Sunday, March 13, 2005
Je pense en francais, donc je suis.
Liaison Bistro in Berkeley isn't in a terribly spectacular setting. The location is good - on Shattuck on the north side of the UC campus, but the surrounding environs are a bit divey, but not in a good kind of way. I suppose that area will eventually gentrify, like the Gourmet Ghetto area a few blocks away, but right now it's a work in progress. The decor is a bit kischy - ubiquitous wood and ceramic cocks, and cutesy French phrases painted on mirrors along the walls - and the place is laid out a little uncomfortably. Some of the tables are too large, but we traded one of those in for one that might have been a bit too small. The service was a bit erratic but our waiter, while a friendly face, did not really give us what we need.
I continued my Steak Frites tour of the San Franciso Bay Area with their Bavette dish. A bavette is a skirt steak, not considered part of the flank, but not far away, and is a pretty tough cut of meat. I ordered mine rare, but the meat came pre-cut crosswise already, so maybe it would have been fine a little more done. I'll have to read up on this a bit more. But in any case, the steak came in a flavorful pepper sauce - I thought it was fairly light, although a touch on the tart side - and a healthy pile of frites. The frites were a disappointment - a bit overdone, in my opinion, as they were a touch brown, tasted more of the frying process than of the potato, and were quite dry on the inside. Indeed, they even suggested ketchup or aioli to go with the frites and, sadly, that seemed a bit necessary.
On their website, it seems that the restaurant at one point served this dish with a New York strip steak rather than a skirt steak. That would have made quite a big difference, and would have added a bit to the price. I'm not a big fan of using the choicier cuts of meat in a Steak Frites dish like this one, so I'm not sure how that would have turned out. They did offer a New York strip steak as last night's special, but it was not as part of the traditional steak frites dish.
Ambiance - C
Steak - B
Sauce - B-
Frites - D
Service - C+
Overall - C+
Liaison Bistro in Berkeley isn't in a terribly spectacular setting. The location is good - on Shattuck on the north side of the UC campus, but the surrounding environs are a bit divey, but not in a good kind of way. I suppose that area will eventually gentrify, like the Gourmet Ghetto area a few blocks away, but right now it's a work in progress. The decor is a bit kischy - ubiquitous wood and ceramic cocks, and cutesy French phrases painted on mirrors along the walls - and the place is laid out a little uncomfortably. Some of the tables are too large, but we traded one of those in for one that might have been a bit too small. The service was a bit erratic but our waiter, while a friendly face, did not really give us what we need.
I continued my Steak Frites tour of the San Franciso Bay Area with their Bavette dish. A bavette is a skirt steak, not considered part of the flank, but not far away, and is a pretty tough cut of meat. I ordered mine rare, but the meat came pre-cut crosswise already, so maybe it would have been fine a little more done. I'll have to read up on this a bit more. But in any case, the steak came in a flavorful pepper sauce - I thought it was fairly light, although a touch on the tart side - and a healthy pile of frites. The frites were a disappointment - a bit overdone, in my opinion, as they were a touch brown, tasted more of the frying process than of the potato, and were quite dry on the inside. Indeed, they even suggested ketchup or aioli to go with the frites and, sadly, that seemed a bit necessary.
On their website, it seems that the restaurant at one point served this dish with a New York strip steak rather than a skirt steak. That would have made quite a big difference, and would have added a bit to the price. I'm not a big fan of using the choicier cuts of meat in a Steak Frites dish like this one, so I'm not sure how that would have turned out. They did offer a New York strip steak as last night's special, but it was not as part of the traditional steak frites dish.
Ambiance - C
Steak - B
Sauce - B-
Frites - D
Service - C+
Overall - C+
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