Dining review

STEPHEN SANTACROCE

o7 On July 14, 1789, French citizens, protesting the absolute rule of

King Louis XVI, stormed the Bastille, a state prison that symbolized the

autocratic and arbitrary government, marking the beginning of the French

Revolution.

Today, Bastille Day is a national holiday in France, celebrated with

parades, parties and large fireworks displays, not unlike our own

Independence Day. In Newport-Mesa, several French restaurants are

preparing special menus for the holiday, allowing us to share in Friday’s

festivities.

f7

Bistro Le Crillon (2523 E. Bluff Drive in Eastbluff Center, Newport

Beach, (949) 640-8181) prepares a three-course, fixed-price menu that

features some of chef Chantal’s favorite dishes. The feast will start

with a complimentary glass of French champagne, a perfect complement to

either of the hors d’oeuvres.

Celebrants may choose between country pates served over baby greens

with cornichons, small vinegary pickles, or fresh gooselivero7 foie

grasf7 served with toast points. The o7 foie grasf7 carries an

additional charge of $18 (it serves two), but is well worth it. It’s

perhaps the best I’ve had anywhere.

Entree selections are a rack of lamb roasted in the wood-burning oven

and served with o7 haricots vertf7 (green beans) or breast of chicken

with a morel mushroom sauce.

Vive la difference!

Finally, dessert will be fresh fruit tartlets with lemon custard.

Dinner will be served in two seatings on Friday and Saturday, and will

cost $39.50 per person.

Mistral Restaurant (440 Heliotrope Ave., Corona del Mar, (949)

723-9685) is using the Bastille Day holiday to kick off its summerlong

Tour de France celebration, which will offer various fixed-price menus

throughout the season. The menus will carry two prices, the higher will

include a glass of wine especially paired with each course by owner Ed

Waters.

The holiday menu, which is available Friday only, will start with a

selection of country pates and French dry sausage or a baby-greens salad

dressed with a mustard-vinaigrette and capped with baked brie cheese in

puff pastry.

Entrees include a grilled ribeye steak topped with shallots and garlic

butter. It’s served with o7 pommes fritesf7 (French fries) and o7

haricots vertf7 . The other entree choice is chicken cordon bleu, a

breaded breast of chicken stuffed with smoked ham and cheese, on a bed of

stewed tomatoes.

A caramelized apple tart with vanilla ice cream will top off the meal.

The dinner is priced at $16 per person without wine, or $29 per person

with a glass of wine selected for each course.

Pascal restaurant (1000 N. Bristol Street, Newport Beach, (949)

752-0107) has had a special Bastille Day dinner for the last 10 years. I

was at the first one, and the menu has remained the same since. But I’m

not complaining--it’s as good now as it was then.

Dinner starts with a small tomato tartlet to stir the taste buds,

followed by a raw vegetable crudites basket accompanied by a

mustard-vinaigrette and anchovy sauce for dipping. Traditionally, the

next offering is an array of delicious country pates and rustic sausages.

Diners will have their choice of four entrees: a classic cassoulet of

duck confit, lamb and sausage; chicken fricassee with a tomato tarragon

vinaigrette; or rabbit cooked Provencal style with herbs, tomatoes and

olives. Fish lovers will be pleased with the salmon, which is served in a

puff pastry crust with salmon mousse.

Dinner will be wrapped up with a cheese course and a selection of

desserts.

Expect the owners, Pascal and Mimi Ohlats, to decorate the restaurant

for the occasion, and an accordion player will be on hand to play French

favorites all evening.

The meal, including wine, is $59 per person, and will be served Friday

and Saturday evenings, with an early seating at 6 and another at 8:30.

o7 At the time of the French uprising, Queen Marie Antoinette, is

purported to have said “let them eat cake,” upon learning of the

peasants’ complaint that they had no bread. Before you applaud her

generosity, be aware that this was considered a sarcastic insult.

“Cake” was the name of dough scraps that were “caked” on the wall of

the oven and given out to beggars, as opposed to the baked delicacies

enjoyed by the upper classes. She wasn’t using her head when she said it,

and she certainly wasn’t using it later when it was lopped off in the

guillotine.

Luckily we live in kindler, gentler times where having someone’s head

on a plate is just a figure of speech.f7

At Pinot Provence (686 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa, (714) 444-5900) the

only thing you’ll find on your plate are delicious treats cooked up by

head chef Florent Marneau.

The holiday menu, a three-course affair priced at $39.95 per person,

will be served today through Sunday, along with the restaurant’s regular

menu.

A mixed hors d’oeuvre platter will start the meal, followed by an

option of two entrees. Diver scallops--which have a short season and are

hard to come by--are prepared in a Provencal bouillabaisse with a fennel

confit. As the name implies, they are hand-picked by divers, rather than

commercially farmed. I’ve had them in different dishes previously here,

and they have always been superb.

The other entree, roasted duck breast with a truffle and roasted

shallot au jus, sounds just as good.

Dessert on the Bastille Day menu is a strawberry o7 mille-feuillef7

, a cream-filled layered pastry served with Chambord ice cream.

o7 Sorry, Marie, no cake.

By now you’re probably humming “La Marseillaise” as you ponder where

to go to celebrate. Bastille Day has a familiar feel for us Americans,

coming so quickly after our own Fourth of July. Even the colors are the

same: red, white and blue.

So go out and celebrate and don’t forget to say thank you to your host

for the Statue of Liberty.f7

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* STEPHEN SANTACROCE’s dining reviews appear every other Thursday. He

may be reached via e-mail at o7 food_critic@hotmail.comf7 .