Frank's is an "insider's" place...I am not kidding.

I agree though, surely service, etc. Cleanliness...that I dont buy because Frank is bad ass who doesnt take that lightly.

As for overcooked steaks...I also dont buy it, though possible, because he wont let you order a well done steak. I watched him have a coronary (prob from the beef) after someone wanted a steak medium-well.

That being said, I havent eaten there in 4 years...so times could have changed.

I can't speak more highly of Chez Denis. And please, please drink the house red and try the Bread Pudding. I was with my friends girlfriend who is a top pastry chef...she said it was the best she had tasted in a good long while.

of course i was going to drink wine but i LOVE bread pudding too! so now it seems my "light" lunch is getting heavier by the posting!! thanks for the heads up!

Well...to really screw you up.....the Rasberry Torte (which she ordered) was HUGE...and unreal.

In fact, after our four and a half-hour dispicable display of eating, I actually borrowed my friends phone and called my Dad back in Florida.

I said "DAD...I used to think you took "walks" after eating to get away from Mom or the guests we may have had over...NOW I KNOW YOU WERENT LYING when you said you had to walk the food off."

You will have a blast...and if you dont mind, they can sit you at a communal table (the big long one) where you can meet people all afternoon.

plambers, here's the photos of this Chez Denice(there is another but this is L La Tour de Montlhéry chez Denice, 5, rue des Prouvaires in the 1st. The silver was clean, I saw no steak on the menu :)

http://tinyurl.com/jz5gz

cigalechanta, thanks but my place of employment blocks photos etc so i will have to be surprised when i arrive!

I hate you :)

I just got stomach pains eating my turkey sandwich.

Cue the whining...I want Chez Denise

Thanks for the link...and btw, the steak is right there...3/4 of the way down Cote de Beouf

yes, but the menu changes, one reason for blackboards. :)

Cote de Beuof never, ever, ever comes off that menu. That, along with calf's liver, is one of their signature dishes (just like suckling pig is at my restaurant...the menu changes montly, but not the pig).

It does seem that you can just ask them if you can do that, and they will say. I guess the issue is if they must say yes because they don't want to create the kind of atmoshpere where you refuse something, but that they really don't like it. I guess they would just be cool to you and not serve as well, perhaps, don't know. I don't know why restaurants do this kind of thing where they intentionally serve very large portions.

Is this going to not be an issue because of the lunch? I just wondered if the splitting mentioned by those who were there was at dinner and that's when the portions were huger. Often the lunch menu is cheaper, but it is also not the same portions sometimes, it seems to me.

cigalechanta, I hope you weren't addressing that clean silver and steak comment in regards to Chez Denise. Those were comments about Frank's in NYC -- as usual we tend to branch off the main subject. I didn't see any references to clean or unclean silver at Chez Denise!

OOPs, sorry you are right. I misread you when Frank popped in the thread. :)

PM....sorry I read your post wrong but that was not nice to knock my reading skills. Tell you what: You say you are part-owner of a top French restaurant. In another post you say you are the bar manager. Being part-owner and manager of the bar,
I hope you don't spell" Burgandy" like this on your wine list. And I hope you don't feature "Cote d'Beouf" on them, either. Anyway....let's repair to Chez Denise and discuss it.....you've reminded me to put it on my list for my next visit and for that I thank you!

We've never found portions in French restaurants to be large--small, if anything, because of the usual multiple courses. Try to resist sharing, but if you must, ask the waiter to divide just the main course. Or order just an appetizer and a dessert.

Jean these are larger portions than what is usual!!!

Scrunchy, my fellow friend, I am a lawyer at the Big Dig in Boston. I also am a partner (albeit small) in a major French restaurant in boston. Part of my duties concerns running my downstairs bar (chef a partner, and our wine guru, the main owner...run the rest).

Sorry to not make your day. I would surely give you a gift certificate and you can come and see me. You can come to one of my other restaurants if you would like...but the Boston one is the baby.

Thanks for playing...how NOT TO ASSUME!!!

Not when you live in California. I honestly cannot remember anything that was oversized other than a cote de boeuf grilled outside in Provence.

pmgoosed, I'm in Boston, where are you?

So pmgoosed, are you actually going to send a gift certificate to ekscrunchy or are you punishing him/her by witholding said gift certificate? You sound quite proud of your babies... go ahead and show them off -- and you can send one to me while you're at it.

I am not into punishing people. They did that to themselves by opening their mouths and A) giving poor info and B)questioning my credibility by using their "spare" time to review my posts (which must hurt once I retorted).

CigaleChanta: I live (if you can call it that b/w my ridiculously busy lifestyle) in the North End. Moved their from Brookline about 6 years ago.

Man...and I just realized...my spelling STINKS...damn that spellcheck!