Really Really French Food at The Wine Restaurant - in Phnom Penh

The Wine Restaurant
Street 19 (Right off Street 240)
Telephone: 023 223 527
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The obviously named Wine Restaurant is a popular oasis for French expats, who enjoy the large wine selection, highly French-ified menu, and nice, open dining area. Most Phnom Penh residents hit up the Wine Restaurant for its high value $10 three course lunches, which I can verify are very nice: goat cheese toasts with salad, boeuf bourguignon, and strawberry sorbet, all nicely prepared and at a rock-bottom sum.

A very pleasant amuse bouche of puff pastry filled with shrimp in cream sauce.

Things get a lot more expensive at night, which is when my visiting parents charitably took Phill and I to the restaurant. Everything is both ala-carte and exceptionally French, although Kampot pepper sneaks into the menu. There's an emphasis on steaks, cream sauces, fresh seafood, foie gras, and cheese - and, obviously, the wine accompaniments to such delicacies. Good news is we were feeling hungry.

My father and I shared an appetizer of seared foie gras with fruit compote, over a salad. Foie gras is an elemental, slightly perverse dish in its all-encompassing richness - you love it, you hate it, you think it's cruel, whatever. I love it, at least in somewhat reasonable quantities, and this was very nice with the slight sweetness of the jammy fruit. It was served with somewhat unpleasantly bitter greens with balsamic, which actually made a nice counterpoint if eaten in tandem with foie and jam. This stuff ain't good for you, but it's certainly warranted every once a while. Well, except for you PETA types. Sorry.

I selected the seared scallops with mushroom sauce. They were presented very attractively, in a circle around a subtle balsamic reduction and a bit butter lettuce with mustardy dressing: the creamy mushroom sauce was served in a small cravet on the side, which I thought was rather clever. A scallop is easily overwhelmed, and allowing the diner to select how much sauce they'd like is a good idea. The sauce itself was a nice, vaguely boozy cream sauce and very nice: it would also suit a steak.

My father, ever the meat lover, ordered a simple rare strip steak with a side of frites - a classic French dish - with a side of red wine sauce. My dad, who knows his way around a steak, reported that it was good, and the red wine sauce was also a serviceable effort. Worthy of particular note are the fries, which are crisp, thin, nicely salted and generally good. Pretty much a requirement in a French restaurant that's actually trying.

Suspicious of Cambodian beef (although I believe they import everything here, as do most expensive restaurants in Phnom Penh - Cambodian beef is stringy), Phill and my mother both ordered the seared duck. This was a seared breast of duck served with a Kampot pepper sauce, some salad, and the aforementioned Good French Fries. Accolades all around: nicely cooked and high quality meat. Duck isn't ultra common in Cambodia, but the good stuff is easy to get: duck herders sell their plucked, fresh off the farm wares on the road to Siem Reap, while duck herders move their charges about in many areas of the countryside.

We finished with fresh passion fruit sorbet with a small wafer cookie in it, perhaps the ideal dessert in Cambodia's climate. Some other French desserts are on offer. I can't remember what they are. Sorry.

The Wine Restaurant is a fine choice for a high-end Gallic meal - with a formidable wine selection - in Phnom Penh. Especially relevant if you have finally tired of fish amok, loc lac, and fried rice, and would really like to eat something incorporating a cream sauce. The dining room is respectfully hushed, while service is on-point and well trained.

All the actual French people seem to filter into the restaurant from 8:30 onwards, so you may have the place to yourself if you come early. An added plus for those with kids: there's an outdoor play area with a totally bitchin' dragon-themed play car. It's been hard to resist the urge to jump into it many times myself. Mostly when drunk.

Le Marmite: Thank God for the French (Well, Sometimes)

Le Marmite
#80, Oknha Ing Bun Hoaw, St 108, Corner of Peam (St 51)
023 998 161


Phnom Penh has a lot of French restaurants - not surprising, for a former French colony. A French friend of mine, who lives in Thailand, says he comes to Cambodia mostly to eat good French food. I'm certainly not complaining about the ready availability of boeuf bourguignon, crepes, and steak frites in this part of the world.

