A dear friend and I love to schedule dinner at Chez Josephine on West 42nd Street before we catch a play in New York City’s Theater District.
Chez Josephine is named for Josephine Baker, to whom the restaurant’s website pays the following tribute:
Subject of a number of books and recent films, “the most successful music hall performer ever to take the stage” (Ebony Magazine) Josephine Baker was larger than life. She was the toast of Paris in the 1920s, star of stage and screen in the 1930s, Red Cross volunteer and undercover agent in World War II, participant in the 1963 Civil Rights Movement march on Washington, and star of several farewell (and comeback) tours. Baker adopted 12 children of different races and called them her “rainbow tribe.” Jean-Claude, the 13th of her 12 adopted children.
Here is owner Jean-Claude Baker,
who with his brother Jarry makes the restaurant the stylish and welcoming place that it is.
A steep stairs
leads to bathrooms and private dining rooms upstairs.
Pick the wrong door, as I seem to have a penchant for doing, and you can wind up in a closet. Returning down those steep stairs provides an excellent overview of the restaurant
and the piano player.
When you come to Chez Josephine, just about the first thing you will be asked is the time of the show you’re trying to make. The wait staff and kitchen are very good about pacing your meal so that you make your show without strain.
We both opted for the $38 prix fixe dinner, which included a choice of starter, entrée and dessert. For her starter, my companion chose the white asparagus salad,
while I went with a lovely chilled pea purée.
We both ordered the quail entrée (sorry!), so I’ll show you two different versions of the same thing.
We both prefaced our dessert with coffee (I won’t show you two different versions of the coffee).
Both my companion’s frozen cappuccino dessert
and my bruléed lemon tart were delicious.
The entire restaurant is a tribute to Josephine Baker, and this painting directly opposite my seat of the lovely lady might have been the most striking of all.
Afterward, we headed back east on 42nd Street
to see the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Big Knife
in the American Airlines Theatre,
proving dinner at Chez Josephine’s and catching a play are a perfect combination.
Chez Josephine, 414 West 42nd Street, New York, 212-594-1925, www.chezjosephine.com