August 28-September 3, 2003

food

French New Wave

Beet íem, join íem: Roasted beet salad topped with warm goat cheese at Loie. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

A Gallic culinary revival means détente is back on the table.

by Maxine Keyser

In a city where an Italian restaurant seems to be opening on every corner, itís surprising that, if you listen carefully, the faint strains of La Marseillaise may still be heard throughout the land. Freedom fries be damned, it seems to say, the French are here to stay, and before you know it, all this nonsense will be over.

Certainly of this frame of mind are the owners of Café Loie, at 128 S. 19th St., where the venerable R & W used to be. Believe me, it never looked like this. It is art nouveau heaven now, with a window wall to the street, plus swirling banquettes of mossy green Burne-Jones-looking velvet and plushy mauve draperies. At the left of the entrance is a handsome bar, stocked with reasonably priced wines and drinks like School Nurse (Ketel One, grapefruit juice and a splash of Campari -- will make the sick student well in no time). Wherever there are not wonderful French posters, the pale, paneled walls show through. The entire space has a slightly louche, well-worn air that is deceptive, for it is all new. In this relaxing Parisian atmosphere, there is the cuisine of Jeremy Duclut, an alum of Brasserie Perrier and Le Bec-Fin, to consider. At lunch, there are, of course, omelettes of every description -- some done softly with sauteed spinach, cheese and mushrooms -- or a portobello sandwich that also includes spinach, and onion on brioche, or a proper salad lyonnaise of frisée, lardons and a poached egg running all over it. The ubiquitous steak frites may be had, as well as a lovely hamburger, and both have the advantage of crispy, golden fries on the side. At dinner, beside the plat du jour, which on Friday happens to be skate, sauteed admirably with beurre noir, there are salmon, striped bass, lamb chops, sweet breads and, for the diehard, mac and cheese. The onion soup is a rare thing -- full of dark, caramelized onions and not an excess of molten cheese. After 10 p.m. most days, you can partake of the bar menu including the famous flammenkuche, an Alsatian idea of pizza topped with onions and bacon.

Café Loie, named for Loie Fuller, who was active in the art nouveau movement, has another advantage -- it is directly next door to La Colombe, our favorite coffeehouse, whose coffee they use. If sitting in the warm sunlight on 19th Street is not quite St. Germain, it will do for now.

I trot around the corner and I am confronted with Yann, a new French café, where Fishmarket was. It is sparkly fresh, with a tempting array of pastries in the window and a menu that includes the expected croque monsieur, a lobster roll on brioche (how bad is that?), a variety of panini and even a mussel salad. It's only open for breakfast, lunch and a very early dinner, but if it is too much for you, there is always La Cigale across the way. No wonder they've named the corner of 18th and Sansom, the French Quarter.

And then there's the Caribou Café in an entirely different part of town, depending for years on the Forrest Theatre crowd and interns from Jefferson Hospital around the corner. It's always been fun -- dark, with loud French music in the background -- the usual posters on nicotine-stained walls, wooden booths that are tough on the derriere and a wonderful old bar that bears two bronze caryatids holding torches. But now Olivier De Saint Martin is manning the ovens, and that's a whole different story. This peripatetic young chef, with charm to spare, is our own version of Jacques Pepin. He's cooked at too many places to mention, lately the Dock Street Brasserie. So, now besides the onion soups and the escargots, we have a beignet de crabe that appears as a large, deep-fried sphere, and when you cut through the oniony, shattering crust, you are rewarded with lots of sweet crabmeat. His marinated salmon provides buttery gravlax that comes with a slaw of celery root (one of the staples of the hors d'oeuvre table in France). A little round of rosy-beige foie gras terrine may appear to be something he just had lying around the kitchen. It is uncommonly good, as is everything else we feast on, from the daily special of scallops and sweetbreads over rice studded with tomatoes and olive, to the onglet a l'échalote -- what we call a hanger steak, with a light shallot sauce, and Olivier's prize-winning fries ("I dip them in a drop of batter before I fry them," he confides.). His cassoulet is also prize winning, but a stew of white beans, pork, duck confit and garlic sausage is a bit too much for a steamy July night. So, it's skate again for me -- sauteed with capers and a delicious, creamy ragoût of white beans and oven-dried tomatoes. Olivier has put 20 lower-priced French wines by the glass on the menu. Dessert, although we are totally sated, must be Olivier's brioche bread pudding, with white chocolate and lots of butterscotch. And a lemon curd roulade with pistachio ice cream, or a hot chocolate souffle -- the list, the creations of Linn Pepper Watson -- goes on. And Capogiro, that heavenly gelato spot at 13th and Sansom, makes a burnt sugar gelato for them from organic milk and fleur de sel butter that is heaven.

At lunch, you can get an old-fashioned Gruyère cheese souffle ("Lacroix comes in for that," Olivier says proudly.) or a vraie croque monsieur. Pinch yourself, you are not in France, but close to it.

We have our Georges Perrier, Jean-Marie Lacroix, Patrice Rames, Fritz Blank and Robert Capella, but there are also men like Yves Longhi (Tartine), Duclut and De Saint Martin, who keep the flame of France glowing in Philadelphia.

LOIE

128 S. 19th St., 215-568-0808

Appetizers, $8-$12; entrees, $17-$24

Lunch: Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner: Daily, 5:30-10 p.m. Bar menu: Sun.-Thu., 10 p.m.-1 a.m.

Not wheelchair accessible. Smoking is permitted. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards.

YANN

122 S. 18th St., 215-568-5250

Breakfast items, $5-$9; lunch items, $5-$13

Mon.-Sat., 7 a.m.-6 p.m.

Not wheelchair accessible. Smoking is not permitted. All major credit cards.

CARIBOU CAF...

1126 Walnut St., 215-625-9535

Appetizers, $4-$10; entrees, $14-$25

Lunch: Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Thu., 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5:30-11:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-11 p.m. Brunch: Sat.-Sun., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Wheelchair accessible. Smoking is permitted in the bar area. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards.