David Wilhelm’s new French 75 Brasserie at the Market Place in Irvine speaks of the quintessential brasserie, Brasserie Lipp in Paris,energetic and inviting with a menu that drips with food we want to taste.
There’s a difference between a bistro and a brasserie. A bistro serves casual fare and doesn’t conjure up the same imprint of friendliness and local importance that a brasserie does. A brasserie is ordinarily a place where wine and beer are important on their own.
French 75 Brasserie sings with an aura of sociable substance and subliminally sophisticated rustic fare that is unlike any other restaurant in our county.
It’s hard to imagine that this is a new place. Tables are lined up in neat rows, with red leather banquettes lining some demi-walls and the arm chairs are of the substantial barrel back variety. Columns encased in polished dark wood meet darkly stained wide plank wooden floors and embossed tin panels form the high ceilings.
French 75 Brasserie brings its sensual side forward in the corner of the room housing the bar. Staking out its space right in the middle of the lounge area is a long table made of a semi-opaque material that is lit from beneath and glows a soft red. Gorgeous. This corner takes on added sexiness via the deep garnet red walls, the beautiful bar itself, the many red votive candles and the truly Parisian little red lamps that march along the bar top and adorn other tables.
The menu is comprised of dishes that are definitive brasserie style food, mainly French that respects American sensibilities. Some of the items are reminiscent of things at Chat Noir and Rouge, David’s other two French beauties.
The corporate chef is Yvon Goetz, Alsatian born and known for heading high-profile kitchens like those at Ritz-Carlton before joining David’s team last year. His French heritage and respect for America’s exuberance are evident in the layers of impressive taste that emerge from seemingly casual food.
I could make a meal on hors d’oeuvres alone. My last dinner was strange by some standards. I decided to eat three things that I’d tried before and adore. It included two appetizers: the tart flamb & #233;, which is a marvel of sweet onions, crisp bacon and melted gruyere cheese and the escargot, which is cuddled in the indentations with small pieces of Black Forest ham, slices of mushrooms and plenty of garlic.
It could have been enough. But I shared with my tablemates and thus had an entree of a croque monsieur sandwich. It’s nice that sandwiches are available at lunch and dinner. I just felt like having this grilled sandwich of Black Forest ham and French cheese.
As for other appetizers that will tingle your taste buds, the shrimp in cognac sauce with a hit of Dijon mustard is a fine extrapolation of tastes into one dish. Mussels are steamed in a chardonnay, cream and garlic broth and piled with classic pommes frites (fries).
Unless you are ordering an entree such as steak that comes sided with the fries, then order them as a side dish for your meal or as an appetizer. They are marvels of crispness sprinkled with hand-harvested sea salt and served with two dipping sauces if ordered as a starter. Bad girl me loves them dipped in mayonnaise, as the French prefer theirs.
French onion soup is really perfection with the sweet and tender onions grabbing so much space in the rich broth and the appropriate cheese topping melting over the sides of the bowl. Lobster bisque is garnished with a smoked paprika cream.
Several salads at lunch and dinner take on a French accent. Crepes are quite at home on this menu. They are filled with a choice of chicken and wild mushrooms (with truffle cream sauce), boeuf bourguignon in red wine sauce or spinach, mushrooms and artichokes.
You must try the 10-ounce chopped sirloin burger on toasted brioche that’s slathered with the chef’s secret sauce and then some cheese (Roquefort, gruyere or cheddar), rashers of bacon and optional grilled onion that I’d suggest you go for.
Entrees of trout with hazelnut butter and halibut with olive butter satisfied our taste for fish one evening and there always is salmon and a fresh fish of the day for more variety. Yvon’s version of pork is as a chop topped with prosciutto and fontina cheese. It’s so tender and filled with flavor. Also, the side of cabbage cooked with apples is impressive on its own. Steak frites delivers perfectly done meat (filet mignon, flatiron or rib chop) and those wonderful fries. Short ribs with Roquefort macaroni is tr & #269;s country French and tr & #269;s delicious.
As for desserts, judging from the number of Callebaut chocolate souffl & #233;s at tables around us, it’s popular. Having tried it, there’s a table service to it: They break open the center of the souffl & #233;, pour in half a small pitcher of melted chocolate, top it with a scoop of Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream and then pour the rest of the chocolate syrup over it all. The wondrous thing: It’s not very sweet at all and the taste of that fine dark chocolate shines.
This would be the place for crepes Suzette. Bread pudding is made with white chocolate and brioche bread. Profiteroles have the crunch of pistachio brittle and that same dark chocolate sauce over them.
You probably will want to put this vibrant new place high on your dining list.
Cheers to Montage’s Pastry Chefs
It’s hard to say what my favorite part of the culinary agenda is at Laguna Beach’s Montage Resort & Spa: the creative food, the unsurpassed cheese presentation, desserts that seem to have never had a peer or the unbelievably massive and serious wine cellar.
The National Pastry Competition recently was held in Phoenix. Montage’s executive pastry chef, Richard Ruskell, and assistant pastry chef Louise Chien, took first place for their sugar showpiece. I’m told it was “a colorful rendition of a queen bee overseeing her hive.”
I am giving Richard and Louise a high five and a sincere pat on the back for winning and reminding you that it is one more reason to order dessert. Montage Resort & Spa: 30801 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach (949) 715-6873.
AT A GLANCE
French 75 Brasserie
Food: French bistro, a bit of Americana
Address: 13290 Jamboree Road
Irvine Market Place
(714) 573-7600
Prices: Lunch entrees $12 to $20;
dinner entrees $15 to $30;
desserts $8 to $12
