Much Ado About Fondue: Taureau

As soon as I heard about Taureau, the new-ish East Village (7th St btwn 1st and A) BYOB Fondue resto, I knew I was going to have to check it out.  Need me to back up?  Yes, I’m talking about a restaurant that is BYOB – with no plans of changing that status, and serves Fondue – with every intention of changing your life with its cheesy goodness.  Like what you hear? Good, let’s proceed…

Taureau’s an intimate dining experience whose seating arrangement has diners packed in at close proximity and whose cheeses pack in a major punch of flavor.  The small tables are all equipped with a heated top to keep your bowl of melted cheesy goodness at optimal temperature for dipping whatever you order from the menu – be it animal, vegetable, or mineral breadable.  Each order includes a very basic green salad, as well as an unlimited order of croutons.  Speaking of unlimited, EVERYTHING you order to dip in your vat of cheese is bottomless – as in, eat as much as you want and another order will miraculously appear on your table.

Delicious Dishes

The star of the evening was The Soprano fondue – Parmesan aged 18 months and blended expertly with White American.  The flavors of these 2 very different cheeses blended quite nicely and made for a very versatile dipping sauce.  For our veggies, we had cauliflower which was steamed to perfection, sweet potatoes (which were just OK – but could be great with a different variety of cheese) and my personal fave, the mushrooms – there were a ton of perfect bite-sized pieces and they complimented the fondue oh-so well.  As for meat, there is the option of having raw, marinated meats brought out that you cook in oil on the table, but due to my veggie status, we didn’t opt for any of those carnivorous options.  My guest researcher did have the Salami and Chorizo from the cured meats section of the menu – the Salami was apparently very good, or so I’m told.

While the cramped cozy seating would lend itself easily to multiple posts on “Overheard in NY”, the delicious situation happening in my mouth made it easy to tune out our next-door neighbors.  Couple that with servers that were helpful, plus the attentive hostess, and you’ve got a slam dunk of a resto in my book.  And hopefully, that dunk is straight into a bowl of delicious cheese at Taureau.

Know before you go: Taureau is cash only, now taking reservations for dinner (highly recommended) – call 212.228.2222. Bring your fave bottle of wine and be prepared to have your socks knocked off – our bill clocked in at under $60.  All I’ve got to say is next time, I’m leaving room for dessert…

Tags: BYOB, Cheese, Fondue, Food, NYC