P30

There’s this restaurant on a stretch of road called Bodega Highway, just as you head west out of Sebastopol, heading towards the ocean. I’d past it a couple times thinking it was some sort of coffee house because they had a sandwhichboard sign out front saying they had cappuccinos.

Then some friends invited us to dinner there.

What a nice surprise!

It’s small and intimate, and on a Friday or Saturday night you had better have reservations.
The kitchen is open – always a good sign. The staff was quite friendly, not pretentious at all, and skewed young. Almost like they were playing at “fancy restaurant” but having too much fun to take it seriously.

For appetizers we had beet salad (good) and these little cornbreads with rosemary butter that were inhaled quickly they were so good.

We brought our own bottle of wine because when you are in this part of the country the chances of getting any French wine in a place are fairly slim – even in so called French restaurants. So along came a 2001 Croze Hermitage. The waitress happily decanted it without comment (I’ve had waiters in Northern California do the nose in air sniff of disdain when they see I’ve brought a bottle of French wine).

The menu is eclectic and not very long. We had chicken and waffles, which I only sniffed (smelled very good) as my lady guarded them carefully. It was not a large portion, but no bigger then it really needed to be. I had steak frites because I was in the mood, and while the steak was well seasoned I have to admit it was a solid medium rather than the rare I’d asked for, but I was so distracted by the absolutely amazing frites that I failed to mention it. The frites are skin on and definitely have a little something added to the oil.

For dessert we had a most interesting lemon pot au crème, and a very unusual caramel bacon ice crème cookie thingy that I had to try and could not make up my mind if I truly liked. It was good, but I kept finding myself with bacon bits in my mouth after a bite and wondering, “Do these belong here?” I was grateful for the opportunity to explore this unusual concept.

The quality of food and service far exceeded the prices charged.

Which may have lead to this…

I was planning on returning again soon, until I discovered that they closed as of January 31st and are desperately seeking a buyer. So if you are looking for a turn key restaurant that has a name, menu, staff, its own private organic gardens, and built in following included take a look at the P30 website.

You see, I want to go back and try the waffles and fried chicken!

A bientôt,
Le Capitaine

P30 Restaurant web site

A bit remiss...

Yes, I’ve been remiss updating this blog. Sorry. The thing is, a lot has been happening.

Sharon Stone wants her copy of the book signed,
but first she'd like to discuss a few things...

Gendarme, the wonderful Lisa Kudrow, 
and yours truly at  the Beverly Hills 
book release event.

Doing a reading for an intimate audience
at the Merryvale Winery, in St. Helena,
Napa, California.

For one, my novel A Feast at the Beach was published, with a wonderful celebrity filled release party, as well as print, radio and television interviews and the like.
The release party was by invitation only, hosted by the Honorable David Martinon, Consul General of France at the official residence in Beverly Hills. There was live music, food prepared by 5 top French chefs, a bar hosted by St. Germain, speeches, an emotional reading, gifts bags, celebrities and diplomats and a lot of books signed.
It has been quite an adventure, one that continues as I do signings and the book continues to get media exposure.
I have been honored with some rather incredible reviews. Here are some links in case you’re interested:
San Francisco Book Review
The Provencal Post
Zimbio photo essay
A Feast At The Beach reviews page

Another thing that has taken some time and attention is that we’ve moved from the City of Lost Angels to the City by the Bay. The upside of this is a plethora of restaurants to investigate! I’ve already started, so you’ll see some reviews soon.

Until then, may I suggest you pick up a copy of my book A Feast at the Beach. I do believe you will enjoy it. Just click here:
Amazon.com

A bientôt,
Le Capitaine

Church & State at Industrial & Mateo

I went to Church & State with my good buddy BC to see and taste what the hype is all about and I must admit it was an experience. Church & State is a restaurant smack in the Los Angeles industrial/art loft/underbelly district East of Downtown by the river. Just getting there is an adventure. Heck wandering too far from the well-lit front of the place will cause you to shift into an alert defensive frame of mind. But the location can play into the adventure of the evening too. You’re not just going out to dinner; you are going to distant dark and potentially dangerous lands. OK, not really very dangerous, but work with me here.

Church & State has its own quirky personality. It is trying very hard to have a New York hipster in-the-know vibe, which it does a good job of mimicking. It is a loud, well designed post industrial looking restaurant filled with young suits from downtown, girls in tight fitting dresses, the occasional apparently successful artist, and a good sprinkling of affluent out-of-town tourists there to have “the experience.”

Big, loud, post-industrial, crowded, and yes, kind of fun.

