French Connection   

75 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
646-638-1173

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Alongside the likes of Amy's Bread, Ruthie's and Frank's, 202 makes sense in Chelsea Market The third outpost of a Nicole Farhi fashion shop and upscale cafe, 202 offers a tingly mingling of togs and snogs: as you dine on lovely copper and wood tables in an enormous, loft-like space, you're sitting in aisles of women's duds, furniture, and housewares. Chef Annie Wayte has transplanted her wildly popular joint without missing a beat, drawing up a similar menu of Brit-pop lunches like minestrone with pine nuts, chilled apricot-lentil soup, smoked pork-and-apple chutney sandwiches with watercress, or a decadent duck-prosciutto salad with spiced strawberries. Dinner specials might run to grilled salmon with creme fraiche fingerlings or grilled lamb nesting comfortably with some chickpea salad, eggplant relish and a cut of spiced flatbread. The sleek, mirror-backed bar belongs in a hotel, the barista never stops smiling, and wasn't that Marisa Tomei's mom at the next table? OK, so maybe it's not Notting Hill, but it's not far off.