I arrived at Josie at 6pm alone. The place was empty, but filled within one hour so make reservations for dinner. The crown is middle-aged and I am 29 so I felt odd. If you have good company you won't really notice. Service is not pretentious and multiple waiters service you at the proper intervals. You can read the menu for 30 minutes if you want and won't be hassled. I was served a thin slice of mushroom cheese quiche which was perfect. I started with the warm winter vegetable salad which was a heavenly combination of arugula, diced squash, chestnuts, pommegranate seeds, toasted pumpkin seed, cipollini onion and grated ricotta salata. There was love in the salad and it was not pretentious. I was pretty much happy after that, but I chose to have the buffalo burger since I never eat burgers. It arrived on a large bowl with truffle fries that I was weary of. They ended up being addictive. The burger was tasty, topped with foie gras, caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms with a hint of truffle. The center was gruyere cheese and it was served on a brioche bun with three options of condiments. I ordered the burger medium rare but I should have been recommended rare since buffalo is lean and was a little too cooked for my taste. The bun was not as good as I expected - a bit dry for brioche. I ate half of this while sipping excellent iced tea and moved on to dessert. Gianduja praline cake was perfectly sweet, but had two points against it: the vanilla bean ice cream it is paired with competes (too rich) and the crunchy topping on the cake is not friendly to people with sensitive teeth. The espresso was perfectly brewed and not shockingly bitter. Overall I was happy, but for the price I would have expected even a little more. My dinner was $63 without tip and without any alcohol. Also subtracted points for the waiter leaving his thumbprint on the powdered cocoa on the edge of my dessert plate and the bread should have been warm if wrapped in a towel.
Pros: Rich yet unpretentious food, nice ambiance, quite area
Cons: Pricey, old crowd
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