What’s French here? Just the menu. Nobody in this place speaks or seems to have any connection to France other than via food. (They are not even trying to pretend to be anything close to French, which I kind of like, because I really hate it when non-French staff speak with a fake accent then have to embarrass themselves when you talk to them in French and they have to admit they're from Texas and have no idea what you just said.) The lack of French ambiance is totally OK because the surprisingly impressive French menu has items you just don’t see very often, such as Mœlle de Bœuf (Roasted marrow bone) – the last time I had this was in Paris. We enjoined a number of appetizers including the Mœlle, foie gras served in a jar of duck fat with 3 different homemade jams (oooh yes), a delicate anchovy pastry (wow!), a well-varied assiette de charcuterie, and more.  Too many appetizers really, and all of them were good to sublime. The disappointment only came when the entree we ordered and planed on sharing came. It was suppose to be a classic choucroute d'alsace and instead was some funky nouvelle cuisine thing with almost zero choucroute and mediocre associated meats. It was really the only thing we could complain about. Note: The menu changes regularly -- visit the website to see what’s serving this week.

The service from the waiter was good though not extraordinary, but the host was quite pleasant, making sure we were happy, stopping by at just the right moments, recommending drinks and basically making us feel special – which really is the sign of a good host.

This is not a cheap night out. Expect to easily spend $75 to $100 per person. And I recommend you do so by just ordering 3 or 4 great appetizers per person and sharing.  Also, I suggest you get your reservations in early. When I went to make our reservations for a Saturday night 3 days before, everything between 6 and 8pm was already booked, and for the 3.5 hours we were there, rarely an  empty table to be seen until after 11pm. Another plus: they held our table for us, which I appreciate. Some places consider a reservation simply to mean you get to go to the top of the list when you arrive.

Church & State = a French Menu + New York atmosphere + industrial downtown Los Angeles location. Yeah, like I said, it’s an adventure, but a good one.

A vos amour,Le Capitaine

The restaurant's website: Church & State

Meet me at Meet, or maybe not.

A friend of mine asked me if I’d gone to Meet French Bistro in Culver City, and I told him no I hadn’t. He then asked me if I would please go and write up a review, so that he could know ahead of time if it was a good place to take his wife for dinner… well, given the urgency of the matter I went. Twice!

Meet is for the most part a good typical Franco-Californian French Bistro. The food ranges from mediocre to very good, the prices are not too outrageous, and the staff are quite pleasant. There’s indoor and outdoor seating, the expected items on the menu plus a variety of Moules Frites, including marinieres, a la crème d’ail, au roquefort, a la moutarde ancienne, provençales, marinara, curry and lastly ocean.  I know of no other place with such a variety in Los Angeles. And according to my lady, they are quite good.

If you are not into moules frite, the usual candidates of Americanized French food are on the menu.

The only thing I can strongly recommend, aside for the moules, is to go to Meet between 5pm and 6pm for their prix-fix dinners. They are generous, including apero or digestive, appetizer, entrée and dessert for $29.  The last time I went I had the prix-fix with steak frite and received a large, very well prepared hanger steak.  Note, for $10 more per person they give you a bottle of wine; A cheap bottle of wine. Skip this and get the carafe of the house Côte du Rhone instead for $5 more.

Look, it is not that Meet French Bistro is bad; it is just that it doesn’t call out to me. I really wish it did. So many of the pieces are there, but is without risk, without boldness, without authenticity, without adventure or surprise. You order something on the menu which should be fantastic -- like the saffron mussel soup, and it is bland, spiced not to offend. It should have been bold, deep in saffron, garlic, Mediterranean chilies, pureed tomatoes, maybe chunks of Spanish choriso such that you sweat a bit but can't stop yourself from eating or dipping your bread for every last drop. Or something like that. Instead, rather blah. But alas for most it is acceptable, but not extraordinary. Good, but not memorably great. Even the desserts were fair, with decent portions, but not great. I want desserts that are  “Oh my god, you have to taste this!” good.

My lady likes Meet more than I do, and we will probably go again because of that, and we’ll go between 5 pm and 6 pm because the prix-fix meal is a good deal. And maybe things will change…

So, you go to Meet because you love the idea of a wide variety of moules frites, or you go because you are in Culver City between 5pm and 6pm and need a good place for dinner, without any high expectations.

If your expectations are not too high, there is a very good chance Meet will beat them.

Bon appetit,
Le Capitaine

Our desserts that came with the prix-fix dinners... a good cheese plate, and acceptable profiteroles that looked better than they tasted.

The website:
http://www.meetrestaurantla.com/

A Feast begins

 

Well, the publisher is now accepting pre-orders for the book. Those that place a pre-order will receive copies as soon as it comes off press, rather than wait for it to be in stock at the book stores.

Here's the link:
Publisher's pre-order page

Please do place an order, help us build a little momentum, and help feed your local author :-)

Here's a little promotional teaser card that recently went out:

Thank you for your support.

A la votre,
Le Capitaine

FrenchMorning - A Feast at the Beach

As many of you know I have a book coming out in August. Today the first advanced review was published on FrenchMorning.

