MICHAEL BAUERDining Out French Blue atmosphere is a winner
French Blue reminds me of a beautiful model who grabs attention, but doesn’t have much substance.
At this new St. Helena restaurant, practicality takes a backseat to design, and the menu feels like something you’d find in a tourist area, proclaiming “Brunch All Day!”
Dishes like small egg salad sandwiches ($8), a salmon sandwich ($14), two burgers ($13.50 each) and an omelet ($14) dominate the dinner offerings. “Add an egg from our Rudd Farms chickens to anything, just 2 bucks,” is written on the bottom of the menu.
It obviously reflects the preference of the owners, Howard Backen and his wife, designer Lori Backen. French Blue is their first venture as restaurateurs, although he’s the architect of Press in St. Helena, Solage in Calistoga and other restaurants, along with
wineries such as Harlan Estates and Ram’s Gate.
The 70-seat dining room is stunning, washed in creamy white, with a pitched roof and rough exposed beams. Pendantshaded lamps hang over each metal-edged wood table; chairs are wicker. A long communal table runs the width of the dining room.
The open kitchen in back is fronted by a semicircular zinc counter and 16-seat bar. Both side walls are lined with handsome floor-to-ceiling cabinets and shelves, one of which is a display for the retail shop selling the restaurant’s blue and white plates, canvas bags and the like.
The dining room seems to float in the center of the room on a carpeted floor. Diners can look out the windows to the street or to the 25-seat patio warmed by a fireplace. The attention to detail is admirable. In the bathroom, for example, diners dry their hands on white starched cotton towels, unheard of at a moderatepriced restaurant.
However, seated next to the wall that doubles as a service area, the passage becomes a speedway, with staff zooming from kitchen to tables, trying to avoid employees who are polishing glasses, shining flatware and removing wine from the iced tub.
Yet as close as they were to us, we could never quite get their attention to service the table.
We stared at their backsides most of the night, waited way too long for plates to be cleared or the table to be cleaned — a straw that was in a cocktail I ordered at the start of the meal remained on the table the whole time.
Menu offers value
The menu seems incongruous with the sleek farmhouse interior, but it does offer value — the most expensive item is $22.
The best category is “Four Buck Bites,” but it’s hard to make a meal of “Spicy Pickled Things” ; salty fried green olives with toasted almond romesco; padron peppers with wedges of lime; or a chicken liver mousse.
The egg salad sandwiches sounded interesting, but what arrived was a curious mess. The scrambled eggs covering the toast were like a curdled, watery sauce, and what the menu described as crisp bacon was thick and flabby.
Asalad of baby iceberg lettuce ($9) was aptly named — two wedges of a Lilliputian head, with nicely crisped bacon and a pool of creamy feta dressing that wasn’t generous enough to go around.
Agrilled chicken paillard salad ($14.50) consisted of a dry sheet of overcooked meat piled with arugula, crisp shallots and wedges of soft-boiled eggs. The texture of the smoked young chicken ($19) was also dry and crumbly, and the accompanying blackened padron peppers were cold.
We did find some dishes that show the talent of chef Philip Wang. By far the best was the grass-fed hanger steak ($22), four thick charred slices with tender, rare centers, fanned around a piquant tomato and corn salad. A small bowl of chimichurri accompanied the beef, but the meat was so good I didn’t need it.
We also liked the grilled sea bass ($20), a pristine piece of fish with a dollop of cherry tomato jam. The beans alongside were blistered in spots as if they had been grilled, but were underdone and hard.
I rarely have eggs past 10 a.m. but if you like them for supper check out the Cowgirl Mount Tam omelet ($14), featuring eggs loosely rolled around spinach and mushrooms, and topped with a generous wedge of the Cowgirl Creamery cheese.
The best appetizer we tried over several visits was the ricotta-like farmer’s cheese ($9.50) with strawberries, cherry tomatoes and grilled levain. There’s also an obligatory flatbread ($13) with a nightly changing topping.
Seasonal endings
Desserts weren’t all that compelling. The stone fruit cake ($6.50) was designed like an individual clafouti, but you’d be hard-pressed to find the fruit on top of the dry cake. The crumble ($6.50), served in an individual cast-iron skillet, was filled with warm peaches, but the topping was cloyingly sweet.
While the strawberry shortcake on an earlier menu was hard to eat — stacked in a bowl with a biscuit, fruit, whipped cream and strawberry ice cream — the flavors shouted summer. Farmer Omar, highlighted on the menu and on the restaurant’s website, would be pleased.
That website spotlights a gaggle of partners, including the business manager, restaurant manager, chef, beverage director and pastry chef. That’s a lot of people for one venture, which might help explain why the restaurant seems unfocused and ultimately unsatisfying. French Blue is beautiful, but its beauty is only skin deep.