Croissants, Fresh Greens, and Natural Wine in Clinton Hill
Can Entre Nous bring 'plaisir' to daytime and nighttime crowds?
French Friday is a series for Francophiles and/or anyone with an opinion and good taste by moi, a former almost-Parisienne for nine years, and other almost-or-actual-Frenchies that know their ‘oof’ from their ‘bof.’ The goal? To rate venues outside France on their Frenchness. Plus, an ‘en plus’ section with like-minded recommendations in France itself.
Today, I’m proud to share my first guest post from one of my best friends and fellow journalists, the author and commentator, Lindsey Tramuta, who’s actually French and has been an American in Paris for almost two decades. If you don’t know or follow Lindsey and her work, much of which aims to dispel French myths and stereotypes and boost Paris’s reputation as an ever-evolving city, you can do so on Instagram, Substack, or listen to The New Paris Podcast, on which I was a guest a couple of years ago!
While she and I don’t always have the same taste when it comes to certain things (see: shellfish and music like Nine Inch Nails), she has taste, full stop, and certainly has a vocabulary for all things Francais. In which case, she’s a perfect first contributor to this column. She and I visited Entre Nous — which I’d been to at least three times prior — when she was in town for a week this past April. Below is a reminder of the ratings system. — S.L.
🥖 = Mais non. (No)
🥖🥖 = Pas mal. (Not bad)
🥖🥖🥖 = Bon. (Good)
🥖🥖🥖🥖 = Trés trés bon. (Very, very good)
🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖 = Parfait. (Perfect)
Le Spot: Entre Nous
39 Clifton Pl, Clinton Hill / Wine Bar Hours: Tues.-Thurs., 5 p.m. -11 p.m., Friday, 5 p.m.-midnight, Saturday, 3 p.m.-midnight, Sunday, 3 p.m.-11 p.m. / Cafe/Bakery Hours: Tues.-Sun., 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
Les infos
Save for the brownstone it sits beneath, Entre Nous (“between us” in French) announces its Parisian sensibility right from the handful of rattan seats and marble bistro tables that wrap around the front of the space. The on-brand details continue inside: terrazzo tile floors, wooden bistro chairs, a long copper bar counter with stools and emptied wine bottles as decor. The server who greeted us was courteous but so blasé I nearly felt transported home to Paris (spoiler: he was French).
All of this tracks with the owners, the husband-and-wife restaurateur duo, Clement Besset and Allie Prater-Besset, who also run Fradei, a European bistro in nearby Fort Greene. Besset apparently worked at Aux Deux Amis in Paris many moons ago, and it shows. The love for apéro (aka Happy Hour) is clear. The menu attempts to offer small plates appropriate for that sweet spot pre-dinner with dishes like chicken liver parfait with cornichon, mushroom croquettes, oysters, and an array of cheese and charcuterie.
Given we had a dinner reservation elsewhere, we shared a little gem salad which was far better than almost any simple green salad in France — a tarragon dressing zhuzhed up what could’ve been a predictable vinaigrette while almond slivers and cucumbers added texture and crunch. It came in a beautiful ceramic bowl with a basket of sliced baguette. But that little salad cost $19. The wines, low-intervention and delicious as they were, began at $18 a glass. What could’ve been a 15€ apero per person in Paris turned into $30 per person. If you wanted to constitute a meal out of the menu, you’d easily clock $100 before adding wine.
Sticker shock aside, it was chill; the music played at just the right volume, the staff wasn’t overbearing, and the crowd was obviously made of local regulars, which is a pleasure to see anywhere.
Entre Nous is taken over by La Bicyclette Bakery in the morning through lunch to sell French bread and pastries and serve cold brew with more crushed ice than a Picard freezer. Clients settle in with their buns and newspapers and engage in the kind of slow morning the French know well. Maybe that alone is worth the cost of entry. If you can’t make the trip to Paris, you can get pretty damn close on this corner of Clinton Hill.
Le rating 🥖🥖🥖🥖
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EN PLUS
When in France…
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That is so incredibly cool...
You, hanging out in my old NYC nabe.
(gillyworks, from ig)
Dream team!