You can read it here:

FrenchMorning article


Being FrenchMorning, the article is in French (the book itself is in English).

The review is quite favorable, but there is one line that just humbles me:

“Dans A Feast at the Beach, on se retrouve plongé dans la Provence des années 60; un univers qui évoque à la fois les romans de Marcel Pagnol et les photos de Robert Doisneau.”

Translates to:

“In A Feast at the Beach, you find yourself immersed in the Provence of the 60s, a universe that evokes both the novels of Marcel Pagnol and the photographs of Robert Doisneau.”

To be mentioned in the same breath as the great writer Marcel Pagnol is an honor beyond words, and the amazing photographer Robert Doisneau too. I am overwhelmed.

I will keep everybody up-to-date as we get close to the launch date. There will be some parties, and my publisher has insisted I do some readings and such.

And for those who are interested there is now a Fan Page for the book an Facebook, where regular updates, reviews and such will be published. You can find it here:

Facebook fan page


Keep in touch,
Le Capitaine

Maison Maurice, a somewhat surrealist adventure.

Less than a year ago Maison Maurice in Beverly Hills opened up.  It was what is called a “soft launch” – which really means, “We didn’t advertise or tell anybody.” Somehow this place landed on my radar and we decided to give it a try on a Sunday evening after hanging out at the beach.

There are two Maison Maurice’s. Well, actually three, all at the same location.  That is to say 3 fundamentally different eating areas. At the far back there is a large room, sort of dark and with a slight eastern euro vibe. Not for me, but I can imagine many liking it. Then there are the tables set in the atrium area. This is where you want to sit for that casual romantic "I’m in a lost corner of Paris" feel – lots of plants and that cobblestone alley feel done in a very nice way. And then there’s the bar, which is where you go for the “did I just step into a French gangster movie?" surreal experience, which I must admit is where we sat, and where I would sit again! The decor is old French bar mixed with movie memorabilia (love the wallpaper in the bathrooms!) and on the big screens in the bar are black and white French film-noir playing. Oh, and a soundtrack that I wholeheartedly approve of, filled with Aznavour, Montand, and my favorite Joe Dassin song “L’Ete Indien” that had me singing out loud (the drinks probably helped).

The owner was as nice as could be. He spoke French, (he is from Lebanon), and later in the evening the chef stopped by, who was very French in that Marseilles bad boy way. Both stopped by our table, chatted us up, and were great hosts, including sending over a round of free Champagne, and an extra dessert. Classic French casual, yet wonderful hosts.

Throughout our evening various French men stopped in, sat at the bar, had a drink or dinner, spoke loudly or very very quietly, and then went off. If the film noir movies wern’t enough, this traffic could easily get the imagination going.

The waitress and barmaid were also quite friendly.

The food? A mixed bag. We had an off the menu mousse de canard appetizer which was quite good, though it was served with a small bowl of homemade mayonnaise. I love homemade mayonnaise, but with paté, a bit unusual, no?  We also shared an endive salad that was good, but with just a little more effort could have been great (a slightly better vinegrette, and some small pieces of grilled lardon maybe?). We had a couple of the chicken with peppercorn sauce, and immediately I regretted not getting the steak with peppercorn sauce. The chicken is boneless skinless chicken breast, which personally is not my favorite part of the chicken. Interestingly the sauce that came out with the chicken was a bit salty and so-so. When I asked the sous-chef for a bit more out came a big bowl of it, and this time it was divine, a cognac infused mervielle! The frittes were above average. A friend had the Provençal shrimp with linguine, something not on the menu but which the staff had zero objections preparing, and was good. Not great, but quite serviceable.

With dinner we had a bottle of rosé from Gassin, a wonderful small town near St Tropez. I was floored that they had this wine! In fact kudos to Maurice for an eclectic and very fairly priced wine list heavy in Southern French wines.

Lastly we had dessert: an Ille Flotant that was very good, and would have been even better if the chef had stayed traditional and floated it in crème anglaise rather than a raspberry & strawberry coulee. We also had the profiteroles, which swam in a nice dark chocolate sauce. With dessert we had some excellent Pineau des Charentes.

If your dining decision is going to be made based on quality of food alone, Maison Maurice has a little ways to go and can only be said to be average, though it would not take much effort to step it up a notch: stay simple, go traditional, and keep it French! Avoid Americanizing! Give me a salade de lentilles aux saucisses, some classic escargot in butter and garlic but with a hint of pastis, a poulet roti with herbs, lemon and olives, or a pissaladier!

But you don’t go to Maison Maurice just for the food. You go because the combined package of food, ambiance, eclectic friendly staff, wonderful decor, and the occasional French expatriate wandering through all work to create an evening to remember.

I shall be returning. Look for me in the bar.

A votre santé,
Le Capitaine


Here's the link to their site:
http://maisonmauricebeverlyhills.com/