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.