A hidden restaurant gem no more

Greer Wylder

At Bistro Le Crillon, chef and owner Chantal Berton and her husband

Diego Ostroski work side by side. They create a bistro that showcases

their talents. Berton, from the village of Crillon in France,

carefully prepares her favorite Provencal cuisine. Ostroski, from

Cuomo, Italy, oversees the award-winning wine list that just received

Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence.

Berton studied culinary arts at the Ecoles Normales Superieures

(ENS) in Paris and owned a New York City restaurant for 26 years. She

opened Bistro Le Crillon 11 years ago, baking simple pizzas in the

wood burning oven and making everything from pastas and salads to

sophisticated wild game. She prepares wild boar, elk and caribou

(market price); a slow-cooked cassoulet de Toulouse with duck confit

and sausages ($28); and filet mignon a la Rossini with foie gras and

black truffles (market price).

Other dishes include grilled Chilean sea bass with grilled

zucchini, mango, sun-dried tomato, mango and fig sauce with a side of

white rice ($24.95); and medallions of venison tenderloin with Grand

Veneur sauce (brown sauce with currant jelly), served with chestnuts,

apple puree and a reduction of lingonberries ($28). Along with

American rack of lamb, cooked in a wood-burning oven and served with

potatoes gratin and haricots verts ($19.95), Berton is also known for

her traditional coq au vin ($19.95); homemade French breads and

desserts, chocolate souffle ($20, serves two) and tarte tatin, the

classic French upside-down apple tart with vanilla ice cream ($9.90).

In addition to its dinner menu and take-out menu, Bistro Le

Crillon offers a special prix fixe menu that’s just $19.90. The

dinner offers a choice of a Caesar or a greens and Feta cheese salad.

There are three entree choices: grilled Atlantic salmon with a side

of potato gratin; a rosemary boneless chicken breast with glazed

balsamic sauce and a side of potato gratin; or traditional boeuf

Bourguignon with carrots and potato. Dessert is chocolate ganache

cake.

In years past, Bistro Le Crillon garnered Wine Spectator’s Award

of Excellence for its wine list, but 2004 marks the first year it

reached the harder-to-achieve “Best of Award.” This award level goes

to select restaurants that fulfill Wine Spectator’s strict

requirements. A wine list must carry a vertical offering of top

wines, present vintage depth and showcase a superior range of wines

from major regions.

Normally, more than 400 selections must be on the wine list.

Bistro Le Crillon stocks 1,100 bottles, and they have 40,000 bottles

at the restaurant’s master cellar in Irvine.

Berton and Ostroski’s commitment to offering an excellent wine

list means they close the restaurant from Christmas through Jan. 15

each year to travel the top wine regions in Europe and California.

That’s when they buy futures for their cellar. Diego meticulously

studies Wine Spectator ratings and is thrilled when unknown wines he

purchased years ago receive top scores.

Bistro Le Crillon’s wine list is assorted by countries and regions

and all price ranges are represented. They carry everyday wines and

special occasion Cristal champagne, all the way to high-end cult

wines like Screaming Eagle, one of Napa Valley’s most celebrated

wines (Priced from about $1,200 for a 1999 Cabernet).

The house wine, Chateau de Crillon, comes from Chantal’s family

vineyard. The red Rhone Valley wine is comprised of 70% Grenache and

30% Syrah. At the restaurant, it sells for $29.90 per bottle and

$7.50 per glass. The wine can be purchased to take home at just

$14.99 per bottle. Ostroski favors the wine for his wife’s family

ties, and it goes well with chicken, pork, rack of lamb, grilled red

meats and fish.

The wine list is 40% French wines and 35% high-end California

labels, with the rest coming from Italy, Spain and Argentina. It even

has Italian wines from one of the world’s top wine makers, Angelo

Gaja from Barbersco-Piedmont and Tuscany.

Regulars prefer that the hidden restaurant remain situated in a

nondescript Eastbluff Shopping Center that doesn’t receive traffic.

That way they can get right in. The restaurant seats about 50 inside,

and patio seating is available. It offers catering, wines by the case

and cigars.

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at

greerwylder@yahoo.com; at 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; or by

fax at (949) 646-4170.