When I recently wanted to have lunch with Kevin, our older son who lives in Long Beach, it was a given that we’d be sitting at a pretty decent table and perhaps eating something exotic. No sandwiches or salads for us. That’s because Kevin is somewhat adventurous about food, and that made it easy for me to try a restaurant whose menu I was still working my way through. While I would have loved to have our daughter-in-law Terri join us, she’s not into the likes of escargot and foie gras and was perfectly happy to leave the lunch date to us. Kevin and I were ready to wing it. On this day, he helped me taste more of the food at Frenchy’s Bistro.
This restaurant is a nice surprise. From the outside, it’s certainly understated, basically a name on a simple building and a doorway that could lead into any business. But inside, it’s a cute two-room affair with many charms. There are flowered tieback curtains framing the front windows. Tables feature black cloths draped over colorful print skirts. Friendly banquettes hug some of the walls. European-style art hangs on the walls, and there’s an about-to-be-finished wine bar. The food is French; the menu is mercifully written in English.
Whenever there are escargot on the menu, Kevin orders them. This order consists of half a dozen in their shells in a redolent garlic-butter sauce. I tasted the sauce and he finished them off.
The weather was warm that day and I liked the idea of having a typical Proven & #231;al tart for an appetizer. Something about the sunny nature of the Proven & #231;e region of France made this seem like it was made for our current climate. This tart is a medium-size affair baked on a thin crust. Thinly sliced fresh tomatoes are layered on it and melded with an olive tapenade paste and a generous mound of goat cheese sits in the center. Alongside is a little salad of organic greens. Quite nice. Cured salmon, warm quail salad and crab cakes are a trio of other good beginnings.
Though we were ordering far too much food for our lunch, I could not manage to pass up the salad special of baby fris & #233;e tossed with shreds of confit of duck, which, like the tart, we split. Put this one on your “must order” list. Another salad idea I like is the blackened salmon served with tomatoes and cucumber slices and a very light vinaigrette.
A must on any French restaurant menu is onion soup. Frenchy’s is classic, simmered for hours till the onions are silky tender. The requisite crouton floats atop it and cheese melts over the top of the bowl and slightly down the sides. Mediterranean black mussels turn up in another broth, this one hinting of saffron.
Tender, sauteed sand dabs are on the menu, along with an interesting march through country-style preparations from various regions of France. We were both happy campers with entr & #233;es of poached salmon and shrimp in a fresh herb sauce with wild rice and the pork tenderloins (the most tender pork I’ve ever encountered) in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. What a splendid dish that was.
The lamb shank is braised and infused with the olive, tomato and fresh herbs that are the hallmark of Proven & #231;al food. Why worry about modern food when you can have crispy duck with the classic orange sauce that’s perhaps still the best food and sauce match? Salmon is coated in a pistachio crust. Whitefish is baked and served with just a truffle broth. There’s breast of pheasant with fig sauce, a dish you’d find everywhere at this time of year in France. Rack of lamb is roasted in a mustard-seed crust. There are some steak and chicken dishes, too.
At the end of any meal, a separate menu is presented. It lists 10 desserts and a fruit-and-cheese plate, along with a page of Champagnes, dessert wines, and coffee drinks. It’s life with a little extra social manners.
There are several wines by the glass, and a list that’s bulging with very nice boutique wines from several areas of France (and a few good wines from other parts of the world). There are surprises like the many very palatable wines at bargain prices coming out of the Languedoc region of southern France.
The owner of Frenchy’s Bistro, Andre Angles, is also the chef. He’s assisted by sous chef Yvonne Kopina, who used to cook at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center here. I was not expecting to see her strolling through the dining room to check on us. David Magnuson, our waiter at lunch, provided excellent service.
Chao publishes Chao’s Dinesty, a food, wine and travel newsletter, in Irvine.
