Café du Soleil

[ewindels]

Add to the "I will never again..." thread (which, by the way, is guaranteed to provide a good laugh if you ever need one): "I will never again try a restaurant on opening night if I am not a close friend or relation of one of the owners / backers / managers / senior kitchen staff." When the Times wrote that yesterday was the opening for this new addition to our neighborhood (Broadway between 104th and 105th streets) we kind of assumed that they'd been doing prior friends and family testing. Wrong.

For this reason, it would be totally unfair to comment on our experience. I feel it only decent, however, to warn fellow denizens of our neighborhood, renowned for their frugality and their outrage at any perception of ill-usage, that we mutually agreed the place needs at least a month -- if not two -- to get it's act together. Here's hoping Cafe de Soleil winds up being another progressive culinary addition to a neighborhood still sorely in need.

If, however, you do decide to try it out any time soon -- bring ear plugs.

Edited May 5, 2005 by ewindels (log)

[emmapeel]

Please tell us something... is the room nice (avec bouchons de le oreille)? I'm surprised it opened, because on Monday it was a work in progress that appeared to look as if it needed two more weeks before it would be finished. (It must have been a mad dash, like on that show, "Opening Soon," on Fine Living Network.)

You comment on our neighborhood's notoriety for frugality (and I agree), so are you hinting it's priced unlike the other restaurants nearby?

[ewindels]

Last night was not a night to comment on the decor, of which we couldn't see much cause of the crowd. I will say that it seems designed to heighten the din (tiles) which ought to be rethought. Basically it struck me as Pastis but on the cheap.

My comment on our well-known frugality was more on the lines of: you may not want to spend your money until this place has their act together, which is at the very least a few weeks off, unless you're feeling particularly generous and accomodating.

[emmapeel]

Well it was so busy today (Mother's Day) and there was not an empty seat in the house. They seemed to be holding up under the pressure. BTW, the correct name is Cafe du Soleil. There was a quick mention about the restaurant in the Times.

[Pan]

[...]BTW, the correct name is Cafe du Soleil.  There was a quick mention about the restaurant in the Times.

←

Thanks, Emma. The thread has been retitled accordingly.

[David Leite]

We went there last night and had a mostly fine meal, but there are problems that definitely need fixing.

First, when we arrived, the din and sheer body count was overwhelming. Fire codes had to have been violated last night. We had to squeeze our way into the narrow bar area, into which some backward-thinking waiter had wedge a baby stroller the size of a Volvo. Within minutes we were seated at perhaps the worse table in the place: it was flanked with busy aisles on three sides. We asked to be reseated, and the hostess was extraordinarily accommodating. We got a table with more room by the window. By now I was growing hoarse, as were my dining companions, from shouting.

The service was wobbly at best. Five water glasses appeared on a table for four, the waiter forgot who ordered the wine, and the food was auctioned off: "So, who has the escargot? And the scallops go to whom?" Having been a waiter for years, I saw waiters fired for that.

That being said, we all enjoyed our food immensely. The escargots were served in a piece of garlic baguette that was split on top then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch sections; it resembled a crusty bread ribcage. It was topped with a creamy pesto pastis sauce. I had the fried calamari and was mercifully spared a sauce any shade of red. In its stead was a saffron aioli with a big garlic punch. Both the escargots and the calamari were cooked to within degrees of perfection. No pencil erasers or rubber bands here. One of our guests had the green salad: "What can I say about a salad?" was his response, while the other raved about the Niçoise pizzettas, which was topped with basil puree, plum tomatoes, olives, Parmesan, "and those little fishes." (anchovies).

The main course held up to the appetizers, but were served to us faster than Big Macs and fries. I eyed the rest of the dining room, and customers were barely finished wiping their mouths before the next course was placed down in front of them. Collectively, we had seared scallops with black truffle vinaigrette and sautéed leafy greens (chard); seafood pot au feu; codfish filet braised with tomatoes, mushrooms, and drizzled with a vermouth chive sauce, and steak frites. Again, all of us were quite pleased: the flavors were deep, well-balanced, and well-seasoned.

The meal disintegrated at dessert. I ordered a rustic strawberry-and-apricot tart that was so burnt and dry I sent it back and asked for another. The waiter returned and told me," Sir, I'm sorry, that's the way they're supposed to be served." Oh, really? I looked at all three of my dinner companions, who had tried the tart, and they descended upon the waiter, the poor child. I then ordered the "Cocoa Vin." I think it was supposed to be a dense chocolate cake/brownie baked in a ramekin, served with citrus syrup and whipped cream. It was astoundingly, astonishingly dry—and for me to eat only half a chocolate dessert, it had to be bad. I looked at our guest who had ordered the same thing; he had hardly touched his, too. The lavender crème brûlée was well-flavored, but the custard beneath the sugar topping was so runny, not a pleasant mouth feel.

I'd certainly go back, but not for a few weeks, until they work out their front-of-the-house issues and that terrible flight of desserts.

David

Edited May 14, 2005 by David Leite (log)

[ewindels]

David, just curious: did the crowd look local to you, or, as in the night we were there, like they'd been trucked in? I.e. the crowd on opening night looked like they had made a wrong turn on the way to Ibiza (and thirty years too late, at that).

[David Leite]

ewindels,

No, they looked local, but I did wondered if we stumbled in an an AARP night. I'd say the median age was mid-60s.

David

[Pumpkin Lover]

I went on May 9th as part of a class outing. I wish I could comment extensively on their wine list (I'm learning, I'm learning), but I thought their small, one-page selection was quite nice. We ordered, among others, a Rosso di Montalcino--my first taste of this type of wine, and I swooned accordingly.

I didn't try any other dishes other than the rack of lamb (Carre de Agneau Colette), which came with mashed potatoes mixed with goat cheese and ratatouille. The lamb was tiny but perfect--four small chops cooked just medium rare, right at the perfect temperature. The potatoes were a little dry--they could have added a little more cheese to moisturize the potatoes, but that didn't bother me too much.

No desserts for us. We were a group of 17, I think, and we were seated in the left section against one wall. It was a little disasterous seating all of us--two of my classmates broke glasses while slipping in their seats, and only after the second glass fell did the waiters think to move some tables away from the wall. And water/wine glasses all came out at different times: I had to wait five minutes for a wine glass while four of my classmates poured away next to me.

So, food = thumbs up, service = eh.

Edited to add that the other customers did indeed look local, comparable to the same crowds one sees at Carne, Eden, and Sip, all also in the Columbia area.

Edited May 24, 2005 by Pumpkin Lover (log)

[SarahD]

Nice, but LOUD. The service was good but a little frantic. We were seated within 5 minutes of getting there. I had the bream with artichoke hearts, which was very tasty … HOWEVER, as they serve the whole fish, I really could have used a sharper knife, or dare I say a FISH KNIFE … my date looked at my pitiful efforts to get at the flesh for about a minute and sent it back to the kitchen to have them take it off the bone, which they did happily (not much fish left after that though). My date took pity on me and gave me a substantial taste of his cod, also very good. Apricot tart for dessert. Yummy.