Le Marmite is a rather worthy contender in the PP French food scene, located in a somewhat out of the way spot close to Wat Phnom. It's on a kind of seedy looking block and looks less than sexy from the outside - which kept me away for a while - but is very salubrious and contemporary on the inside.

The menu hits up all the usual French classics—alongside a good selection of pasta— with a lot of revolving specials, and is quite reasonably priced. Naturally, there's a good wine list.



These little pastries containing gorgonzola and ham were absolutely fantastic, served alongside a small, garlicky salad. Buttery puff-pastry and a healthy amount of cheese: would order again. I'm kind of fantasizing about them right now.



My tragically lactose-intolerant boyfriend went with the spaghetti bolognese, which was quite good and prepared in the traditional (read: not painfully saturated with tomato) style. Portion sizes are not huge here, as my boyfriend observed, although nothing is ever quite large enough for a very tall Iowa boy transplanted to the Land of Tiny Things (and people).

More buffet coverage coming soon to a blog near you. Actually, Phnom Penh has a pretty healthy number of all-you-can eat places, though they must be hunted for, at least more so than in the USA.

Luke New Orleans: Mmm, Oyster Salad

Luke Restaurant
333 St Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 378-2840


I would like to draw your attention to the tastiest dish at New Orleans' Luke restaurant, celebrity chef John Besh's stab at a French lunch joint. Luke is a good restaurant, the kind of place me and my friends go to a lot out of force of habit - Besh with somewhat reasonable prices, and a nice, rather roaring-twenties atmosphere. (They do serve wine in glasses. I don't approve).



The best thing on the menu if you're going around asking me (you fool) is the fried oyster salad with bacon and avocado. Something about the synthesis of flavors is absolutely perfect, combining three of my favorite foodstuffs in the world into one single, delicious dish. Do not fail to order this. With a cup of (dark, rouxy) gumbo, you won't break the bank and have a very tasty meal.



They also have really good, double-fried fries (frites, whatever) which are served in a paper cup so you know they're fancy. But they are indeed delicious, possibly the best in town, and complement well with the enormous Luke burger. They serve it on a wood block.

Luke is populated mostly by business people doing deals and people staying at the Hilton it's inside of. Service can be hit or miss - our most recent visit was rather slow, and the AC, like many New Orleans ACs, seemed to be intent on killing us. But that's the nature of the beast. Go and eat that salad.

Comme Maison: Francophile Food in Phnom Penh

Comme a La Maison
#: 023 360 801
#13, Street 57
Open everyday, from 6.00 to 22.30.

Phnom Penh, as you're probably aware, is a relatively Frenchified city. It was called the Paris of the East prior to the wars, known for its long avenues, European-inflected architecture, and wealth of green spaces. That's all faded now, covered in a veneer of grime, vaguely scented of trash, but you can see it sometimes, in snatches, if you look up at an apartment building.

This French background is also reflected in the city's food. Few Khmers are left who speak any French, but plenty of French people visit here and work here, and Phnom Penh hosts a profusion of French restaurants. Comme Maison is among them, and a very worthy contender in a field that occasionally delves into European-inflected horror. It's located in a small and very private garden dining-space on Street 57, near the expat ghetto of Street 278. (Ye shall know it by overpriced NGO boutiques with exotic-patterned wrap-dresses and lots of garden-cafes with menus focusing on mashed potato and alcohol).

You can sit in Comme a la Maison and quite handily forget you are in Phnom Penh, away from the constant sound of motorbikes, back-firing tuk-tuks, and people shouting at one another on the street.. The menu is fairly simple French cafe food, with a very light hand compared to most Francophone restaurants abroad. There are steaks, pizzas of various sorts, quiche, composed and high-quality salads, ratatouille, an extensive dessert list (the chef was an ex-pastry chef), and a lot of wine on offer. There is also an excellent fruit salad. Sounds mundane, can be difficult to correctly execute.

There are usually a number of specials, many of them involving kidneys and other "variety" meats suitable for the hardcore. There is merguez sausage on the menu and exceptionally pricey lamb chops, which I have eyed hungrily but have not quite pulled the trigger on yet. A shame that lamb is difficult to find here.

