I wasn’t prepared to love L’Abeille — mostly I was feeling a bit tired of the proliferation of high-priced chef’s menus and the investment they require just for a night out — not only in funds but in expectations and the corresponding need to be blown away by the experience. Not every night is a wedding anniversary — 97 percent of the time you are just looking for good vibes, good food and a chance to enjoy your people.

But I went with my usually hack for ultra-fine dining (in my 20s, that was one beer at the bar, now it’s one entrée or appetizer and two drinks at the bar) and it was such a fun and lovely evening. In fact, one of my favorites of the summer. The staff was exceptional and had just the right tone, and these days, you know that takes work. And the food, well, it’s an adventure but also truly satisfying. (The tasting menu is $185, with $115 for the wine pairing. Wines by the glass are mostly between $17 and $26 with a couple outliers on the upside of the scale.)

So how do they do it? Maybe it’s the open kitchen. Maybe it was the diverse and young crowd. Or maybe it was the reception at the very start, which was polite yet friendly. The stuffiness that velvet banquettes might imply is not present at all at L’Abeille. A neighbor who lives nearby says the restaurant is packed every night, and this was no exception. That certainly adds to the buzz — really, no pun intended.

The restaurant was conceived of by Tribecan Rahul Saito, who spent the lockdown having weekly dinners prepared by one of his favorite chefs from the Michelin-starred Midtown restaurant Shun, Mitsunobu Nagae, as a way to support him while restaurants were closed. Those meals are what they now try to replicate at L’Abeille (and the name is a riff on the chef’s nickname, Mitsu, which means honey in Japanese, hence “l’abeille” — the bee). Nagae and Yoshie Oda are now also owners.

To the food: I will go back for the buttery scallops with seaweed emulsion (but then again, I like seaweed in all forms). It sounds precious; in fact it was small and hearty. What we should have ordered was our neighbor’s Wagyu beef with the dollop of whipped potatoes — he was in from Japan and knew the chef and graciously allowed me to take a picture of his dinner. (It reminded me of my favorite meal in the city — the filet mignon with balsamic onions that is no longer on the menu at Gramercy Tavern. This was the more delicate version of that, and he said it was wonderful.) My date is a vegetarian and worried that the menu would be limited, but the risotto with hen-of-the-wood did the trick.

The crispy shiso leaf with caviar was sent over by the chef and was so special — delicately battered and fried so carefully that it looked more crystalized than cooked.

My photo of the chocolate dessert with mascarpone cream and black truffles did not do it justice, but the butter was so good — infused with seaweed — that it got it’s own close-up.

A few little anecdotes that are what perhaps won me over: in a total Downtown coincidence, my date for the night struck up a conversation with owner Rahul Saito at Crispy Heaven in Soho several weeks ago. He was there taste-testing for the restaurant, and that’s what we were eating that night — the sourdough and the multigrain loaf.

Then, I apologized to the hostess as we were leaving for being a bit too loud — we bumped into friends — but she said they loved hearing people have a good time, which not only made me feel better but made me want to return. And a note on that: we wanted to send drinks over to said friends, who were actually *were* celebrating their wedding anniversary. The sommelier offered to take their order first, then circled back to us with a linen cocktail napkin and a sharpie so we could inscribe a note. Pure charm.

NB: They now have sidewalk seating and a small menu to go with it: cheese plates, foie gras, pate, shishito peppers, gazpacho.

l’abeille
412 Greenwich at Laight
212.542.3898
info@labeille.nyc
Tuesday to Thursday: 5:30 to 10p
Friday and Saturday: 5:30 to 11p