It’s a rainy Tuesday and I met a friend at Bibliotheque at 54 Mercer Street. I had heard a lot about the restaurant and it didn’t disappoint.

From their web site, here is what they shared…

“Bibliotheque is a bookstore, café, and wine bar in the heart of New York’s famed SoHo neighborhood. It was founded in 2022 by father-son team Dr. Andrew Jacono and A.J. Jacono.

Dr. Jacono is a world-renowned facial plastic surgeon. A.J. Jacono is a writer who has published work in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, Southeast Review, upstreet, and many other literary magazines. He is also the founder of The Spotlong Review, a literary and arts journal.

Dr. Jacono and A.J. share a passion for great literature, outstanding food and coffee, exciting community events, and, of course, exceptional wine. Bibliotheque was born from a desire to combine these interests in an elegant, visually stunning space.”

And yes I was impressed. Not only was the food interesting and good but it felt so very wonderful to be surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of books by different authors staring down at us at the same time that we enjoyed our dinner.

Here are some photos of the restaurant after I took the R Train to Canal Street.

Then walked a few blocks to Mercer Street, made a right and then a few blocks down, Voila!

Here is the bar area and the dining area.

So what did I decide to order?

At first I was a little confused when I saw a section called Tinned. I thought, “Food in a can?” But sure enough an entire section of the menu was served from a can. But-the waitress assured me that the board with the can was well garnished. I figured, “What the heck!”—you know the saying, “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”

So I ordered Salmon in Lemon Verbena, Fangst, Denmark.

I was completely clueless as to what would show up but here it is. My first “Tinned” dinner.

The addition of the chick peas, the nuts, the cucumbers, the carrots and the bread actually were fabulous with the canned salmon. They all really complimented each other and I really enjoyed it.

Another reason I really like this restaurant is because they have writing events, author events and movie nights. How fun is that!

So if you’re open to a different type of dining choices and want to be in a fun environment then I definitely recommend Bibliotheque. Reservations are needed and remember as their entrance sign reads!