La Cafe Essay, Research Paper

To look at it, you’d think that La Cafe is

the most utterly charming eatery

imaginable. It feels like you have stepped

into a Paris time capsule, some bistro in a

neighborhood that hasn’t changed a whit

since the French Revolution. La Cafe is a

rendezvous place.

The place is tiny, just 32 seats at 12

tables and the decor is at once classic and

whimsical. Portions of faux cottages jut from the

walls, the tilted roofs just lopsided enough to

make you check your bearings. French and

European adornments clutter sideboards and

decorate surfaces, polished copper gleams here

and there, and red and blue patterned tablecloths

add to a sense of festivity. la is very blase.

Still, the feeling is one of

intimacy – with the close tables and

hovering staff. This is a highly personal

place, frequented mostly by regulars,

particularly folks on the restaurant’s

mailing list, who have gotten to know the

restaurant’s owners and staff.

La Cafe is the only restaurant in

our area which serves only a prix fixe

menu. There’s only one entree served

each evening ($23.75 including soup and

salad), and there are no other choices. To

find out what’s cooking on any given

evening, you either call up – or pick up a

monthly menu at the front door, or you

get on La Cafe s mailing list. The final

alternative is to hit the restaurant’s

Despite the ageless Gallic charm,

La Cafe is very high tech.

There’s even an album of photos

from the owners’ trips to Paris – and,

perhaps more practical, a collection of

recipes, including creme brulee,

mushroom soup, curried carrot soup, and

salmon bisque.

The food at La Cafe leans toward

French regional cuisine, with a lesser

emphasis on classic French dishes. For

example, in one recent sevenday stretch,

the kitchen prepared the following

entrees in daily succession: lamb with

bacon, rosemary and wine sauce; roasted

range chicken au jus; tournedos Rossini;

duck marinated in red wine and cooked

with mushrooms, vegetables and bacon;

range veal with capers and lemon; beef

with shallots, onion and red wine

compote; and prawns, scallops and

mussels with white wine and herbs.

On the evening of our visit, the

waitress brought us a salad garni, served

family style for the four of us. The mixed

greens were topped with salami slices,

red onion rings, olives, carrot shreds,

Parmesan cheese and a terrific garlicky

tomato vinaigrette. La Cafe has been

serving this same dressing for 25 years -

piles of garlic with red wine, red wine

vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon

mustard, and various herbs it is one of its

forte.

Next came Mediterranean fish

soup, served in a covered copper tureen.

It was good cold-weather fare, not too

fishy, with lots of veggies and chunks of

salmon and Chilean sea bass in a light

broth, accented with juniper berries and

dill. In France, soup is an integral part of

the meal; soups are a consistent strength

of this kitchen.

Our entree on the date of our

visit was from the Bearn region, just east

of Bordeaux. The chef cooked chunks of

veal, simmered with onions and smoked

ham, in white wine. Each of us helped

ourselves to servings of rotelle pasta,

baked with Parmesan topping and slices

of zucchini, served family-style.

Desserts ($4.95) – all made

in-house – include apple crisp, creme

brulee, almond flour chocolate cake,

chocolate mousse, and poached pears the

pears sometimes cooked with pinot noir

and black currant preserves and

sometimes with chardonnay plus anise

and saffron.

Occasionally, the dessert list

includes fallen chocolate cake, a

decadent choice – when the diner cuts

into the cake, the hot chocolate interior

flows out onto the plate.

Its wine list is clearly one of La

Cafe s strengths boasting an unusually

broad selection for so small an

establishment. Most of the aged

Bordeaux and Jordan cabernets have

been consumed since I was last here, but

there’s still plenty to choose from,

ranging from inexpensive Central Coast

labels (J. Lohr 1996 Johannisberg

Riesling at $14) to 1985 Chateau

Margaux ($225) to an unusually lengthy

vertical collection of Williams Selyem

pinot noir ($48-$175).

If you like wine-related

decorative touches, don’t miss the 1920s

vintage Czechoslovakian art glass

chandelier featuring colorful clusters of

crystal grapes – which hangs just inside

the front window.

One night two years ago, the

chandelier fell from its moorings,

smashing against an empty chair. The

restaurant was able to fix the damaged

chandelier, and the man who was sitting

at the closest table when it crashed has

since become a part of the Clientele.