chef’s table
A NEW BEGINNING
Beloved Beaujolais Bistro relocates to Riverside Drive.
WRITTEN BY SANDRA MACIAS
PHOTOS BY SHEA EVANS
Just the thought of Beaujolais Bistro moving gave its Francophile foodies indigestion. “Carbon copy it,” they begged owner/chef Bill Gilbert. Keep it the same. Take the bar, the lacey curtains, the blue awning …
Gilbert took the essentials: his Wolf range, pots, kitchen knives, and Illy espresso machine. The bar he left behind.
In an old brick house on Riverside Drive in Reno, in a revered historic neighborhood along the Truckee River, the bistro still has a certain je ne sais quoi, the charm its fans have always loved. But a peep inside also reveals a new urban beat. The original brick remains, but contemporary accents of open-rafter ceilings and crafted metal, tile, and stonework project a new order.
A bar area, absent at the bistro’s old location on West Street downtown, has been added.
“In the old Beaujolais, you walked right into the dining room with its white-linen tables — no waiting area, no separation between bar and dining,” Gilbert says. “But here, we have two separate spaces.” (The old bar was only used to prepare drinks to be delivered to the table.)
Sociable Nibbles
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The new bar space with its handsome, Euro-sleek bar has nine stools and seating, plus something else new: an over-the-top bar menu.
“The menu caters to a casual, adventurous crowd,” says Gilbert, whose expertise in French cooking spans more than 25 years.
The bar menu features grand French classics such as house-made pâté, oysters, and croque monsieur. But it also includes Gilbert’s French-tweaked creations, such as boudin noir, lamb burgers, and foie gras tart.
This tart of Napoleon-like construction is made with brik, a paper-thin, crispy, Tunisian crepe. Each layer carries a smear of fig jam and buttery soft slivers of foie gras. A cherry reduction drizzle completes the delicacy. Close your eyes and savor.
In the dining room, a fireplace and a small dining alcove framed by three windows add coziness. And the highly experienced server staff remains, offering you seamless service; regulars will be happy to see the familiar faces of Able, Melody, and Francine.
The menus offer an edible tour of French country cuisine. Whether you select an extraordinary goat cheese omelet or exquisitely prepared scallops, meals here are meticulously created. Every dish is beautifully presented with detailed attention, down to the fresh thyme sprig floating on your soup.
From soups to desserts, everything is made from scratch with the freshest of ingredients. Produce is local, often organic, coming from Spanish Spring Greens or the Great Basin Community Food Co-op. Gilbert buys meat and poultry, antibiotic free and sustainably raised, from Northern California providers. His fish and shellfish come from Maine or Portland, Ore. Both areas offer fish of “unbeatable quality,” Gilbert says.
C’est Magnifique Cuisine
So where to start on the menu? Maybe with a daily soup, made to perfection. Try the carrot-red pepper soup. Earthy carrot flavor and red pepper sweetness marry in a harmonious match where neither flavor dominates the other. If that soup isn’t on the menu (which changes daily), perhaps the carrot-star anise will be, or an artichoke soup with truffles and Parmesan. Another stellar option — and a perennial bestseller — is, of course, French onion soup.
Winter specialties of the house include cassoulet, a slow-cooked, hearty comfort food at its best; beef bourguignon, rich with satisfyingly deep flavors of long-simmered meat and wine; and tender, delicious lamb shoulder slow-roasted for 24 hours, cooked sous vide; and steak frites (omitting that all-time favorite would start a revolution). Shellfish dishes feature peekytoe crab with a mango-citrus salad and diver scallops with curried yogurt. Also not to be missed: any duck dish, especially the duck confit, one of the best in town.
In its new digs, Beaujolais Bistro doesn’t look like its old self. But its soul — one of glorious French food prepared with mastery — is still the same. Though not on the Seine, a river runs by it, making it a cool setting to make la scène and be seen.
Sandra Macias, a veteran food writer, has followed Bill Gilbert’s long career from apprenticeships with local French chefs to a well-respected restaurant of his own. Toques off to him for his new venture in a new home.
Beaujolais Bistro
753 Riverside Drive, Reno
775-323-2227, http://www.Beaujolaisbistro.com
Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. and dinner 5 – 9 p.m. Tues. – Sun.
Reservations and walk-ins accepted
Belle Époque revisited
Palettes at Nevada Museum of Art merge with palates at Beaujolais.
Make it a French kind of day, starting with a visit to Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 1880-1910, and ending with a date at Beaujolais Bistro. The exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art, celebrating avant-garde artists who made Paris the place to be at the turn of the last century, is on display through Jan. 19, 2014.
In this fin de siècle period (think Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris), a generation of artists rebelled against Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, while another camp joined in offering new visions for life and society. The works of Toulouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Bonnard, and others present a vibrant picture of Paris in that period.
With more than 185 objects — everything from paintings and drawings to rare cabaret shadow puppets and illustrated theater programs — you’ll walk away with plenty to talk about over a glass of Sancerre at Beaujolais.
For details, visit http://www.Nevadaart.org.
RECIPE
This simple winter soup, courtesy of owner/chef Bill Gilbert of Beaujolais Bistro, is a delicious keeper for your recipe files.
Root Vegetable Soup
(Serves 4 to 6)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 carrots, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 parsnips, peeled, coarsely chopped
1 large russet potato, peeled, chopped in chunks
5 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 pinches grated nutmeg
Salt to taste
Bouquet garni of 2 bay leaves, 5 peppercorns, and several sprigs of thyme and parsley, tied up in cheesecloth
¾ cups cream (optional)
Parsley or sage to garnish
In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat; add onions and leeks. Sweat for 10 minutes, adjusting heat so the onions and leeks don’t brown. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.
Add the chopped vegetables, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, bouquet garni, and chicken broth to cover, adding water if necessary. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and remove the bouquet garni. In several batches, purée ingredients in a blender until smooth, starting on low speed and increasing to the highest power. Strain if necessary. Add cream if desired. Garnish with parsley or fried sage.
