Clarkson Opened Last Night on Varrick
Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 1:58AM 
inside clarkson [krieger via eater]Georges Forgeois knows a thing or two about restaurants. He opened Bistro Jules over twenty years ago on St Marks Place. You'll find classic bistro dishes there like salad nicoise, rillettes de cochon, and steak tartare. There's also live jazz every night, but that's more an extension of the years Forgeois spent in Harlem after arriving to the states from France. He opened Cafe Noir with a North African-inspired menu in SoHo after. A return to bistro classics then gave Chelsea le Singe Vert, and after that, Forgeois took his passion across the river and opened Bar Tabac on Smith Street in Brooklyn. He opened a brasserie called Cercle Rouge next. That restaurant's website gives a far too poetic description of the Tribeca eatery to go unmentioned: "A pleasant outpost where diners and drinkers nestle amongst flower boxes and take in spectacular urban sunsets - with the cast-iron canyon of North Moore framing an uninterrupted view of the hills across the Hudson River, a lone New Jersey skyscraper yardsticking the falling of the sun."
And so after two decades in the business, with five successful restaurants, it seems Forgeois would start to slow down. But as the motorcycles and racing paraphernalia that decorate his haunts may suggest, Mr. Forgeois is not one to stay idle very long. It's with a full tank of gas that he opened Clarkson last night, and as his first project wth an American menu, he's called on Thistle Hill Tavern alum Rebecca Weitzman for help. At Clarkson, you can build a meal from an array of sections: Raw Bar, Charcuterie & Cheese, Bar & Sides, Share Plates, Starters, and Mains. Items therein like a braised rabbit sandwich, deviled steak tartare, and whole roasted poussin have made their way to the West Village, where they have joined Mr. Forgeois' aesthetic inside 225 Varrick Street.