Chez Jef

My girlfriend and I are obsessed with this place! The food is absolutely delicious and the quality is amazing. We were a bit sad when we went on July 13 and it said closed for renovations till about september.
Check it out!

Not so grungy from the outside as other reviews have suggested, but not as fancy as the club Alain Delon’s Jef frequents in le samurai, I found this restaurant to be the perfect balance of bistro cuisine and American bar. I started with an excellent cocktail combining rye whiskey and chartreuse. The amuse bouche was salted radishes. Perfect! Salmon rillette was very fresh and a generous portion. I opted for the rib-​eye steak which arrived perfectly medium-​rare accompanied by a marrow bone and frites. The waiter proposed a glass of rose which was an unusual but welcome accompaniment. A wonderful jazz band in the style of django Reinhardt played French and American standards.

Chez Jef is something nearly impossible to find in NYC: an under the radar spot which isn’t crowded all the time that actually serves great food.
While I want to give this place a full five stars and rave about every dish, I am afraid I came here for lunch alone and so I only went with the salmon, which was superb.
The salmon is first grilled and then finished in an oven or pan and is set off by a very restrained butter sauce. It comes with a really entrancing base of peas and baby onions cooked down with a savory French bacon. The fish was somehow not all dry in any way shape or form, despite its time on the grill. So, pretty amazing technical skill.
The service here is great but the place was pretty empty when I came for lunch and I am not really sure why. Maybe it is because the location kind of feels in flux with the half diner-​half-​bistro thing going on. Anyway, very yummy and I am looking forward to seeing where this place goes.

Charming restaurant that serves an EXCELLENT bowl of french onion soup, tasty rich broth and perfectly toasted gruyère cheese. We had the steak frites and roasted trout, both were cooked perfectly and was very good. The dinner prix fixe was priced very well for the quality and execution of the food. The live jazz band was a nice complement to our dinner too. Definitely worth a go.

The atmosphere may be a bit dingy and leave something to be desired, but at least the food is legit! This place looks like a run down diner to be honest, but it’s actually a French café which serves up delicious food at reasonable prices.
Their pâté salad is worth getting as an appetizer. They make a tasty pâté which is large enough to be shared by 2 – 3 people.
You must try their steak and fries. This is some of the best steak Ive had in a while. It was moist, rich in flavor and fantastically tender. It was pretty much everything one could ask for in a steak from a French café.
They have a very reasonable three course pre fixe for $ 35, but just make sure you come hungry. Portions sizes are very un-​New York here. In other words, they’re very generous.

I debated long and hard on whether or not to let my fellow Unilocalers in on this hidden gem of place that is Mathieu Palombino’s pop-​up restaurant, Chez Jef, which replaced his late The Bowery Diner back sometime around March. I’ve walked by this restaurant so many times, intrigued by the menu and ambiance, but deterred by the lack of hustle and bustle inside, until last night when they were the only restaurant in the vicinity able to accommodate our last minute Saturday night reservation for a party of 5.
It was a clear 75 degree evening; we were seated by the open windows, overlooking the three outdoor tables out front. The tables and walls are draped in the clichéd bistro red gingham tablecloth material, which actually works in favor for this quaint and intimate restaurant, that is making do with the remnants of the former diner. The waitstaff and manager were all friendly and attentive from the get-​go, answering all of our questions regarding the too-​good-​to-​be-​true prix fixe menu ($ 35 3-​course meal). Their wine list is well-​priced, and includes their palatable bottles of house red and white, which will only set you back a cool $ 29 each.
Being French myself, I’d like to think that I’m an especially tough critic when it comes to my native cuisine — having been fed by the best, my grandma — but I can attest that Mathieu Palombino’s successful Motorino franchise was just the tip of the iceberg in regards to his culinary prowess and vision; as soon as the first course was laid out in front of us, I was brought back to my grandma’s feasts in the summer on the porch; I was immediately a fan.
I started with the pâté de campagne, which was accompanied by complimentary baguette, radish, and cornichons in a large jar. This spread alone far exceeded my expectations for this place, let alone any bistro in Paris. The bread was good, the radishes fresh, cornichons crisp, and most importantly the pâté was perfect– the fat, herbs, and textures were all so well balanced, as to be expected with a pâté that is treated so meticulously at each step by its chef:
My friends ordered the onion soup, which I thought was decent, but a tad too salty for my taste, and just paled in comparison to the påté.
For our main course, we all ordered the steak frites. Our medium-​rare steaks were all cooked to melt-​in-​your-​mouth perfection, and very well seasoned. The béarnaise sauce accompanying the steak was so flavorful and one of the best that I’ve ever tasted. And those fries… crispy but not oily, perfectly salted, shoestring fries. It took all of my willpower to not finish my plate of fries to save room for dessert.
For dessert I had the classic mousse au chocolat, topped with chantilly and tiny chocolate crisp balls. It didn’t feel as heavy as many chocolate mousses often do and the balls added a delightful texture to the dish. I tasted my friend’s crème brûlée and it was equally as delicate and delicious.
Our meal lasted a relaxing 3 hours, during which time we were never rushed. Although the variety of items on the menu may not compete with that of other French restaurants like Balthazar and Lafayette, Mathieu Palombino transported me to a cosy, familiar, and savory culinary dream without being close breaking my wallet as the aforementioned restaurants would have done. That said, I hear that Chez Jef will be going through some major renovations in August, improving both their décor and menu.
This is definitely not an experience to be missed, and for the jazz lovers out there, I believe that they have live jazz on Thurs-​Sat nights starting at 8pm. Mary Alouette was wonderful when we went on Saturday night, and provided the perfect ambiance for an intimate date-​night or dinner among friends. If I could, I would dine here once a week, and I will absolutely return to try their lunch ($ 15 croque madame!) and brunch menus.

