Le Garage
“We met the owner/chef who is from Paris and her daughter Rachel- very warm people..”
“There were some very different offerings, for example the smoked trout rillettes and the pork cheek entree.”
“I had read about Le Garage for the first time in "Time out": I was interested by the Mother / Daughter adventure and was attracted by the very simple and chic décor showed in the magazine.”
Le Garage
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
6 reviews
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Take the M to Central Ave. in the Bushwick nabe of "carajo" land and score some fine French food and feeling. I went on a seriously crappy night and had a great time with fab food and friendly folk.
The space is open and light in a former garage off Central. They really cater to their customers here and each dish was made expertly to order by the mother in the mother-daughter team
Ate:
Watercress soup
Cod with butter/ginger sauce & brussel sprouts
Potatoes with bernaise sauce
Chardon with creme anglais
Pineapples with ginger and lime
Warm bread from Balthazar with butter started the service. The soup had texture and the housemate croutons added crunchiness. Warm and unusual- watercress is not your typical soup, but I loved it. The sauce on the cod also super clever with the faint ginger flavor which was so delicate and delish. Love the potatoes cooked in duck fat natch. The chardon like a dense brownie is a family recipe and very homespun tasting. The frutta fresca really balanced the dessert and the meal which was very French (small portions people) and very fine indeed.
I had such a lovely evening here the other night. It happened to be Valentines day and the company (my lover) was fantastic but that's not the only reason why I enjoyed my time here so much. The atmosphere, service and food were also pretty, pretty, prettyyy good.
When I called in to confirm my reservation they didn't have it but told me not to worry, they'd take care of it. And they did. When I arrived, they had a table for me in the corner, which is actually my preference. The decor is modern and bright due to the yellow paint but it somehow managed to have a warm, romantic vibe thanks to the mood lighting and candles. I'm looking forward to coming back for a brunch because they added a beautiful skylight when renovating the old garage that I imagine will bring a ton of natural light into the place.
There's something about being served in an ethnic restaurant by a waiter of the same ethnicity that just makes the experience more authentic. Our server was French which somehow made the food taste a little bit better.
We started with a tuna tartare off the specials menu which was a perfect start to the meal. It was very simply dressed which is the way to go when you know you're working with fresh ingredients. Let the fish speak for itself and that's exactly what they did here. Next we had the potatoes with snails which is something I've never seen before. Is this a traditional French dish or an invention of the chef? Whatever the origin, it was very different and tasty. I was most impressed by my entree which also happened to be on the specials for the night. It was a pork cheek dish over a rutabaga puree which took on the consistency of potatoes but less starchy. The pork cheeks were so tender that I barely had to chew them. Very reminiscent of a short rib. There was a sweet sauce which tied everything together wonderfully. My wife had the risotto which was also fantastic.
We were very impressed with our whole experience at Le Garage, from start to finish. We will definitely be back.
KenScale: 8.0/10
I love to go to Brooklyn every once in a while, but the Bushwick neighborhood has been a little too far for me. That doesn't mean that I would not try to visit any promising restaurant that I could probably have a hard time finding in Manhattan. When I heard that a mother-daughter team (chef Catherine Allswang, who previously cooked in San Francisco and Paris, is running the kitchen while her daughter Rachel, who studied interior design, is managing the restaurant) opened a nice, cozy French restaurant in Bushwick, I thought this place could have a really strong neighborhood gem potential. It took me and my dining companion 30 minutes on a Uber ride to get to this place on a Sunday evening, and overall I had a lot to like about my dining experience at Le Garage.
