Le Privé is a new French restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen that replaced Hallo German, going from one European country to another but elevating quite a bit the dinning experience from beer and sausage to wine and escargots. Opened few months ago, we decided to try it as we were dining with Jodi’s cousins.

Not that busy for a Thursday evening, I like the Victorian-era space that has a nice feel, relaxed, with a very good service during the whole meal. Food wise, we in for a treat, each dish I tried being quite good. Here is what we had:

They have few cocktails, but none made with whisky, my go to liquor. No french whisky either that is a bit of a shame for a french restaurant as I always see them not only being the ambassadors or french food but also of french wine, liquors or other beverages. I ended up with an old fashioned that they made as they have a full bar.

For an appetizer, I got the escargots (snails), that were cooked in garlic and parsley butter, the traditional way. The snails themselves were really good, smothered in a sauce where I could not resist dipping some bread.

Jodi went straight to the entree and chose the Mac and cheese or Le gratin de macaroni, made with 4 kinds of cheese: chèvre (goat cheese), raclette, camembert and Parmesan. $21 is a bit pricey for the dish, but I have to say that it was superb, creamy, with tons of cheese.

On my side, I hesitated between the steak frites (NY strip)

And the magret de canard (duck breast). I went for the latter that was served with a roasted parsnip and celeriac purée. At first you would wonder where was the purée, but it was simply right under the duck that was cooked medium-rare as I like it. The dish was delicious, the duck being very good, nicely fatty near the skin that could have been crispier.

For dessert, we opened for the beignets that are a must have and perfect for sharing (if you are wearing black you will certainly end up with spots of sugar as there was lots of it)