date: 3/8/05
location: minneapolis
grade: a-

we had a large turnout, nine people. and for a place that is rather small, that can be a problem (like for some other french bistros nearby). however, here, it worked quite well. perhaps they do better because the owners had the the italian bistro pane vino dolce open for a while before starting this place.

anyway, this place reminded me somewhat of a rebours. not that it's a bad thing. nor is it surprising, there's only so much you can do with french bistro. low light, orangeish interior, casual, mellow. a lot of people liked the wicker chairs. the bathrooms are also of the same genre, though on the cold side. they had nice products in them, according to those who ventured forth. i've heard reports that it can get loud in there, but it wasn't overwhelming or anything, and it was fairly busy in there. then again, it could have been us making all the noise.

they had a team approach to service, and everything moved along well- the water was rarely below half a glassful, bread came along at a good clip (with some chive butter) after we got the first one going, all the starters and entrees were brought out at the same time... plus a lot of the wait staff was amusing in a good way, though not quite what you think when you think french bistro wait staff, but here, hey, it works.

they do have a tip added to the check for large groups, which should have been mentioned at the beginning of the meal. generally, sole comes down against the policy, as if service sucks, we don't really wish to tip that well. and here it's 20%, which is higher than anywhere else i've seen, but this service was worth it, so while we don't like the policy, here it was acceptable. if that makes sense. your mileage may vary. offer void in new mexico, idaho, and montana.

the wine list is affordable, and they have several selections by the glass. the dessert wine list is a bit small (there's one wine and a sparkling or two). speaking of dessert, they didn't mentioned they had a cheese plate. that surprised me, it seemed like they would've. it may have just been not mentioned. we ordered a tarte tatin a la mode and a vanilla creme brulee for the table, and they threw in a chocolate mousse just for good measure, so props to the wait staff. usually i am a vanilla dessert person, but the creme brulee was a bit heavy and not quite enough vanilla-flavoured for me. the tarte tatin was decent, the chocolate mousse was tasty and light.

and since i am going backwards on this, for the main course, i got the mussels avec pommes frites (kids, ask for the garlic aioli for the fries, you won't be disappointed). really good fries. not as good as vincents, but really, what is? a large bowl of them too. and a large bowl of mussels, with some tasty liqueur which was nice with the bread. for about $14, it's a surprisingly affordable dinner and could almost feed two with salads. not that menu prices were out of line... but that was the low end of things.

other choices were the lamb (reported on the side of underdone), the chicken and penne (i had come in wanting poulet roti, by the way, and was really surprised it was not on the menu, sense a theme here?... classic bistro fare that it is) which was good, half a chicken with a pile of penne, and lovely, tender duck with risotto and bondage green beans (hey, it was on the menu that way, technically), and salads.

starters, i had the french onion soup, which as good as it was i would not have gotten if i had known of the hugeness of the meal. it was good, but the asparagus soup was better. someone had frog legs, which were a bit chewy, but they wanted to try them, 'cause really when do you usually get the chance? it came with a cream sauce, which is unusually for the genre but worked with the lemon on it. another person ordered the foie gras mousse, which was sweet for a mousse, and could have used some cornichons or something to balance it out. frites with that were also passed around.

this is a place i would not mind revisiting.