Story and Photo By Karen Talbot
Le Jardin du Roi got its name from its garden for outdoor dining and its King Street location in downtown Chappaqua. This bustling French American eatery is owned by Joe Quartararo, and has been in business for 15 years serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. The restaurant is a neighborhood place with good food, good service and reasonable prices. Joe and his staff want customers to feel like they are coming to his house for a special meal. For breakfast, the most popular item is the Ouef du Roi–poached egg on a goat cheese potato cake over ratatouille. For lunch, Le Croque-monsieur and Le Croque-madame–a traditional grilled French open-face ham and cheese sandwich, served with fries are very popular. The winter dinner menu offers Cassoulet, Veal Stew, and Coq au Vin and there are eight choices of sauces for Les Moules Frites.
The young French chef, Rudy Beltran-Prats, has been with the restaurant for seven years, and loves cooking good food that he would like to eat and share with others. His menu changes every six months and his plans for the Holidays include: Pan Seared Fois Gras and fresh oysters on the half shell. For dessert, Rudy, a former pastry chef, will offer a Buche de Noel and his most popular three chocolate brownie a la Mode with caramel sauce. The restaurant does a large catering business, right through the football season, with the BBQ smoker on the premises where ribs, chicken, brisket and pulled pork are available in larger quantities for delivery or takeout.
95 King Street, Chappaqua
914-238-1368
lejardinchappaqua.com
Karen Talbot is a Westchester-based personal shopper and restaurant reviewer. The love of cooking runs in her family! Karen’s son Alex and his wife Aki Kamozawa started a food blog “Ideas in Food” in early 2000, and they have just opened “Curiosity Donuts” in the Stockton Market in Stockton, New Jersey.
