A new wave of French restaurants has come to NYC

As French cuisine is known around the world for everything from its intricate flavors and meticulous presentation to the modern kitchen brigade system, these associations can sometimes push away newcomers who associate it exclusively with fine dining.

While New York City is home to longstanding three-star Michelin icons Le Bernardin and Per Se, recent years have brought a number of openings that offer French food at a lower price point and in a more laid-back setting — the problem of having to either go all the way with fine dining or settle for something "vaguely French" that is not remotely similar to what they had while idling away evenings in a brasserie on a trip to Paris is frequently brought up as a criticism by local food lovers.

New York's French food scene has gone through endless ebbs and reinventions throughout the city's history and, over the last two years, this has manifested itself in a new wave of restaurants offering their own spin on what is both one of the most beloved and the most misunderstood cuisines in the world.

Brasserie Cognac Américain offers stylish take on French classics with an American twist

Across from the main branch of New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, the Serafina Restaurant Group opened a new French-American fusion concept dubbed the Brasserie Cognac Américain in what will be the local brand's fourth New York restaurant and flagship location.

The menu includes some classics like a soupe à l'oignon and escargots bourgogne as well as a few signature dishes that deliver on the chef's vision of French food with an American twist: a linguine aux fruits de mer with shrimp, mussels, scallops and saffron, a branzino provençale and a lobster gratin à la mac and cheese in which the lobster is placed over cavatappi pasta cooked in a delicious blend of Gruyère and Parmesan cheese.

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A prix fixe menu for $36 also tailors to the business lunch crowd given the Midtown location with dishes like the moules marinières and chicken paillard paired alongside other French starters and desserts.

"I like to see a restaurant that's full and a brasserie is the perfect menu mix for all kinds of people," Michael Lomonaco, the chef tapped to design the vision after a food career helming kitchens at Porter House Bar and Grill and 21 Club, told TheStreet. "There are a lot of French dishes on the new and then there are some things that are a little different but Paris, where I spent a lot of time, is getting that international mix as well in the modern brasserie."

Brasserie Cognac Américain

New Brooklyn French spaces and revived classic herald new era of French food for NYC

On the other side of the bridges in Brooklyn, The Sparrow is a new French restaurant that threatens break up the long-running dominance of a handful of well-known French restaurants in Williamsburg. Located in the former Forman Building that once housed the Sparrow Shoe Factory, the new space is described as an "Art Déco Bar" by founder and restaurateur Dawn Eldridge.

Dishes include an extensive raw bar menu of oysters, lobster and a shrimp cocktail as well as escargots, foie gras, steak-frites and a burger with the beloved French raclette cheese.

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And in one of the most talked-about openings of last year, the historic Upper East Side French bistro once frequented by Grace Kelly and Ernest Hemingway, Le Veau d'Or was revived by restaurateur team Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr to become one of the hardest reservations to book in the city this summer given that it is set in an intimate space with only 15 tables.

All this comes as French Restaurant Week, a spinoff of the original culinary event in which restaurants offer prix fixe menus, is taking place in New York for the first time until July 17 in a further indication of the city's rebounding appetite for good French food at affordable prices.

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