Dining al fresco at Le Philosophe
/(Noho)
55 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012
Tel. 212-388-0038
Now that the weather is getting nicer (finally!), we can start talking about outdoor dining (our favorite topic). One of my go-to spots in the neighborhood is Le Philsophe on Bond street. The food is delicious, the service attentive, and the outdoor seating is both low-key and high-brow (a bit of an oxymoron I know, but ‘tis true!). I also like that they’re not super-duper hyped, so you never find the space to be ultra cramped.
We had called ahead and inquired whether they had high-chairs. Yes – they answered. Score! The one they gave us was of a slightly different variety than your typical box-standard restaurant type (see photos), which did not go unnoticed by the little man. I think he appreciated the novelty of it all…
The restaurant is right next to Mile End, which attracts a ton of foot traffic, so plenty of distractions for our munchkin while he sat outside (not to mention that Bond street in general is a nice place to sit down and people-watch). The food was also quite delicious and very well prepared. We even went “wild” with some lightly battered frog legs, which the Nuke baby sampled as well (that’s up there with durian, which he’s also experimented with once upon a time). Suffice to say, I think he appreciated the frog legs better than the durian. Can’t say I blame the little fella!
Food/ drink tips:
- Executive chef Matthew Aita, who trained with Daniel Boulud, is quite talented, and every dish we ordered did not disappoint. Hubs had the more traditional halibut for his main course, and it was phenomenal.
- I highly recommend the frog legs, beautifully executed, deboned, and tossed with sunchoke amidst a bed of watercress purée. Yum.
- Sit outside if the weather allows, and savor a glass of rosé while you’re at it!
Baby tips:
- Staff were very attentive and sweet
- High-chairs available (and quite stylish)
- I remember that the restaurant came out with fresh bread and olive oil right away (something I never cared about until I had a little one. What can I say, he loves bread… or rather, just loves to play with it).
Other related features: