Rate-A-Restaurant, #42 in a series

Restaurant: Bouley

Location: 120 West Broadway, New York

Type of restaurant: French

They stipulated: Reservations recommended. Our reservation was at 2 pm and the place was still very busy.

What we ordered: We ordered from the lunch tasting menu ($35): The appetizers were Nantucket Skate with Baby Greens and Pineapple Caper Dressing (Mike) and Soft Shell Crabs with Cape Cod Gooseberries and Organic Pink Grapefruit and Wild Ramps (Maria); for the main course, the Chicken baked in Buttermilk and Herbs Sugar Snap Peas with Mushrooms and Risotto (Mike) and the Cod with Organic Sweet Garden Peas with Roasted Wild Oysters and Sauce Basquaise (Maria); and for dessert, we both had the Strawberry Cloud with Yogurt Caramel Crisp, Rose Petal Ice Cream and Amaretto Toffee Sauce and Apricot Anglaise.

High point: All the extras we got with our meal. They served different varieties of sorbets between each course to cleanse our palate; the melt-in-your-mouth potato puree that I had to fight Mike for every bite served with our main dishes; the chocolate and nut plate that came with the desserts (other, bigger parties recieved an extra plate of dessert, I noticed) and the bag of lemon pound cake that they hand out to the ladies (I shared mine with Mike) as you leave the restaurant. They know how to treat their guests and one just feels extra special when receiving lots of freebies.

The food was delicious, the contrasting flavors and texture evident in every bite. The tasting menu is such the bargain for a sampling of good food from a fine restaurant.

Low point: The overly fussy waiters. Don't get me wrong, I love an attentive wait staff but I was still savoring the last bite of my Cod while their eager hands were itching to take my plate away.

Overall impression: A classy restaurant and one of the most pleasant meals we've had in New York.

Chance we will go back: Yes, the next time we're back in NYC.

For a complete archive of our Rate-A-Restaurant reviews, check out our companion ratearestaurant.blogspot.com website.