Where Scotland Meets France

Mary Queen of Scot is fresh on the scene and for being open now for only 2 weeks, it's doing quite well. The space was home to Allen & Delancey which closed suddenly, but the interior has been completely redone and it looks quite beautiful inside. It has a homie feel but still has a certain elegance. We started out with a drink at the bar, which is great and sits in the middle between the front and back of the restaurant. The bar tenders are Freemans (amoung other favourites) alumni so the drinks are great.

It's Scottish-French cuisine was tasty and we ordered a variety of appetizers and mains to try. The oysters were tasty, the salmon was great, but my favourite thing was this dessert. And for those of you that know me, I'm not even that big on desserts : It was a chocolate espresso ganache, with salt and it had a scoop of whiskey ice cream on the side. Basically the server told me that it tasted like jet fuel so of course I had to try it! It had the strangest but most interesting smokey taste, with in combination with the very bitter chocolate and salt, to my surprise was wonderful! All in all it's a good restaurant with a nice ambiance and unusual combinations and flavours for dessert!

One thing to not is that they listed "Pietmontese" beef on the menu (spelt wrong I must add) Apparently these cows are italian but raised in Montana. I don't get it, where's the French or Scottish in that? I'l have to go try next time to make a proper assessment. We had a nice big table and it was a great place to wine and dine with friends and catch up.

Mary Queen of Scots
Allen & Delancey
New York, NY