Washington Times, WashingtonWeekend -- Thursday, July 20, 2000
Dining Out
Corinna Lothar
Petits Plats adds sunny touch a wibrant street
What fun to see the block of Connecticut Avenue above Calvert Street looking like a Mediterranean seaside summer resort: cafes and restaurants cheek to jowl, only inches between tables and between establishments themselves; umbrellas shading tables of the lunch and dinner crowds.
Even at 10 on a summer night, crowds are enjoying Italian, French, Thai, Lebanese, Chinese and Indian food. The lively conversations are international, too.
A welcome addition is Petits Plats, housed in a lovely spacious red brick building, formerly occupied by Petitto's. Sidewalk tables, a little balcony with three tables (the perfect people‑watching space) and two pleasant high-ceilinged dining room are inviting, and the food doesn't disappoint.
Petits Plats ("little dishes") is a full-fledged restaurant, actually ft informal bistro, despite its name. The restaurant is owned by the delightful Cecile Fortin, who charmed her customers when she was in charge of the front of the house at Bistrot Lepic in 'upper" Georgetown; her brother, Frederic Darricarrere, and chef Oumar Sy, both of whom also worked at Bistrot Lepic.
The decor has many delightful touches; tiny octopus‑shaped salt and pepper shakers on the tables; bright orange and yellow translucent napkin rings; paintings of fruits, flowers and trompe l'oeil scenes‑in the 17th and 18th‑century tradition of Fabrice De Villeneuve.
No surprise that the food resembles the offerings at Bistrot Lepic, where Ournar Sy worked in the kitchen, although preparations vary. We started a recent dinner with green pea soup with mussels and a mixed salad of Belgian endive, apples, Roquefort cheese and walnuts. The pale green pea soup with a touch of cream was delicious, the handful of mussels an unusual and subtle addition.
The salad is a mixture of small pieces of the four ingredients. What makes this salad special is the combination of textures. Because it had apparently been Dressed too long, by the time the salad reached the table it had lost much of crispness. A pity. The vinaigrette dressing on the salad is first‑rate.
Sidewalk tables, seaside look on Connecticut Avenue
Asparagus also disappointed. Five thin asparagus are served with mixed lettuce, again with an excellent vinaigrette. The small pieces of toast covered with tapenade – a Mediterranean olive spread – add little. It was a meager, serving for the price.
The onion tart, on the other hand, was wonderful, with a nice flaky crust and a rich, creamy At‑ lunch, air artichoke and bacon salad sounds delicious; at dinner, a starter of fresh, marinated anchovies and a red and yellow pepper salad with mozzarella in a balsamic
vinaigrette is tempting.
Other first courses are smoked trout with fennel and Parmesan cheese, a wild mushroom casserole and smoked salmon with dill and
mustard sauce. A hungry diner could easily make a meal of several of these "petits plats."
Main courses are all solid bistro fare, prepared with care. Small pieces of tender, marinated lamb loin, served with au‑gratin‑potatoes, are first rate. Cooked on the rare side, it is a fine dish. Three small beef filets in a rich wine sauce, tender and delicious, are served with mashed potatoes.
Boneless stuffed quail are tender, with a fine stuffing. They are slightly on the dry side, as quail often are, and need a sauce that enhances the delicate taste. The three pieces are served on a bed of barely dressed salad. The combination doesn't quite work. The birds deserve an earthy ratatouille or a complex potato dish, as a balance, especially since the dinner price of $18.9S warrants something more than just a mound of greens as accompaniment.
Fish is fresh, simply and well‑prepared. A recent special was sea bass with zucchini. The grilled fish was moist and delicately flavored. On the regular menu are salmon with a vegetable ragout, monkfish with thyme and garlic, rockfish with braised leeks, and shrimp and
artichoke bottoms.
The lunch menu is slightly more limited, with prices for soups and starters the same as at dinner, but a reduction of about $5 per dish for main courses. There are no sandwiches or luncheon salads.
Daily specials at dinner are usually three appetizers and two or three, main courses.
Desserts are limited: an honest if unambitious crème brulee, various sorbets, strawberry tart and apple “tarte Tatin.” Tarte Tatin, a star
of French bourgeois cuisine, is an upside down pie, a succulent mixture of buttery caramelized apples baked under a rich, flaky pastry. When I asked the waiter if it was a "real" tarte Tatin, he assured me it was. But it wasn't.
The pastry was akin to a shortbread dough, and the apples were not caramelized. Not a tarte Tatin, but, excellent all the same.
The good wine. lie has several pleasant, little‑known‑labels by the glass; a full bar is in the hall between the two dining rooms.
Service can a bit slow, but everyone is so pleasant it doesn't seem to matter.
Petits
Plats is a good, honest bistro, not given to ornate dishes What is served is
simple, Satisfying food, such as one would expect in an equivalent bistro in