HOLY SALT!
I love salt, but holy crap, the Pork Sausage and the Lamb was super salty! Apart from that, the appetizers we ordered were on point. The grilled octopus was a hit and the wine delish!
We did have great service thanks to the friendly and funny waiter. The live band was a plus. The Manager too was friendly and chatty. All in all we had a decent experience, just need to go easy on the SALT!

Excellent fries and good mussels, chicken and beef. A winner. Really the best pop up i have been in a long time. go for chicken or the mussels. The salad was excellent too.

Only been once but I enjoyed it a lot. Had the Steak Grill medium rare. It was cooked perfect with a really nice flavor just a little too chewy for 5 stars. The fries (frites) on the hand were hands down the best fries I had in NY. Will certainly go back and hope next time will be a 5 star experience.

A travesty! C’est dommage! OK, a caveat; this is less a review of Chez Jef than it is a lament for the lost Bowery Diner. Bowery Diner was a great staple in this neighborhood for excellent American and French food with no fuss, in a pleasantly young, breezy environment that was cool without being sceney, at lower-​mid prices. I stepped in there a few weeks ago and… mon dieu. They’ve slapped up red gingham curtains and hired a bunch of waiters who exaggerate their French accents, and removed everything cool about the place. The menu is reduced to about five entrees, at higher prices, and the spacious décor’s been devastated with this awkward attempt to impose old French bistro into new pseudo-​vintage diner. The waiters now lug an enormous chalkboard over to each table to show them the specials in a parody of Frenchness. To top it all of they’ve taped some bits of black trash bag over the Bowery Diner sign, leaving just a few butchered letters meant to convey Chez Jef but actually just conveying, «huh?»
OK, so, what did i actually EAT? Steak-​frites, for which they ardently refused to make any substitution for the frites, such as salad or whatever. Food was good, but no better than previously, and they’ve lost the cool cocktails and delicious milkshakes of yesteryear as well. All in all, a sad decline, and not a place i predict will last.

Went on Sat night. It’s fun — a french diner! Good unpretentious french classics on the menu and wine list. Friendly staff. We will be going back for one of their jazz nights.

Eh — food was good, but nothing spectacular or anything I would be inclined to try twice. Went with a group of six, everyone tried the $ 35 dinner pre-​fix option, which was certainly quite reasonable. We all ordered the french onion soup to start, which was the unanimous high spot of the meal, followed by the salmon, steak frites and pot au feu. Only those with the latter option really seemd to enjoy their dish, the others (myself included with the salmon), were only mildly satisfied. Desserts, which included an even split between the chocolate mousse and crème brûlée were also quite pedestrian.
A friend noted they could have achieved the same results in their own kitchen and I would have to agree.

Stopped in for lunch on my way to the gym. I was expecting a more «diner» experience and atmosphere, which you expect from the broken down diner sign hanging out front. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by French inspired cuisine. The lunch menu wasn’t very extensive. I chose the salmon. Very small portion sizes. I’ll probably be back to try their dinner sometime.

Food was good, service was fine, but the manager or owner was so overly obnoxious that he kept butting into our conversation and majorly hitting on my friend. Here was a 50-​ish year-​old French guy making moves on my young friend and it was gross and awkward, and he wouldn’t leave us to enjoy our meal together. For many times in our night, he would stop off to regale us with his annoyingly long stories which we never asked to hear. Or he would try to casually (read: creepily) hover nearby to listen in and try to join us. On one such occasion we briefly mentioned «Obama» in an extremely broad and non-​political context that had little to do with the president himself, and he took this as his opportunity to bring up politics with us and completely derailed our discussion at hand. Who does this?! My friend even started to act rude to signal that she was annoyed and not interested in fucking him later, and he took that as a signal to give her his phone number on a card.
I’m sorry but on this basis alone, we will not be going back. It’s a shame because otherwise it does seem like a nice place and I definitely liked the food. But part of going out to eat is to be able to relax and enjoy yourself so service should be sufficiently attentive but not invading your space every five minutes to interrupt with something irrelevant. The overall creepiness left us with a bad taste in our mouth.

I don’t usually give reviews but this place is amazing. We ordered the mussels, grilled salmon and octopus to share and they were all good with out a doubt. The mussels were fresh and perfectly cook, the salmon was delicious. The service was phenomenal. We had a wonderful time here.

Food is very good. Big improvement over the old Diner. Moules frites very nice. Will be coming back for Friday jazz one of these days.