BEST OF THE WEEK: MAISON HARLEM MOULES FRITES

Our best of the week feature basically highlights something remarkable in Harlem that we tried out for the first time. There are a lot of great eats in Harlem and this ongoing series will have the best of the best.

We have been doing a lot of lunch meetings at Maison Harlem on St. Nicholas by 127th Street and have been impressed with how bustling the afternoon businesses is for this part of Harlem.  French bistro fair such as Moules Mariniere avec Frites make for a substantial but somewhat light dejeuner since it really is just a savory garlic, white wine broth and a small plate of fries.  The key to this simple dish is fresh mussels which never have a strong iodine taste to them and Maison Harlem has some of the freshest fare we have tried in some times.  Other lunch recommendations include the savory Frisee Lardon salad with poached egg, the hamburgers or the lovely steak tartare.

Even on a Monday, the dining area in the back was almost full and this is quite notable since the restaurant is not at a yet trendy intersection of Harlem.  With great quality food and not much competition, Maison Harlem has proven that a high quality establishment will bring diners all over from other parts of the neighborhood if the elements are all on point.