I shall commend them for a steak both good and economical. You can order it with a couple of side dishes - the first is free, the second costs a $1.50. The mashed potatoes are excellent, and so is the ratatouille. The steak was rare and slightly bloody, just the way I like it, and was offset beautifully with a bit of mustard and a glass of good red wine. The bearnaise sauce was excellent. You can also get a shallot compote, a pepper sauce, and a number of other things. This is an establishment where getting sloshed on red wine with friends is both perfectly acceptable and perfectly normal.

I have also tried a very nice baked seafood casserole here. My friends also swear by the chocolate mousse—my utter lack of a sweet tooth hinders me a bit here but I'll go off hearsay. The bread here, if you're one of those bread basket freaks, is pretty good. If you are one of Those People who demands oil and vinegar with bread, this is possible but will involve the high level interrogation of an innocent waitperson.

Prices are expensive by Phnom Penh standards, but not insane—the quality of the food is high, and the dining room is lovely. I have been told it is a grade A date place, if you were wondering about that sort of thing. It is 100% guaranteed that no street urchins clutching books will bother you while making a move.

DELIVERY FOR THE OFFICE-ENSLAVED: They deliver. It's a bit pricey, but it's the same stuff as at the restaurant, and makes a nice luxurious splash-out during a long day.

Luke New Orleans: Besh goes Euro

Luke
333 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130
504.378.2840
lukeneworleans@chefjohnbesh.com
Open Daily: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Luke is John Besh's riff on a European bistro, located smack dab in the heart of New Orlean's Central Business District. The rather art-nouveau interior is wood-accented and generally full of solo businessmen noshing on meat dishes, couples slurping oysters, and nattily attired and hyperactive wait staff. It's a fine ambience.

The menu focuses on fairly traditional European favorites, accompanied by John Besh's trademark nods to Louisiana produce and products. There's a special every day, and the menu seems to change with some measure of limberness to suit the season. This is a good thing.



A fine beet salad with gorgonzola, walnuts, and nicely roasted red beets. My gripe involves presentation: one can't see the beets when the dish is brought to the table, as they are buried under a mat of rather pedestrian looking spring mix. Pretty it up, folks.



These crab ravioli were quite tasty with a subtle flavor and a suitalby light Meyer lemon cream sauce. However, they could definitely have been warmer - and lukewarm cream ravioli is not a particularly wonderful thing.



This vanilla scented duck with local red cabbage, mayhaw, and fried potatoes was falling-apart tender and decadently rich, with an alluring, slightly dessert-like flavor form the vanilla infusion. There was, again, a temperature issue. The kitchen needs to keep an eye on this.



Some nice local oysters, served with saltine crackers on a special plate. I would be lying if I said this didn't amuse me.



A fresh crab salad with tarragon and a bit of egg tossed in, served over spring mix. This is a simple and rather traditional Southern dish, and it is carried off very nicely here. Crab does not require over-embellishment, and the kitchen thoughtfully held back some here.



A very nice rendering of moules frites, in a light and herbacious broth with garlic and thyme, and accompanied by tasty shoe-string french fries. These were nice fresh big guys and there were only a few shut-in bummers in the batch.

We also sampled two side dishes: a superbly flavorful and meaty sauerkraut with a hint of apple and bacon, and an insanely porky serving of collard greens with a macho hit of flavor. Both are knock-outs and you really should order them if you know what's good for you.

Service at Luke is friendly and personable, and the food came out admirably quickly - sitting in the back room garners a nice view of the open kitchen and busily working chefs within. On the whole, Luke is a dependable spot to nosh on some upmarket bistro food in a gracious setting. Let's just get those temperature issues figured out, and I'll be heading here for sauerkraut and duck for a while to come.

Plan B Restaurant: French Noshes, Mussels and Stuff

Plan B Restaurant
555 La Sierra Dr (Intersection of Watt and Fair Oaks)
Sacramento, CA 95864
(916) 483-3000

Plan B Restaurant is located in a rather unassuming Carmichael area shopping center, contending for the upper-middle-class dining out crowd that can't quite summon up the energy to drive all the way to Midtown. The restaurant was originally located in the Pocket region of town and was quite successful there, and, judging from the convivial crowd gathered here the other night, success has followed them. The owner originally hails from Provence and has attempted to transplant some of the food and ambience of his homeland to Carmichael, God bless his soul.

