Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote Opens Downtown Tomorrow

Cult fans of Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote — the steak frites restaurant from Paris — will be pleased to know that the second New York location will open at 40 Thompson Street tomorrow. The first one in the city opened in 2009 with its characteristically limited menu of a salad, French fries and steak for $29.95. The restaurant’s secret sauce cultivates loyalists abroad.

Vegetarians aren’t abandoned: For the same price they can order a cheese plate, fries and salad with dessert included. The Downtown spot will offer ten or more old-school desserts like profiteroles and creme brulee (with fewer fans than the steak).

When the Midtown spot opened, The Meat Show’s Nick Solares — then for Serious Eats— pointed to lines outside European outposts and doubted the restaurant would be as enthusiastically received here. “I’m not sure it’s in the right neighborhood,” he wrote. A few years and a few New York steakhouse openings later, residents and visitors may be primed for the downtown location — especially now that New Yorkers are familiar with the formula.

Paul Gineste de Saurs opened the first Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote in Paris in 1959. His daughter took over original Paris location, with the business expanding to London, Mexico, and New York operating under licensing deals.