It’s rare you get such a warm welcome at a restaurant. Personal attention from the owner and an unhurried dinner with all your needs met — why, that would even make up for a lot of mistakes in a meal. But the best part about my meals at Le Petit Bistro? The service didn’t have to make up for anything; the food was delicious. The gracious reception was just lagniappe.
Located in an unassuming building on El Camino Real between Shoreline and El Monte, Le Petit Bistro is easy to miss. As one longtime resident of Mountain View said when told its location, “It’s where? I drive past there all the time.”
As at typical French bistros, the menu here is neither extensive nor surprising. The food is traditional, with slight variations to keep things interesting, like the side of creamy piped potatoes that, one evening, appeared to have been blended with raspberries, creating a pale pink garnish for the entree. Still, the meals are all prepared to a high standard, and there were no signs of a bored chef behind the spinach and leek soup du jour ($5.75), which was rich, creamy and hot. My green salad with a pleasantly tongue-grabbing Dijon parsley vinaigrette ($6.25) was crisp and fresh (and green), with little buried caches of shredded veggies, like beets and carrots, instead of the usual piling-on of toppings you’d find elsewhere.
With appetites piqued, we dove into the entrees of filet in a red wine reduction ($26.95) and portobello puff pastry with vegetables and brie ($18.95). Le Petit Bistro serves some very nice cuts of meat, so if you’re considering turning vegetarian … well, the vegetarian dishes are nice, but maybe wait until after one last steak here. Even cooked medium-well done (as requested by my companion, unfortunately), the filet was magnificent, and the sauce had been lovingly reduced to such a rich, heavy coating — I secretly hoped for a loud distraction to lick the plate unnoticed.
But there were no loud distractions, and I had to content myself with twirling the tender chunks of mushrooms around and around on the plate to sweep up the stuff. The puff pastry was good — and billowed steam when cut into — but I’ll remember the steak for longer. The steak’s sauce also outshone the Tabasco-like cream sauce that accompanied the pastry.
Both plates came with julienned vegetables cooked just the right length of time, but this evening the slivers of zucchini and green beans were a little salty. The next meal, the vegetables were perfect.
The coffee — French roast, naturally — was strong and smooth enough to make purists out of even those who like sugar in their brew. Very important to the enjoyment of a good desert, which this bistro has a fine command of, as well.
I’ll just wax rhapsodic for a moment about the desserts. First of all, not all chocolate mousses are made equal. Some restaurants’ idea of chocolate mousse tastes more like Jello pudding. For its part, Le Petit Bistro has apparently incorporated the Wonkavision method of compressing enormous chocolate flavor into a compact size. It was not too sweet, creamy, and delightful.
Gran Marnier cheesecake makes another excellent selection. With its ground hazelnut crust on top and drizzled Melba sauce (named for Aussie singer Dame Nellie Melba, of Melba Toast fame, did you know?) of raspberries and red currants, it’s a clever and commendable combination of flavors. It came with a little sprig of mint that magically smelled like chocolate mint. Maybe I just had chocolate on my mind. … I also tried the caramelized apple tarte tatin and tiramisu with Chambord (raspberry liqueur) — though not all at the same meal. The tiramisu was light and nice, and I liked it better than the apple desert — not because there was anything wrong with it, but the tiramisu was more interesting. (All desserts are $5.75.)
The only ho-hum dish I ran across was the chef salad ($7.95), which I thought could have used more green apples or a more piquant vinaigrette to set off the creamy goat cheese. But it was quickly forgotten in a swirl of buttery mushroom soup du jour ($5.75) and crunchy toasted baguette slices.
One thing about sticking to a smaller menu is having the time to perfect each item, and the beef onglet special ($21.95) was luscious, wallowing in its reduction sauce. I would have been equally satisfied ordering the pork medallions with mushrooms ($18.95) in a reduction that tasted almost Indian — was that cardamom? coriander? — instead of poaching from someone else’s plate. Both beef and pork were tender and flavorful and of a size to leave a little room for dessert. How thoughtful.
Le Petit Bistro has a pleasant, non-invasive decor that quietly insulates you from the outside world, letting you focus on your meal. And the not-too-loud selection of what could have been French pop music in the background lets you focus on your conversation. The check doesn’t come under the edge of the dessert plate; there’s no one rushing you through the food. It seems owner Jean Michel Peuvrelle wants you to enjoy what was so thoughtfully prepared.
And though the wine list is small, it’s thoughtfully selected, letting you choose from bottles, house wines by the glass, or a red and white du jour. The red du jour one evening turned out to be a perfectly balanced Cabernet Sauvignon from Salmon Creek ($7.50) that paired so well with my filet I smelled a marriage proposal.
Reservations are recommended, as the bistro is indeed petit.
Le Petit Bistro
1405 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View
(650) 964-3321
Hours:
Dinner: Tuesday-Sunday, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
