A few seats are kept for walk-ins, and the hour before the dining room fills is the best of the evening.
We keep a few seats at the marble bar for people who did not book. It is not an overflow arrangement. It is the part of the room we would sit in ourselves.
The hour worth arriving for
By six the bar is candlelit and the room is not yet. The kitchen is calm, the bartender has time to talk, and an apéritif takes as long as you want it to take. By eight all of that has changed, in the good way, but the early hour has a quality of its own and most people miss it entirely.
What to do with it
Order something from Les Cocktails and a plate of escargots, and decide about dinner afterwards. Nobody will rush you toward a table.
Walk-ins are welcome at the bar every night we are open. If the room is full, this is the answer.
Written at L'Étoile, the historic Snouder's Building, Oyster Bay.
