I had lunch at these two restaurants on Saturday. This was after my first, second and third choices were still not open or closed for lunch. I decided to review them together because they have similar menus and price points. One was disappointing and one was a surprise. The first is in the strip mall on Dr Phillips. The other is in the old Cantina Laredo spot in the Via Dellagio complex.
Le Coq Au Vin Bistro - This place replaced Bistro Clo Clo and you wouldn't know there was a change. And that is a bad thing. You can still expect a small, dull menu of "greatest hits". The one accomodation/deviation was a schnitzel. The worst thing they did was make me question whether the "real" Coq Au Vin was as good as I remembered or if I had subconscioully graded it on an "Orlando" curve all along. It has been at least ten years since I have last gone to it. Maybe it's not so great either? Maybe it was just "recommended" when the Orlando food scene was primordial? They say that this place has their old chef and is run by the family. Hopefully, he was sleeping off a hang over and his retarded cousin cooked for me. I had their fish special for $14. As I said, the rest of the menu is about as creative as any music made by Millenials (when they aren't straight up ripping off copyrighted material). And it's expensive for what they offer. The fish was grouper and on the plus side it was grouper. I think they "borrowed" a recipe for deep water flat fish like tile fish or monk fish and used grouper. It must be plentiful this year because I have seen it on way too many menus lately. The sauce was a tomato, beurre blanc. It was congealed on the fish. How one manages to congeal a sauce on a warm fish still dumbfounds me. The fish was sauteed properly, but, it was leaking water/fish juice. I can only surmise that it was frozen and it hadn't defrosted completely before they cooked it. The "juice" did not help the tomato "paste" on top. And that paste tasted of white wine that hadn't had the alcohol burned off. Fail. In concept and execution. It came with great french fries. Maybe the fish guy beat the fry guy to the pass and that is why the sauce congealed. I should have anticipated a poor entree after I tasted their bread. It did not seem home made or fresh or good. The butter was a complete insult. It was frozen solid and tasted rancid and/or of the other things it spent the night in the freezer with. And that's if it wasn't melted down from previous meals and reused. They also did not refill a $3 soda. They didn't do anything to the interior. They have been open for four months. There were four other tables eating while I was there. I heard grumblings. They said the manager just left. I wonder if that is a sign. Maybe the rats are already leaving the ship. Maybe he/she was responsible for this mess. This sentiment was made all the worse thanks to an article in the Orlando Weekly that I was reading at the time. It directed me to the next place I'll write about
Urbain 40 - They have been open for half the time and already have their shit together. Even for a meal requested after the expected time window. The place is the domain of a Moroccan family that has some bigger "concerns" in CF. I forget what they are. They say the place is an American bistro (or something like that), but, it's really more of a Parisian bistro you would have found in Morocco or a Moroccan/North African influenced bistro in Paris. You could throw in LA, Palm Beach, Miami or NYC too. The decor reminds me of Trader Vic's (less Tiki) or The Palm ( the originals). Someplace that my grand parents would take us to because it was "in" when they were young and had managed to survive. It's probably the palm tree patterns above the booths. I think they just say "American" because it's not totally French and they think anything Arab sounding would die on the vine. The article said the place looks posh and it does. I would recommend that they separate the two rooms (lounge and dining room) because you get the ass view of the bar (the staging area) if you're on the kitchen side of the dining area. Plus the decors of the two rooms are different enough as to clash. The dining area seats about 50. They have sooo much space free space that you could probably bring your wife and mistress to dinner at the same time. Half "booths" dominate the walls. They even have little corner booths in the middle of the room. I love the chandeliers. That's all I'll say. See them yourselves. The walls are a medium toned stained wood. The vibe is supposed to be the 40's. I think that makes it Art Deco even though this looked more Art Nouveau. I may have that confused. The kitchen is all white tile. It is open. They have a chef's table. The lounge is all wood and has a piano and tributes to Sinatra. It seats about fifty. They are going for a vintage "men's club" vibe. They sell a lot of brown liquor (as Steve Harvey would say). They have two private room done up as libraries. The menu was mostly French at lunch. They add more Italian and seafood/raw bar items at dinner. Prices were reasonable. I had a "lunch box" of three items (can do four) for $14. I chose French Onion Soup, Half a Croque Monsieur and Peanut Butter Chocolate Petit Fours/Squares. The soup was tasty. A cup that was more than enough. It came with everything it was supposed to come with. The ingredients weren't cheap. The presentation/cup was elegant. The Croque was beautiful. Dali couldn't have melted the cheese over the sandwich with more elan. The flavors were impressive as well. A regal ham and cheese. The dessert was also delicious. Two squares of delectable chocolate. ET's finger would have squirted green spuge over these "Pieces". The bread was excellent and home made. It was still warm. The butter was soft and didn't taste like stale fish. Service was great. Knowledgeable. Helpful. Dressed professionally. I saw a "fajita" style Mussels plate come out twice. That looked like a winner. They played Forties era music/covers by new artist's like Michael Buble. I had the "rape song" (Baby It's Cold Outside) in my head the rest of the afternoon. I thoroughly recommend this place. It's everything that Le Coq Au Vin could be and everything it could never be. It's not even a question of where you should spend your money. They don't even break the $3 mark on soda.
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