Comme Ca

Really Good French Bistro

by pburstyn at Citysearch

Yummie is not a professional term, but it sure fits the bill with this place.

Apps were onion soup (Of course) frisee salad with poached egg, and roast beet salad. The soup was prepared very nicely. No one flavor overshadowed another, which is comforting, since balanced seasoning is an art form.

The roast beet and goat cheese was OK. I have had better to be honest. The beets, although not tasteless, could have used a little more seasoning, since it is in and of itself a boring item. There was a nice raspberry vinaigrette to it, but something was still missing. Perhaps the cheese could have been a stronger type, not sure on that one. The soup was spot on. As I said above, there was no one flavor that outperformed another. The cheese was perfectly melted, with just that hint of crunchiness that one comes to love about this dish. As for the frisee salad... it's frisee salad ;) Bah bah bah.

So main courses were: Steak Frites (Hanger Steak, not Rib eye), Braised Veal Short Ribs, Coq Au Vin, and Chicken Breast Diable.

The steak was ordered mid well, which in and of itself is sacrilege! That said, this cut of meat is so tender and nice that it held up to Dante's inferno. I will say this though. The steak was not mid well, it was more like a medium. I di not say anything, because I would have done the same in my kitchen. Personally, anything over mid rare might as well stay home. Steak came with a lovely pile, and I mean pile of fries, which were just perfect and came with a great garlicky mayo dipping sauce. The table actually ordered another pile-o-fries, which was dispatched quickly.

The Coq Au Vin was very nicely cooked, and had a lovely sauce to it that did not still have the hint of wine to it... THANK YOU! Although, I must say that when you cook chicken long enough it does kind of get a bit stringy. I don't really like that texture, but as I said, it was cooked very nicely. You can tell that the chefs there know what they are doing.

The Chicken Diable was probably the most aggressively seasoned item we ate all night, which was refreshing to me since most French cuisine is not about the seasoning, rather the balance of flavor, which is OK, but sometimes you want a little kick. The dish came with fingerling potatoes and was very nice. It came with a really great mustard, which reminded me of the mustard they use over at Osteria Mozza on the braised leeks, which I love.

Finally, the veal (Can you tell I saved the best for last?) - It was Tuesday as I had said, and the order of the day was braised veal short ribs. Now let me tell you something... it was divine! Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, with not a want for anything. The meat was falling off the bone. Had a rich hearty flavor that made you want more, and sat on a bed of the most perfectly cooked white beans that were the perfect match to this wonderfully rustic dish. I enjoyed every last bite of this dish and would go on a Tuesday again, just to have that item once more.

Final dishes of the night were the chocolate pot de crème, which was OK, a little heavy on the cocoa flavoring. I am not a big fan of dark chocolate, maybe that was the reason. Profiteroles with 3 kinds of ice cream, which was OK, not thrilling, and finally a clafoutti, which I did not taste because I do not like hot sweet desserts. The other diners seemed to enjoy it.

Service was attentive, although the one thing that had me miffed was the Arnold Palmer, which was more like iced tea. So when I asked the waiter to top me off with some more lemonade, instead, he brought me a glass full of lemon juice, yikes, which I then had to mix with my already tall glass of iced tea. I did not really appreciate that, but went with it, because I don't like to be an ass where I dine.

Peter Burstyn is a former chef from NY and is now an insurance agent with Farmers - visit him at farmersagent dot com/pburstyn - Come by and say hi.

Great Brunch

by Runner82 at Citysearch

What a great place for Sunday brunch! Great food and great drinks, I can't wait to try the french toast next time.

WOW! FRENCH TOAST

by TofuLover at Citysearch

THEIR FRENCH TOAST IS THE BEST ONE IN THE WORLD!

if you have a chance to go to comme ca, try french toast!!!

Class in LA

by Gforcevolcano at Citysearch

I'm a New Yorker but I travel a lot for work to LA and I can't say much about the botox and style in LA but i can truly say Thank God! for Comme Ca - where you can dine with the rich and famous and not feel out of place. The food is amazing, but of course what can you expect from Head Chef David Myers, and the mixologists can make the girls drop their panties in 2 drinks flat ; - )

If you're ever in LA do yourself a favor and get over to Comme Ca ASAP and experience what truly great chefs can do with with simple ingredients and a stove.

Je ne sais pas

by gastronomnom at Citysearch

Naming a French bistro Comme Ca is like naming a fried chicken joint A'ight.

You're just asking for any number of smart ass headlines proclaiming "Comme Ci, Comme Ca".

But, you know, that's actually a pretty appropriate description of this restaurant.

It's just... a'ight.

I mean, it looks good. White leather banquettes and chairs, dark wooden tables, bookcases and columns, accented with an eclectic array of mirrors and country chic touches. It could be straight out of the pages of Elle Decor or Architectural Digest. It has an impressive bar for a restaurant of its size, plus a separate cheese counter and an oyster bar. The design is definitely impressive.

But all the hard surfaces and the small, open room makes this a noisy restaurant. With the tables set close together and the music turned up, it's hard to have a private conversation without your neighbors hearing all the details. If, like us, your dinner conversation tends toward the less than appropriate, you'll be spending your time talking euphemistically to avoid attracting the curious glances of those around you.

The food was, again, pretty good. Solid French bistro fare. We started with the Roasted Beef Marrow and Oxtail Jam. The oxtail "jam" was really just shredded, braised ox tail. The bone marrow was uninspiringly bland.

I moved on to the Braised Lamb Shank with Ratatouille. The serving was substantial, the meat tender and the sauce hearty and heavy. I really needed something to cut this. A side maybe of vegetables or pommes frites. However, getting the waitress' attention once our food had been served was close to impossible. She spent a solid five minutes at the computer with another staff member trying to enter her tickets. And she was the only server for our half of the restaurant. Needless to say, I didn't order that side.

For dessert, we shared the Profiteroles aux Glace and Sorbet. Given that I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, this dessert was actually pretty good. The desserts at Comme Ca come from their sister patîsserie Boule.

We also had a glass of wine each with our meal, taking the suggestions of the sommelier. My glass of cabernet was a good choice but my dining companion's glass of chenin blanc was almost cloyingly sweet and not a great pairing for her Roasted Pork Chop.

All in all, solid French bistro fare. Which would be fine if we were paying solid French bistro prices. But Comme Ca's aspirations are set much higher and these are matched by its prices.

Service, as I mentioned, was disappointing. Sure, they had a lot of staff. They had a bartender, a sommelier, a person just for the cheese counter, someone to shuck oysters, hostess, maitre d'. The whole gamut. But what they could have done with was just more servers on the floor. Or maybe just a more efficient and genial one.

I was hoping for more from Comme Ca. And really, there wasn't a lot separating an average meal from a good one. Perhaps a better choice of appetizer, a side to cut the heaviness of the entree and a better server would have made all the difference. But this was just a solid three, with room for potential, for now.

For me, Comme Ca just lacked that certain "je ne sais quoi".

More like "je ne sais pas" if you ask me.