We’ll leave it to Westfair Table Talk columnist Jeremy Wayne to offer a professional review of Le Poisson, formerly La Crèmaillére, in the North Castle hamlet of Banksville, but there was nothing not to love at a Wednesday, March 13, VIP event about the executive chef and managing partner Thomas Burke’s reimagining of the place as a Gallic seafood restaurant. (The official opening was scheduled for Friday, March 15, and chef Thomas, a teddy bear of a guy, told us the restaurant was booked for the weekend.)
The hors d’oeuvres – minis of steak and tuna tartare, salmon on celery, crab cakes, deviled eggs and caviar and crème fraîche on teeny pillows of pancakes – were scrumptious; the raw bar of crab legs, lobster tails, oysters and shrimp was, as Jeremy would say, pingingly fresh; and the maritime French country décor conjured by Thomas and general manager Alice Burke, his wife – all blues and yellows – had us longing for Normandy, Provence, just about anywhere in coastal France. (The interior includes an intimate, relaxed bar/lounge for light bites and cocktails, a formal dining area set with Villeroy & Boch china and, upstairs, La Crèmaillére Privé, an area for private events. (Ah, the old La Crèm name lives.)
Like the lavender sachet in the goody bag each guest took home, the memory of that night will long linger on.
For reservations and more, visit poissonny.com.
