Anisette Brasserie - CLOSED
discussons in the past 3 months.
225 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-3200 GO TO WEBSITE
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- HOURS:
- [Brunch] Sat - Sun, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
[Lunch] Mon - Fri, 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
[Dinner] 7 Days A Week, 5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- PRICE RANGE: $$
- CREDIT CARDS: Yes
- ALCOHOL: Full Bar
- OTHER FEATURES:
- Bar, Reservations Accepted, Serves Lunch
- TAGS:
quick reviews (2 Reviews)
»Good, but needs to embrace its Frenchness, and the butter
Saint Amour Brasserie– the new French restaurant in Culver City.
(For Fabrice - and all my French food loving friends)
Where does this French brasserie sit in the panoply of Los Angeles' French restaurants? Not as expensive as Anisette, and not as cheap as La Dijonaise. The same balance can be said for the food: A definite step above La Dijonaise, with a menu featuring truly classic French fare,...+READ
Saint Amour Brasserie– the new French restaurant in Culver City.
(For Fabrice - and all my French food loving friends)
Where does this French brasserie sit in the panoply of Los Angeles' French restaurants? Not as expensive as Anisette, and not as cheap as La Dijonaise. The same balance can be said for the food: A definite step above La Dijonaise, with a menu featuring truly classic French fare, but not quite at the quality and presentation level of Anisette.
The restaurant is filled with "almost there" moments. The décor, fashioned after a classic French brasserie is almost there. It’s as if they just couldn’t get to the last steps. The tables, chairs, wall fixtures are all there, but then the windows loose all opportunity to have classic French brasserie stenciling and instead nothing fancier than some simple white lettering. The high ceiling is white… White? Why? And the lighting points up at the unfinished white painted ceiling drawing the eye upward. The music is muted and not French at all. It’s a French brasserie for god sakes! Where’s the Aznavour, Yves Montand, Le Grand, Charles Trenet, even Edith Piaf. Instead we get elevator 80s music. Owner's should go to Anisette to get an idea of how to finish the decor off.
And the waiters – Some, if not all in the restaurant speak French, but refuse to speak it to the guests and instead mutter it quietly to themselves. It’s as if they are proud of their English, so insist on speaking English only. We are in a French restaurant; we want the appearance of the French experience please. We like it. It is cool to hear the chef and waiters calling out to each other in French. Good ambiance. One last comment about the personnel – the chef was distant. Even though it’s an open kitchen he will not make eye contact or talk to the patrons. The guests shouldn’t have to work at it, they should feel welcome in his restaurant. A chef that will stop at your table for a couple quick words, and notices when your leaving and gives a friendly good bye is one that will see a lot of repeat business. This chef has much to be proud of, please, step out of your kitchen and say hello to your guests.
Now to the food: First, the menu is a definite cut above. I know of no other restaurant that serves boudin noir, or saucisse de Lyon avec lentile, or salade frisson aux lardon (well Anisette does but it is $15 for a small bowl!). Many wonderful decisions to make at Saint Amour and plenty of excuses to return. I mentioned the quality is good. A big cut above La Dijonaise, and even Mr. Marcel. The prices are higher than Mr. Marcel, but not much. All the sausages and patés and such are made in-house, and it shows. We had the lentils and they came with two different delicious Lyon style sausages. The lentils were perfectly cooked and had the proper slight vinaigrette flavoring. Only suggestion would be a touch more Dijon in the mix. The boudin noir came with mashed potatoes and poached apples ($17). Each was good, but the whole lacked unity, a unity that should have been made up of butter. It was like a diet boudin noir plate. In the past when I’ve had this in France they were always swimming in a butter sauce that included caramelized boudin and apple flavors. Here it was all dry. Good, but dry. I was tempted to pull butter out of the breadbasket and slather it around. Tiaré had a game hen served with foi gras in a wine reduction sauce over green beans, or something like that. At $24 it was the most expensive dinner entrée on the menu and based on how she inhaled it, I can only guess that it was delicious. Well actually she told me it was delicious, and Tiaré is a gourmand enough to know.
With the meal we had a bottle of 2005 Saint Amour, naturally. What else are you going to drink on your first visit to a brand new restaurant called Saint Amour! At $34 for the bottle it was a fair price. I know what the bottle wholesales for, and this price was as low as you would find at a wine retailer. No ripping off the customers here. And it was quite good, thank you.
For desert we split an ille flotant – another classic French dessert you don’t see here very often. It was quite good, but I was put off by the presentation. The “ille” was a big square block instead of the mountainous pile it usually should be. The big square block gave me that mass production feeling.
So, overall, not a bad start at all. When we went the place had been open for all of 9 days, so clearly some we need to alow for some bugs to work out. Still on a Monday night it was 70% full, and for a new place that is not bad. We will be back in hopes that things go from good to better to great.
My advice to the owner/chef: embrace your French-ness, embrace the brasserie traditions, and embrace the butter, it is after all one of the secrets to classic brasserie cooking.-COLLAPSE
»Paris in L.A.
Let’s get a few things out of the way
1. It’s noisy
2. It’s expensive
3. The service is good, considering the atmosphere, noise, crowding and general liveliness of the place.
OK those are the negatives. Here are the positives: This brasserie is just like eating in Paris: It’s noisy, expensive and the service is good considering the atmosphere, noise, crowding and general liveliness of the place....+READ
Let’s get a few things out of the way
1. It’s noisy
2. It’s expensive
3. The service is good, considering the atmosphere, noise, crowding and general liveliness of the place.
OK those are the negatives. Here are the positives: This brasserie is just like eating in Paris: It’s noisy, expensive and the service is good considering the atmosphere, noise, crowding and general liveliness of the place.
The place is ALIVE. The décor is authentic. And the food is REAL French food, which mean’s it’s absolutely fantastic. This is not a place you go to, to see and be seen. This is a place you go to because flying to Paris for dinner is at times impractical. I’ve eaten at Anisette a dozen times now, and it has NEVER failed to delight the senses. They serve Badoit water – the best in the world. The house carafe of wine is always good, such as you don’t have to look at the wine list if you don’t want to, but if you did the selection of French wines is designed to please the wine lover, not impress the snob. And that philosophy applies to all the food at Anisette. It’s designed to please the senses not impress the snob. Look, you may get stuck at a tiny table on the balcony crowded against other people, but if you love good food, it just won’t matter. Yes it’s expensive. Figure $100 a head for dinner if you have an appetizer, entrée, desert and wine. And aside for that little pang of pain when you pay, you won’t care, because your mouth, nose and stomach will be in heaven. You will walk out thinking to yourself… when can I come back?
If you are on a budget, then go for lunch (not breakfast). Things are a bit quieter, and the prices cheaper. You can go in for lunch and get out, including a glass of house wine, for about $35. Not the cheapest lunch in the world, but probably amongst the best in LA. My only regret is that they took the Soup de Poison Provence avec ca Rouille off the menu, and it was the best I’ve ever had in the states.
Last word: Go now before something changes, like they get bought out, or Chef Alain moves on to someplace else, or the in-crowd discovers it and ruins it.-COLLAPSE
