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French Restaurant Opens on Skillman Avenue

cote-soleil

Photo: Sunnyside Post

Nov. 10, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan

A taste of traditional France has made its way in to the neighborhood.

Côté Soleil, meaning Sunnyside in French, opened up at the beginning of October at 50-12 Skillman Avenue, with owner Vincent Caro bringing years of experience to his new restaurant.

Caro grew up in Brittany in the northwest of France, but has lived in Queens for years. “I opened up in Sunnyside because it is close to the city but we were missing French food around the area,” he said.

Caro worked in several French restaurants in Manhattan over the past many years, and said that one feature that had always intrigued him was how various restaurants ran their kitchens.

“I’ve always wondered when I go to a restaurant how the kitchen is set up, how much staff there is, you don’t see in most restaurants because the kitchen is closed so you don’t see what’s going on inside,” he said, explaining that he decided to have an open kitchen so guests could watch the food being prepared.

“I had been to a few places where the kitchen is open and you could see the chef cooking, and I wanted to cook in front of the customers,” Caro said.

When planning the menu, Caro primarily chose dishes that one would actually find in a restaurant in France.

The dinner menu features dishes including le coq au vin, or chicken in wine sauce, and chicken cordon bleu, among other dishes. The brunch menu has options including croque madame and monsieur, quiche Lorraine, and other French specialties.

The restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for brunch on Saturday and Sunday, and for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. on Sunday to Thursday, and 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

For more information and a full menu, visit the website at http://www.cotesoleilnyc.com/

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23 Comments

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Crystal Wolfe

I am so excited to try this place out! I think it’s fabulous to have a French Restaurant in the area! i wish it every success!

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Anonymous

can thoroughly recommend…

tried the escargot, moules frites, baguez, saulmon and 2 glasses of champagne !

simple authentic french bistro fare….

Reply
Dianna (of Woodside)

He was thinking of offering a Price Fixe Dinner

I think he should consider it, as the area is becoming quite competitive. We already have the well established – Kettle “Copper Kettle” and Donatos and Asian Bistro also Aubergine’s

Reply
really awesome food

went there sat night, the food was outrageuous. Like a French mom would make. Good luck, i will be back soon.

BTW, I had the salmon and spinach, side order of smashed potatoes and creme brulee – these people care about perfection

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Pleasantly Surprised

Had dinner here the other night. The decor was unpretentious, the service good and the food excellent and generally reasonably priced. This place is definitely be a welcome addition to the gastronomic constellation that is Queens.

It’s tough starting a business anytime but they are off to a good start and nice to see a gaping void filled on this block which had been with several closed businesses in recent years.

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Phil

The general rule for the media and real estate vampires is that anything nice happens in Sunnyside, anything untoward happens in Woodside. The actual geography is secondary, at best.

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Anonymous

The other rule is that commenters hate this new place and want whatever crappy shuttered business was there to come back. The old crappy storefront was historic and this new place changes the whole character of the neighborhood.

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Oil, beef, hooked

Why no frog legs or horse meat? Those are two iconic French dishes. This is French cuisine for American tourists.

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Thepeacemaker

If you know that much about french food, you shoulf know horse meat is forbiden in New York state, but you might just be an ignorant hater…just saying…

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