I had the fortune to dine at the freshly opened Delice Bistro on their opening night. The Bistro is a collaboration between Julian Bohbot, owner of the well-known French bakery “Delice” and his French chef, Jean Claude Lachkar whose family has been in the restaurant business for many years. If you have any questions regarding the kind of fare that is being served up at the Bistro, the 20 foot tall Eifel Tower that is positioned in the center of the restaurant should give it away. If not, the French accordion player and French speaking waiters might give you a clue.
The overall décor of the place is very tasteful with cozy booths and comfortable chairs. The hard floors and open kitchen (not to mentions the accordion player and the many loud speaking French people) do not lend to a quiet meal. It’s noisy and boisterous but as Julian told me, they want to have a “fun” atmosphere…
The menu is not terribly original but the prices are surprisingly reasonable. The juicy and tender rib-eye steak, seasoned to perfection with cracked pepper, costs only $28.95 and comes with yummy hand-cut skinny fries. I would ask for the sauce on the side as the steak really does not need it. The veal sausages priced at $15.95 are served over caramelized onions and cabbage and are super tasty. The duck tasted fresh with no sign of any feathers and came in an orange sauce that was not overly sweet. The overall service was impeccable with the food coming out in a timely fashion. There was a screw-up with our steaks as the busboy took them to another table but our French waiter apologized profusely and it didn’t really bother us.
The appetizer choices are a bit lacking. Not being in the mood for Beef Carpaccio or Salmon Tartar, I settled on the French Onion Soup. It comes with pareve cheese melted on top which had me a bit nervous but I didn’t really taste it and the soup itself was amazing – sweet and bursting with flavor. They have a few salads but nothing that looked exciting. My friend ate there two nights later and mentioned that the Caesar salad tastes heavily from anchovy so beware. We had a sides of green beans that were cooked beautifully - bright green and slightly firm - and the wild mushrooms that were unnecessary. My brother got the herring but could not eat it due to the proliferation of tiny bones.
The desserts were okay but Pat’s is still far superior. The crème brulee was too liquidy, nothing like the pot de crème from the winery – mmmmmm. Their profiteroles were served with bottled chocolate syrup instead of a fudge sauce. This needs to be changed immediately (go to Le Marias in New York if you want to see it done properly). The cooked pears with ice cream are served in a tall oversized glass that has a nice appearance. The strawberry napoleon is similar to the regular napoleons from their bakery albeit with some sliced strawberries in one of the layers. They do napoleons very well. The best dessert was probably the warm apple tart for two. It comes fresh out of the oven and is served with vanilla ice cream.
There are two negative things about the Bistro that surprised me both of which I think they can remedy fairly quickly. One, they don’t take American Express. I don’t know how any upper class eating establishment can not take AMEX. This probably extends from their bakery business but they need to understand that fine dining is a very different animal. People will want to eat out with their clients and expense it. People are spending hundreds of dollars on their meal. Suck it up and pay the extra percentage point on the processing. The second thing was their bread – it wasn’t very good. Delice bakery has arguably the best bread in the city so you would think that the bistro would have awesome bread but it doesn’t. Instead of baskets of fresh baguettes and crunchy olive bread on the tables, they have a guy going around with a plate offering mini slices of bread that tasted like they were leftover from the bakery. No olive oil or flavored butter, just average bread. It almost made me miss those LaBrea bakery sourdough rolls that everyone else seems to use.
On the positive side, they offer complementary valet parking which I love. Their prices from top to bottom are very reasonable, the food is excellent and the service quick. I will certainly be going back soon, maybe to sample their Sunday brunch…
Note: Delice is open every night for dinner and Sunday for brunch and dinner.
