Cafe du Soleil, Broadway between 104th and 105th

A late, light dinner for a Friday evening away from the bustle and noise of the city:  Cafe du Soleil.  The restaurant is light and cheerful -- a yellow-gold awning covering cafe tables on the sidewalk (too cold) and a warm, tiled interior with big mirrors on the walls, reflecting and opening up the space.  We arrived about 8 p.m. and were immediately seated at a table in front of the window -- and beside the host's lectern.

We could have been adventurous (well, as adventurous as one can be in a French bistro,) and ordered something other than the steak frites, but that is what we both like very much.  And I have a tendency to want to try out the French fries where ever I go.

We started by sharing the Frisee au Rocquefort Salad with thinly sliced apples, ground walnuts and a Dijon vinaigrette ($9.95).  Then we split the grilled, marinated hanger steak ($23.95), a generally tough cut, which was tender in portions and a bit chewy in others.  The steak was covered with a rich Bordelaise sauce suffused with fresh rosemary (in fact, a branch of rosemary lay across the layered steak portions.  The pomme frites, served in a paper cone, were superb:  buttery and crisp on the outside, soft and potatoey on the inside.  We ate every single one -- dipped either in ketchup or the wonderful reduced red wine sauce.


For dessert we shared a banana cream pie which was more a tiramisu with bananas in a vanilla wafer crust ($7.95).


Cafe du Soleil offers specials every day:  Monday, any steak is $12.95; Thursday any fish is $12.95; Wednesdays bottles of wine are half-priced.  They offer a pre-theater special (just hop on the #1 train at 104th and you'll arrive at Lincoln Center in about 5 minutes) for $21.95, a prix fixe menu on Sundays for $25.95.