The Pint Sized Palate — WEST VILLAGE GIRLS NIGHT

Pastis

By Churchill Stone

Pastis • 52 Ganesvoort St.

Pastis is one restaurant where I’ve been going for as long as I can remember. It’s always crowded and loud, especially on Friday nights. This restaurant has kid-friendly dishes, good kid drinks, and amazing dessert.

One recent Friday my godmother was in town and we all went to Pastis, like all the West Village girls. We walked in at 6:30 pm and it was already completely full. We were led to a table in the far back. My sister and I both wore dresses, mine was blue and white and my sister’s was pink, of course. We sat down and immediately recognized our server who was very nice.

I ordered a Shirley Temple to start. It was a sparkling pink-red color with a toothpick of two cherries over the top of the cold glass. Sweet but not too sweet. It tasted like the bartender had been perfecting it for years. My sister, Charlemagne, ordered a virgin mojito. Charlemagne loves mojitos because she loves the taste of lime, and this one was sour enough for her.

We got six oysters as our appetizer. I only ate one, but it was very good — small, salty, and tasting of the sea. Too bad there was no pearl in it.

I have always loved the mac and cheese at Pastis (they call it “Gratin au Macaroni”). It’s the best thing ever. The top of it has crispy and crunchy cheese. I always love that part because the rest of the mac and cheese is soft. It has tiny pieces of ham in it, but you can get it without the ham. The macaroni itself is always cooked just right. The cheese is creamy and soft. I definitely recommend it. I think it is the most kid-friendly thing at Pastis.

The other kid-friendly thing on the menu is the cheeseburger, so I ordered that. It comes with pickles and onions, but you can also get it with tomatoes, lettuce, or nothing at all. They have a special sauce that I think has some mayonnaise, something spicy, and something else. The burger is very good but way too big for me, so I just ate three fourths of it.

With the burger, they give you lots of fries; so many we took most of them home. They give you extra ketchup and mayonnaise which they keep in a special refrigerator! The French fries are crunchy, soft, and piping hot. Pastis is famous for their French fries. Too bad there’s no Pastis in France.

With her virgin mojito, Charlemagne wanted to order a steak. My mother agreed to “split it” with her. My six year old sister just loved having a grown-up drink, grown-up food and being so fancy.

Then we ordered the profiteroles for dessert. They are little sugary pastries with vanilla ice cream inside, like French ice cream sandwiches. The best part is when the server pours hot melted chocolate sauce from a small pitcher all over the ice cream and pastry. There are four profiteroles in the bowl. I got so mad because somehow I ended up with only one! So, I took the pitcher of hot chocolate sauce and poured the rest of it all over my profiterole.

My other memory of Pastis? I always have fun.

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3 1/2 Stars