Daniel Boulud is one of the most celebrated chefs in this country. But, I gotta say, I've been to two of his restaurants and neither blew me away. About a year ago, I tried Bar Boulud and thought it was pretty good, but not worth the hype.
On Tuesday night, Laura and I tried out the recently opened DBGB. DBGB is a downtown "low brow" bistro from a high end chef. Located on the Bowery, it's just two blocks from the original location of the seminal punk rock venue CBGB, so the name is pretty cute.
We started with a truly great crab cake. I enjoyed this crab cake more than the crab cakes at the Dahlia Lounge. It's a light crab cake bursting with crab. It's served with a fantastic curry sauce on the side. If you visit DBGB, this is a must order.
In just a couple of months, DBGB is already known for its sausages. I wanted to try the spicy blood/pig's head sausage, but Laura wanted nothing to do with it, so we went with a more standard pork sausage called the Chipolata. It's served over pommes mousseline, which are essentially a light (airy) version of mashed potatoes. The sausage and potatoes were quite good.
My issue with DBGB was with my burger. I ordered the "Frenchie," a $17 burger served with confit pork belly, arugula and a tomato-onion compote on a brioche bun. Even though the burger came out a perfect medium-rare, it still seemed a little dry. The taste of the beef was fine, but it wasn't spectacular. For $17 and coming from Daniel Boulud, I really expected something special. This burger did not deliver. The fries were pretty good, but I wish they were a little crispier.
Maybe I expected too much, because overall, the food was very good, but I can't help but be a little disappointed by DBGB.
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