Maison Harlem

Near the Apollo Theater, this fun bistro can be enjoyed before or after a show or as a full-on experience in itself. Maison Harlem is always hopping with a multicultural, intergenerational crowd: girlfriends dissing their bosses and boyfriends over drinks, couples leaning into each other while still clutching their cell phones and solo diners plucking at bowls of mussels in white wine sauce while nodding in time to the jazz on the sound system. Expat Frenchmen Samuel Thiam and Romain Bonnans (A.O.C. Bistro) are behind the restaurant, so the coq au vin and shell steak with herb butter are correct. The menu expands beyond Paris with crab and shrimp cakes, luscious seafood pasta in a saffron broth and a hearty burger. If you want to get a taste of the new Harlem, this is the place.