really good, and our service was amazing as well. I would recommend going here but really, don’t even bother looking at the menu online since it won’t help you much.

Came here for restaurant week with my sibling for their dinner. The place is very comfortable. Like most restaurants during the dinner, this restaurant had dim lighting and a lit candle on every table. The service was friendly, fast and clean. The staffs/​servers really know what they are doing. There was no mistake in the order, drink, food, or the bill. Everything was in a very organized orderly fashion. The ambiance was relaxing and comforting. They greeted us with smiles and great service the moment we walked in and even till we left. The work attire for the staffs were clean and dressy. The servers were all in black, but they too were very clean in terms of proper attire and sanitary, meaning no sauce or stains on their attire.
The food was very flavorful. It had great flavor. They gave a free complementary appetizer that reminded me of fish cake, but the sauce with it was very creamy, smooth and delicious. The appetizers we got was the high light of our dinner. We had smoked salmon and quail. My goodness, they were so yummy and radiating with such great fragrant from itself.
The chicken I got was way too salty. The crispy skin was a delight with the moist and juicy meat. That is the texture and how a chicken should be cooked, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside yet cook all the way through without drying out. However, the sauce was overpowering with salt.
The fish that my sibling got was very delicious. The crispy seared skin was a pack full of crunch. It was delicious with great texture. The meat of the fish was juicy and smooth as well.
The dessert was alright. I wasn’t a fan of the bourbon flavored ice cream. However, the chestnut flavored ice cream was spot on good.

I love supporting the culinary school. And I love a good deal.
L’ecole offered an excellent variable restaurant week menu for a great price. This prime location in Soho was perfect for a Wednesday lunch. Tucked between Grand Street and Broadway it’s very easy to walk by this restaurant and not know if it’s existence.
And the service was excellent. The staff gave us 2 Michelin star service.
The décor was lovely. Cut orchids sat at every table. Fine linen used for tablecloth.
Unfortunately the food quality was inconsistent.
Great points
1) Duck liver mousse amuse bouche. Smooth, velvety and a nice surprise to start our meal.
2) Service. My water remained at the same level throughout the whole meal from multiple people refilling my glass. We didn’t drop anything but if we did I’m sure someone would’ve instantly replaced the utensil. And the waiter helped a little elderly lady put on her jacket.
3) My bacon. Thick cut and crispy it was perfect!
4) My friend’s duck confit ravioli. It was perfect blend of rich duck fat, dark meat, hazelnuts and butter. I wish I ordered this dish.
5) My friend’s baked Alaska. It was filled with slightly sour passionfruit And lemon. Perfect end to a rich meal.
What went wrong?
The red snapper had a fishy smell and taste.
The pork cheeks were a little too dry. The sauce on the pork cheeks were too acidic.
And the chocolate orange parfait was too sweet and needed more acidity.
Being that the kitchen staff are students, I am willing to return for a second chance.

Whereas I don’t think L’Ecole is a perfect restaurant, I really can’t give them any less than 5 stars, as everything was so well executed. I went here with the fiancée for a 3-​course restaurant week dinner with a bottle of wine, and I was quite impressed. We opted for a bottle of their French Cabernet Franc normally available by the glass, and it paired quite well with all of the courses we ate.
For the price charged, the quality was excellent. We received an amuse-​bouche of puréed potato soup with crisped shallots, which left me wanting for more. Shortly though, our appetizers arrived — I got the miso grilled quail with curry couscous, everything was delicious and wonderfully presented as well.
For the entrée, I had the seared duck breast & confit of duck leg. The breast was done perfectly, but the confit stole the show! For dessert, of course a crème brûlée — as the photo says, perhaps the best I’ve had! Slightly thicker of a sugar crust leads to a more complex flavor. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

L’ecole is really the first place I’ve been for Restaurant Week that hasn’t tried to upcharge for mediocrity. This was my third time there, and they’re consistently excellent.
I went with three friends and we all got something different. The grilled quail with miso was excellent, but the appetizer that stood out was the fettucine (made in-​house) with mussels and chorizo. The smokiness of the chorizo and the flavors in the dish were superb.
For dinner, the branzino was cooked flawlessly – amazingly crispy skin, wonderful flavoring. The tandoori octopus was mindblowing. Maybe it’s my near-​obsessive affinity for octopus, but this was just magnificent. The purée? Incredible.
Dessert was the only okay part of the meal – but it was still delicious. Bourbon ice cream and a chocolate pear cake was delicious, but it came with this weird jello-​ish substance that was too alcoholic for me.
Whatever. For restaurant week, L’ecole killed. I’ll keep coming back, regardless of the time of year. All the stars.

El menú es excelente. Hay que animares a probar nuevas cosas, todas de muy buena calidad. El precio (39 USD por la cena) es realmente conveniente contemplando que es un menú de tres pasos y con productos de calidad.

Nach wie vor vom Preis-​Leistungs-​Verhältnis (auch, wenn es kontinuierlich teurer wird), einer der besten Tipps für ein gehobenes Dinner in New York City.