The somewhat concise menu at Le Garage can be characterized as a modern take on French food. You see all sorts of reference to French classics, but there are unexpected twists along the way. I didn't expect to see smoked haddock being used for rillette, but combined with the lemon confit, green apples and trout it was a delightful appetizer. Leeks vinaigrette with mimosa and fried capers was another delicious starter, with the absolutely fresh leeks working beautifully in my mouth for a refreshing sensation. I had high expectations for organic chicken for two with lemongrass sweet potato puree (large chicken dishes are all the rage in the city these days, and at $35, the one at Le Garage is probably the most affordable one you can get), and while the meat was moist I felt the texture was not tender enough and the overall flavor was also not as memorable as I had hoped. On the other hand, I was a huge fan of pan-seared porgy that came with almond lemon relish, cherry tomato confiture and hand-mashed potatoes. Not only was the fish more or less perfectly cooked, but the way it interacted with the tomato confiture was a revelation, and I really wished the portion were slightly bigger since I finished half of the dish in like 30 seconds. Definitely one of the better seafood entrée dishes I've had recently. For dessert, we got lemon mille-feuille with almonds; I was looking for decadent, classic mille-feuille but it wasn't quite what I had expected in term of flavor.
Getting a reservation at the restaurant doesn't seem too hard, although the restaurant was nearly packed (mostly with local Brooklynites) in the course of our meal. I absolutely loved the décor of the dining space (I can tell that it is owned by someone who studied interior design), with yellow wall and the kitchen behind that you can take a peek at and overall an inviting atmosphere that would make this place truly a neighborhood restaurant (an overused terminology). There is full bar with cocktails named after French ladies and concise French-centric wine list. Le Garage is the type of restaurant I would love to have in my neighborhood. In terms of the overall atmosphere and the delightful French food coming from the kitchen, this is really a good place to visit if you live nearby or have a chance to visit Bushwick.
This is a fancy new restaurant in Bushwick that exemplifies gentrification. As I was standing outside smoking, a hood regular shook his head and practically spit on me in disgust of me being part of this scene. And I kinda get him.
I love french food and was really excited to try this place. I was all in on paying $27.00 for an entree..(which is weird for me, but yeah…) I got the hanger steak.I expected it to be the best thing I had ever tasted. Sadly, it wasn't. I ended up with about eight glorious looking steak bites, a small pile of diced potatoes, and a few sprigs of spinach. It looked beautiful. But the taste…… I really could have made it better at home.
It needed a bit more salt, and they are one of those places that don't put salt on the table. There was an odd aftertaste, which I guess might be the oil they used, which I noticed in both the meat and the potatoes. I felt like the meat was of good quality, but would be better served if I took it home and "doctored it up" – either making a steak sandwich, or eating it with tomatoes, or something… it was just disappointing as served. I expected to be kinda wowed by my $27 plate, and instead was dreaming about how I could transform the leftovers into something much better. I mean, it's pretty bad if you are actually trying to eat a bit less of your entree so that you will have enough of it left over to take home to make an even better meal.,. That should really be the opposite of what you want.
Vegetarian friends liked the risotto.
It was also really weird to see these people (the people eating there) in Bushwick. I don't think they live here, but maybe they do now. It's a different era.
Food was okay, but I won't be back.
I dropped around $80.00 (whatever, I like wine..) there and could have made better food at home and probably had a much more meaningful experience had I done so.
Wow – I really loved Le Garage. The food was fantastic and the service was excellent. I love "non-snooty" French food and I have to say everything here was pretty spectacular. There were some very different offerings, for example the smoked trout rillettes and the pork cheek entree. Drinks were very good and there is a nice wine list with a good selection of wines by the glass. I would be delighted to give Le Garage 5 stars, but I thought the fois gras "salad" was pretty over-priced for the portion size (two small toasts with fois pate) and based on the menu description, I was expecting the actual liver and not pate; and my hanger steak was cooked to medium/medium well instead of mid-rare as ordered. This is a place I want to come back to so I can try some of the other menu options.
Pretty roomy space. Unfortunately, I didn't love the food too much. I had the steak and it wasn't anything that make me want to go back to. Maybe it is me! I can tell you the cook was French. I also saw a french girl eating there with her french friends (she works in a french Deli near my work, I know I am creepy).