Feast Your Eyes on The Monarch Room

By Ann Binlot June 14, 2014

the monarch room — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Now that the iconic French bistro Pastis has abandoned the Meatpacking District, New York’s style set needs a new place to dine and socialize, and The Monarch Room is well on its way to filling that gap. Located in a former 1930s warehouse, restaurateurs Lisle Richards and Eric Marx of The Metric opened The Monarch Room right on the border of the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea with what the website says is “a vibrant collision of uptown polish and downtown tenacity.”

Polish and tenacity certainly is the feeling you get in this handsome space, and that’s because Roman & Williams, the design duo behind New York hot spots the Ace Hotel and Boom Boom Room, designed it, adding leather banquettes and fusing it with concrete walls and ceilings, while illuminating the space with gold light fixtures.

The menu, conceptualized by chef Michael Citarella, uses fresh and local ingredients. When we dined there, we started out with a selection of oysters, chicken liver with prunes, sage, and grilled sourdough bread, and an amazing gem lettuce salad with cucumber, sugar snap peas, horseradish dressing. Next we enjoyed the dry-aged strip steak with charred scallions, potatoes, fermented chilies, and the spiced duck breast with braised leeks, sweet potatoes and hibiscus. The stars of the restaurant are the desserts, and we had the best Baked Alaska we’ve ever had, along with a heavenly chocolate cake with dark vintage chocolate, milk & honey sorbet and chocolate butter ganache.

Still not convinced? We ran into the funniest man on the planet, Fat Jew, while there. We’d say that alone is enough of a reason to visit this restaurant next time you’re in New York.

For more information, visit nymonarch.com.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ann Binlot is a New York-based freelance writer who contributes to publications like The Economist, Wallpaper*, Monocle…

Food & Drink

Your guide to the pescatarian diet for healthier living

If you're considering a new way of eating, this may be the perfect diet for you

Pea puree with fish

Are you thinking of changing your diet? If a healthier you is on the to-do list this year, you might consider the pescatarian diet. At its core, the pescatarian diet eliminates all meat except for fish and seafood. Plenty of research tells us eating red meat increases your chances of heart disease and even death by 3% to 7%. The study even suggests that eating poultry twice a week increases these risks by 4%.

You may have heard of the Blue Zone Diet. If you're not familiar, Blue Zones are areas around the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. The research was conducted by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow and bestselling author. These zones are located in Japan, Italy, Costa Rica, Greece, and California. There are a number of practices you can put in place to follow the Blue Zone Diet if you wish. However, for our purposes, it's simply important to note that the people living the longest and healthiest lives were neither vegans nor meat-eaters. They're pescatarians.
What is the pescatarian diet?

Food & Drink

The 11 best grill and smoker recipes to make now

Tasty recipes to cook on your gas, charcoal, or pellet grill

Ducks in the Pig Pen

It's that time of year again when we neglect our Dutch ovens, slow cookers, and air fryers for our outdoor char-grilling and smoking devices. It doesn't matter if you're cooking with gas, charcoal, or pellets. The main is you're outside enjoying the nice weather with a a cold beer.

While everyone loves a tasty burger or hot dog, they can get boring after a while. Sometimes, we want to flex our culinary muscles at our grills and for anyone else who may be just hanging around us for the cold beer.

Food & Drink

How to brunch like the French with lobster croissant and champagne

Chef Geoffrey Lechantoux at Maison Close shares his insights on lobster and frog legs for brunch.

Closeup of croissant lobster

The dining room of Maison Close. Maison Close

Brunch, that relaxing weekend breakfast of cocktails, omelets, and conversation with friends, is always a great time. But how about brunch with a French twist? Instead of eggs benedict or a spicy shakshuka, why not foie gras or a lobster brunch? We could all use a bit of luxury sometimes.