Plan B specializes in casual Frenchish bistro food, with a menu that focuses on small plates, salads,"tartelettes" (glorified pizzas), and a considerable assortment of mussel preparations. There are usually some larger, shareable plates on offer, as well as various and sundry side dishes. There's even a Frenchified burger with wild mushrooms jambon de paris, emmental, butter lettuce, and béarnise, which sounds nothing if not compelling. (Or overwrought, can't quite decide).



The mussels provencale in a spiced tomato sauce were quite good, with a piquant, briny flavor and a nice undertone of basil. The sauce was definitely considerably thicker then I'm used to in mussel preparations, but was still appealing. As every review of Plan B since the beginning of time itself has noted, the bread served on the side sucked. Let's get that over with now. (But yes, really, guys, you might want to rectify that. Gotta have good bread to go with mussels). The accompanying frites were pretty good and crispy, though not earth shakingly awesome or anything of that nature.



The short ribs, somewhat to our surprise, turned out to be served in a shepherd pie like format. This was a bit disappointing as the primary allure of a short rib is (to my mind) the enormous Fred Flintstone like bone the meat is presented to you on, with marrow intact if you are really quite lucky. This was a perfectly fine Shepherds pie with some fairly rich meat and a nice flavor, but it wasn't particularly remarkable - and could have been a smidgen warmer. Still, it functions nicely as pure comfort-food. The roasted vegetables on the side were quite tasty, though admittedly I am a perennial sucker for butternut squash.



The sea bass was also in the pleasant-but-unremarkable category, with a rich butter sauce and an accompaniment of mashed potatoes and fairly pedestrian vegetables. I'd shoot for more pizazz with an entree in that price point, personally - a bit too much of a hotel food thing going on here.

We also sampled a pleasant mache salad with brie, apple, and a light mustard vinaigrette, as well as the buttery (but small) tartlette.

The space is urbane and hip, which is quite a feat for a strip-mall located eatery - think minimalistic yet comfortable and you're not far off. Service was attentive, but rather slow - which is not necessarily a bad thing when one is relaxed and enjoying a good bottle of wine. Keep that in mind when considering Plan B as a pre-movie option.

On the whole, Plan B serves up good but not great French food in a convivial and friendly atmosphere. It's a very serviceable neighborhood hangout, and I do think I'll return for some booze, snacky items, and mussels.

Farmer's Market Profiles: Crescent Cremes

Crescent Cremes Pralines



Crescent Creams produces some of the most divine pralines and candies in the area. Wayne Brown's creations include the distinctly old-fashioned Nipples of Venus, and delicious "gator mints," a buttery and addictive concoction with the fresh snap of real mint.



And of course there are big and delicious pralines, in four different flavors: coconut, cafe au lait, chocolate, and the much-beloved pecan. Gift boxes are available for far-flung praline lovers, and can be ordered off the website.



Crescent Cream's story begins in the aftermath of Katrina, when Mr. Brown began to make pralines as a "thank you" gift to those who had helped him get through the storm. Using his mother's recipe, Brown's friends ate them up - more then that, they told him he should start selling his candies. Which he did. Brown is now a fixture at the Crescent City Farmer's Market, selling his delicious treats to a healthy contingent of satisfied customers.



Brown told me a little bit about the illustrious history of his Nipples of Venus, which hail from an extremely old French recipe. The mildly erotic looking candies are the antecedents of the flat pralines we know and love today, and were called "prasline" in their native home. The name is thought to be a homage to sugar industrialist and candy genius Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, who invented the European style praline: almond in caramelized sugar. The chef, Clement Lassagne, has a variety of origin stories surrounding him and the invention of the praline. An innocent tale involves the curious Clement coming upon children caramelizing sugared nuts over an open fire. A more colorful version involves the hound-dog du Plessis-Praslin asking the chefs to invent a treat that would really make court ladies skirts fly up - we may never know the truth.

