Cafe Du Pont

One reason to go: Apple cider chicken with figs.
Café Du Pont is a pleasant little French café on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. If you’re under 50, you’ll lower the average age of clientele by a significant number. Pleasant service, nice presentation, but nothing remarkable EXCEPT one item. The sauteed chicken breast with a caramelized apple and fig calvados cider compote, served over mashed potatoes. I’ve never had anything like it elsewhere. It’s fabulous — they once took it off the menu and within a few weeks the waitstaff had was telling people, «Don’t worry, you can still get the apple-​fig chicken» as he handed out the menus. There are few restaurants I go to for a single dish, but this is one of them. I can’t comment on the rest of the entrees, because I’ve never tried them. The escargot in puffed pastry is a nice appetizer.

I came here drunk already after hanging out with some guys from work almost 3 years ago, they stayed open when we came in, they usually close at around 10 or 11 but the owner was cool since he knew my co-​worker and we ended up staying over and eating sea food. Guys, I’ve got to warn you that alcohol and sea food may be a good mix if everything was fried, but not when it’s clams/​oysters… Yeehaw!