The Restaurant Review

French, Sans Connection

The chateaubriand is served upstairs, where the tables are decorated with silver candleholders shaped like hummingbirds, and where the steady thrum of Portishead and Nina Simone is piped in at low volume. It’s a decent cut of beef for such a tediously dated dish, much better than the dank, overdone Dover sole meunière (one of five entrées on the upstairs menu costing over $30) or the tomato bisque, which seemed to have been hastily reheated then abandoned on the stove to cool for an hour or two. The beer-braised short-rib carbonnade was the best of the many retread brasserie dishes I sampled, and if you want a more slimming meal, order the grilled salmon, served on a bed of bok choy. Downstairs is my preferred dining venue at Sascha, and the time to eat there is in the afternoon, or for a weekend brunch. The kitchen rolls out four varieties of eggs Benedict (including one with filet mignon on the weekends), plus a house double cheeseburger, wrapped in wax paper, which I enjoyed one Sunday afternoon, sitting out on the sidewalk, amid the empty offal trucks.

CAFÉ D’ALSACE
Address: 1695 Second Ave., at 88th St., 212-722-5133
Hours: Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday to midnight, Sunday to 10:30 p.m. Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Brunch, Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Prices: Appetizers: $7 to $16. Entrées: $16 to $27.
Ideal Meal: Pork or duck sausage, baeckoffe, chocolate tart. Note: True, “beer sommelier” is a ridiculous title, but Aviram knows his stuff. There are 118 beers on the list.
Scratchpad: Devoted carnivores might consider traveling a long distance for the sausages and choucroute. Otherwise, this is a good neighborhood restaurant in every respect.

No Stars
SASCHA
Address: 55 Gansevoort St., nr. Ninth Ave., 212-989-1920
Hours: Lunch and dinner daily, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Breakfast daily, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Brunch, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Prices: Appetizers: $8 to $19. Entrées: $14 to $42.
Ideal meal: House salad, beef carbonnade (with a side of fries), egg cream. Note: If you’re weary of burgers, order the $9 knockwurst, smothered in sweet onions, for lunch.
Scratchpad: One star for the brunch; otherwise, you’re better off waiting with the rest of the mob for a table at Pastis.