French immigrants to New Orleans brought over their candy recipes, and found that local pecans made a convenient substitute for the almonds they used back home, added cream for thickening purposes, and incorporated local cane sugar: the recipe evolved in a delicious direction from there on out. Nipples of Venus, then, may be viewed as primordial praline, a true taste of the past, complete with a "scantily clad" chocolate drizzle. Nipples of Venus are still a popular treat in Europe, and turn up in a dizzying array of varieties around the continent.

Praline in Europe means something different from the flat patties known in the Southern USA. European praline generally refers to ground sugar coated nuts, and is often used in pastries, cakes, and chocolate candies. It's tasty stuff, but in my (unbiased) opinion can't hold a candle to the stuff we eat in America.

Some Thoughts on Salad Nicoise

Salad Nicoise is a truly classic French dish. It is also one of those Things I Never Think About Making. All that changed over the summer, when I somehow concluded that a nice salad nicoise was exactly what I needed to make. A quick consult of Julia Child and the Simply Recipes blog provided an almost-comically easy blueprint. The results? Delicious.

Like all regional specialities, the "right" way to do Salad Nicoise is fiercely debated in its native Nice, in France's Cote D'Azur. The original salad Nicoise, according to the Wikipedia oracle, included: "raw red peppers, shallots, and artichoke hearts, never potatoes." Salads on a platter like this one were apparently popularized in the 1880's, although some claim renowned choreographer George Balanchine played a key part in creating the salad we know and love today. Salad Nicoise really took off in the USA due to the titanic influence of one Julia Child. Here's a Salad Nicoise recipe from Nice (in French) if you're curious.

Here's a charming article on Salad Nicoise in its homeland from the Guardian.


Here's Nice. Would hate to have to go THERE.

The classic Salad Nicoise uses canned tuna - in oil, thank you, the watery stuff isn't really worth eating. I've prepared this with both some simple poached salmon and with grilled tuna. According to this amusing NY Post article, food critic Mimi Sheraton believes that fresh tuna is "a travesty". Eh, whatever, Mimi. Both versions are delicious in my book.

I ended up making Salad Nicoise quite a bit over the summer, as I became more and more enamored with the combination of savory capers, crunchy haricorts verts, and creamy potato. I suspect you'll fall in love too as soon as you make it. Salad Nicoise's other tremendous advantage? It can look incredibly pretty with almost no effort on your part. There is nothing not to love.

Nicoise Salad:

Vinaigrette: (I use Elise's over at Simply Recipes. This is definitely my new favorite salad dressing. It has some of the creaminess and savory flavor of a Caesar without the calories. Excellent).

1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

You can either whisk this or blend it. Blending produces, in my opinion, a superior creamy texture.

Salad Faine-Style:
8 or 10 baby red potatoes.
1/2 lb haricots verts/baby green beans.
Eggs (I don't use eggs. You may if you don't consider hard boiled eggs an agent of Satan, like myself).
Butter lettuce and/or romaine.
A carton of good quality grape tomatoes. Use the fancy colored ones for extra visual appeal.
One red onion.
Nicoise olives.
Capers.
Feta or goat cheese if desired.
Radishes.
Artichoke hearts.
Thyme to sprinkle on top.
Tinned anchovies (optional).

Boil the potatoes in some hot water, until creamy and delicious on the inside. Do the same for the green beans, and the eggs, if you are one of those people who actually uses them. Slice the grape tomatoes in half for maximal squidgy appeal and less chance of squirt-in-the-eye tragedy. Slice the red onion.

If using tuna, take it out of the package and brush with a little bit of olive oil. Sprinkle on a tiny bit of salt and pepper. Light a grill or heat up a grill pan. Grill according to doneness. You won't need more then a couple of minutes for a delightfully rare seared tuna steak. Slice and chill for a few minutes.

Arrange the whole shebang in an attractive manner in a big salad bowl. Approach the process as if constructing a color wheel. What ingredient looks purty next to another ingredient?

Put the tuna on top or serve on the side, according to your preference. Drizzle on the dressing and toss. Devour.

This is excellent with a dry white wine. Even better if eaten outside at the end of a really hot day. Those residents of Nice are onto something.