You've heard of French fusion, nouveau French, French-influenced cuisine, but what about French-French? With all of the explosive flavors hitting the culinary world these days, classic French cooking -- that eternally-influential combination of haute cuisine and humble provençal -- is getting less attention than it's used to.
Le Petit Pois, which opened last week at the Downtown Mall's Central Place, is already doing its part to put the "French" back into a "chic" Charlottesville gastronomic scene dominated by Asian-, Italian-, Latin-, and Virginia-inspired restaurants.
Located only a few blocks down the Mall from its mothership restaurant, the unabashedly upscale Fleurie, Le Petit Pois is advertised as a "classic, casual French bistro" boasting all of Fleurie's flavor at half the price.
The restaurant's look is simultaneously modern and romantic. Flickering votives and inlaid light bulbs soften the sleek tables and black-and-white walls, and the black tiles that line a tiny, compact bar are offset by dozens of whimsically ornamental potted wheatgrass plants. Meanwhile, the kitchen's transparent walls are a treat, allowing diners to witness the cooking process, and the relative noisiness of the dining room only adds to its bistro authenticity.
Reasonably-priced appetizers are unassuming but more than adequate. Petit Pois serves a generous portion of steak tartare. The sweetness of the meat is offset by a tart vinegar-y flavor, and tiny pieces of caper and mustard seed provide a satisfying crunch against the silky steak.
The salade lyonnaise is also a textural delight: sourdough croutons and salty lardons dress up a crisp salad, and while the promised mustard-vinaigrette is indiscernible, the smooth, runny yolk from the poached egg that tops the whole ensemble is a great substitute dressing.
Although the menu is small, Petit Pois offers a nice (if exclusively non-vegetarian) selection of French meat- and seafood dishes. Coq au vin, the classic bistro dish, is French comfort food at its best: a warm melee of mushrooms, carrots and pearl onions is cushioned by creamy mashed potatoes. The vegetables are served with a leg of chicken cooked so long that the meat practically falls off the bone and, of course, a generous amount of rich burgundy wine sauce.
While the braised and roasted local rabbit with polenta is disappointingly bland and slightly rubbery, the salmon steak is a winner. Served with lentils and a mustard sauce, the pink fish is deliciously crispy.
Petit Pois shines the brightest, however, through its beef dishes. Like the steak tartare, the seared onglet (hanger steak) with shallots is exceptionally buttery and rich. The generous portion of steak is further enriched by a tasty red wine reduction sauce and plenty of golden pomme frites. (Unfortunately, these French fries are more visually than flavorfully appealing, and the aoli dipping sauce which accompanies them is disappointingly lacking in bold garlic flavor.)
For dessert, Petit Pois offers various French variations on chocolate and vanilla. The tarte tropezienne is less a pie than a kind of embellished, white-on-white cream puff: a cloud of whipped cream is sandwiched between fat slices of sweet-and-salty brioche pastry and surrounded by a vanilla bean-flecked sauce. The obligatory chocolate mousse, served in a martini glass with butter cookies and powdered sugar, is like an aerated ganache, an unadulterated combination of egg, cream and chocolate whipped into the most decadent of puddings.
So while you won't find exotic fusion cuisine or shocking ingredients at Petit Pois, you can count on full French flavors. The bistro already seems to have mastered the haute cuisine presentation of solid, "blue-collar" French food in a hip, modern setting.
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