Indulge In The Ultimate French Cheese Course At NYC's Le District's Beaubourg

Can you really love a goat cheese soufflé without actually liking goat cheese?

Answer: I was willing to find out.

One Thursday evening, a friend and I dined at Le District's Beaubourg in Battery Park City, and while our four appetizers arrived and barely made it onto the table — escargot, a salad, tuna tartar and veal meatballs — before she stopped the waiter.

"But the goat cheese soufflé is coming right? Just want to make sure."

Though listed as an appetizer and not a dessert, the goat cheese soufflé eats like an airy cake with a pistachio crust. It is baked in a mold and then inverted on to a plate with shaved Asian pear, spears of endive, dried cranberries, chiffonade of sage, and finished with a drizzle of cranberry oil and balsamic reduction.

Chef Joe Mallol loved goat cheese "too much to just put it on toast and wanted to come up with something especially creative for fall."

The restaurant is tucked into the gourmet European-style market Le District in Brookfield Place but sprawls several rooms and spills out onto the esplanade overlooking the Hudson River, and also offers a croque monsieur, adapted from a line of croques available from the market's Fromagerie, or cheese counter.

Cheese is pretty important at Le District, which also features a café, an ice cream counter, a candy shop, and a meat counter where you can not only pick out your pork but also watch as it cooks.

If you want to pop in for a quick "French cheese sandwich" and consider yourself a cheese connoisseur, dig into a Trois Fromages, featuring Swiss raclette, Comte, Gruyere and caramelized onions. If you enjoy some meet with your cheese, take a bite out of the Ham and Chees, Aged-Cheddar, Swiss Raclette, Fresh Goat Cheese, Smoked Ham & Country Mustard, or an A La Cuban, Jambon de Paris, Swiss Emmental, Dijon Mustard & Cornichon.

Of course, the restaurant offers a wide selection of meats and cheeses, and it's hard to find a salad that's dairy-free.

If you're looking for non-cheese options...you know what, nevermind. You're not here for that if you read the headline.

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