Getting Wined and Dined; French Style, in the Side of the East, the Lower part

Welcome back to this week’s #ShopLocalSaturday; where I highlight local eats and shops that I have visited. This week is featuring  LĒNA Wine Bar  in Manhattan, NY!

For the upcoming Valentine’s Day; I thought it would be appropriate to feature a French restaurant; which most would guess be a romantic location to have a great dinner with your Valentine ( Like Paris, France; City of Love).

I was heading towards a business workshop; deciding to stop by the Lower East Side, as I have not experienced much of what the area as to offer, in terms of local eats. Pulling out my SHOP Local app; there was a placed called Lena, and it was a French restaurant. This piqued my interest; as I rarely have the opprotunity to have French fare often. I definitely did not want to skip out on this chance, so that was going to be my choice for to start my evening.

Walking in; it was empty, as Lena did just open up for business tonight. The decor and environment of the place was cozy, and had many tables meant for couples, and a few tables for group dinners, along with a small bar area. Just about everything around Lena reminded you that you were in a French restaurant. From the Eiffel Tower statue, to the items in menu in French themselves.

What I decided to get from the menu was a soup; because it was quite cold on that day, and a main course that isn’t too heavy, and be on the side of cleaner eating, and of course; I will get a glass of wine. So I got a French onion soup, a glass of Bordeaux Blanc, and a Chicken Mushroom.

I like that the French Onion soup had a slice of bread with a flame roasted melted brie cheese on it. It was very tasty, and the brie enhanced it; going very well with the soup. As for the soup itself; the only thing I can really attempt to compare it to is the French onion at an Outback, but I feel that it’s not a fair evaluation of French onion soup. I would like to invite to try out French Onion soup at Lena, and other items on their menu to give me their evaluation of their French Onion soup; as my palette isn’t sufficient enough.

On to the Chicken Mushroom; which is pretty self explanatory, it was accompanied with mashed potatoes mixed with some mustard seed. This mashed potatoes was not bad; and was very unique, as I never had this kind before. The mustard seed was a nice flavor to the potatoes, and in the amount was given was perfect; not too much to make it overbearing to the chicken and mushroom. The chicken was in chunks, mixed with the mushrooms in a creamy broth called ‘Creme Fraiche’ (Right from the menu on the website). It was interesting that it was served in a metal pot, like those you would see from fairy tales about witches’ pot boiling and toiling. The chicken was in good, small amount of pieces, and being soaked in the creme made each bite very savory.

There was another order that I made (not pictured) was rosemary roasted brie; which was served on bite sized pieces of bread, with a touch of honey. I mainly got it for other to try it out; and I got some great feedback about it! The taste was a bit sweet with the honey, and it’s a good snack for any situation.

To end, I would recommend Lena Wine Bar for those who enjoy a cozy and/or romantic dinner in a French environment setting. It is very ideal place to have a dinner date and have a good time. I did see two parties of guests (one had 8 people, and the other had 6) come in when I was leaving. I’m guessing it is a popular place with some great food. I would like to go back to Lena to try some other menu items on their list. And, after visiting Lena, and would like to pick some more wine and spirits for the road; I would recommend visiting  Liquors on Allen , previously featured  here.

As a bonus; if you do wanna get the most bang for your buck; I’ll leave you with the following options below with my links, so that you can earn cash back on what you order while you’re at Lena Wine Bar (adding a new cashback program to this list; Dosh!)

Know of any other local shops that you enjoy going to that should be highlighted? Leave a comment and let me know!

And as always,

Remember to always support your local establishments! They are a part of your community!

-The Eric Fong