Franco is Frankly Just OK
Aug 27, 2007 restaurants, reviews
We went once pretty early on and I was pretty under whelmed. Sauted Foie was cold, sweetbreads were, well, standard sweetbread fair. Lamb shank was bland….I don’t really recall everything from that visit, but we sort of steered clear after that as we left with what has become a very common theme in St. Louis. “We’ve had far better for far less”.
I ended up downtown Friday night alone, so I figured I’d go sit at the bar and give it another shot since it won best new restaurant votes all around, and Ian Froeb, who tends to feel the same way about places I do, seems to really like it.
Upon arriving around 8:30, the place was absolutely packed. I grabbed the one available stool at the bar and immediately felt that this was the better side of the room. While the room as a whole is actually really slick for St. Louis, I really preferred the vibe in the bar compared to that of the dining area on my first visit. I don’t know if that’s just a reaction to my having sat in the restaurant early on or perhaps a reaction to the service we received on our first visit which I recall having put me off quite a bit. I noticed that amongst the front of house staff were former Niche, An American Place and King Louie’s service staff, so that clearly says something about Franco. Whether that is quality of service, a hip place to work or perhaps deep pockets I do not know.
The menu is laid out such that you have 7-10 Apps, about 5 salads, 3 “Big Bowls” I believe they were called and 4 entrees. I’m not a huge fan of giant entrees, and the choices seemed pretty safe on both visits as I recall. I went for three appetizers on this visit which better suits the way in which I like to dine. More flavors, smaller portions. I was saddened to see when looking over the menu at dessert that they had a $3 portion of pork rillette that I’d have liked to try. Rillette of anything when done right is one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten, and always brings back memories of a rabbit rillette with fig compote I ate at Bouchon.
For my first dish I had Foie Gras en Torchon w/ sauted watermelon & peaches and a port reduction I’ve never had watermelon with foie before and as I was drinking a Chateau Valmaer vouvray I felt it would accompany the wine nicely and ordered it. The torchon itself was really nice, and better then the one I’d had at an American Place a few weeks ago. I didn’t care for the dish, however, for a few reasons. If you’re going to serve something like this, you need to make sure you have impeccable produce, and I didn’t feel the flavor of the peaches or watermelon really delivered. They can’t have been local peaches, because the local ones fizzled out a few weeks back, so why serve them. The second gripe was that I didn’t feel like the watermelon peach combo even meshed well. He should have gone with one or the other, rather then combining these two flavors. Third, the torchon sat on a melba toast of sorts. It was kind of soft, however, to be, I assume, easy to cut, and didn’t add anything to the dish in my opinion.
Second, I had Fried Green Tomatoes with a 5 rock chile crab salad and avocado. This I really liked. It was a sort of kicked up comfort food of sorts. It was maybe a tad spicy for some people, but I’m not very sensitive and didn’t mind the heat, thoroughly enjoying it’s flavors. I stuck with the vouvray on this course as it was the original reason for my choosing it in the first place.
Third I had Grilled Beef Brouquette with a mushroom blue cheese relish. I believe it was tenderloin as it didn’t have a particularly great beef flavor. Whether or not it was a relish I will leave for someone else to argue, but I will simply cast my vote as no. Overall, it was neither good nor bad. It is the kind of thing I’d whip together to eat at home, but it’s not exactly a best new restaurant winning dish in my opinion and could have really benefited from a more flavorful cut of beef.
Last I had a Strawberry Shortcake. So simple, but easily the best thing I had all night. It was traditionally straightforward (a biscuit, fresh berries and whipped cream). I was drinking a La Fin du Monde at this point, and I hadn’t expected to drink it with the shortcake, but it was easily one of the best beverage pairings I’ve had in a long time. Who would have known? It’s always nice when culinary accidents like this happen.
The fried green tomato and strawberry shortcakes made me think of the other Justin Keimon food I’d had in the past, and it struck me that the one other thing I can vividly recall eating of his, from years ago at RL Steamers was a crab cake. Easily the best I’ve ever had in the city I was a bit taken back by it, as it’s not something I would order, and found myself wanting to continue eating it after sampling one of our companions. It was packed with flavor and more importantly the standard accompaniment, remoulade, was traditional and sticking with the theme, simple.
So after two visits to Franco, I do think it’s better then it was when I first visited. Keimon has a great grasp of making simple, comfort type dishes absolutely delicious, but when he over-extends his reach, things can get a little weird almost for the sake of being weird.
Initially surprised by it’s winning best new restaurant, when asked by a friend what I felt the better choice would have been, I admittedly had no better response. I don’t believe that speaks to the quality of food that Franco is putting up, however, as much as it is to a lack of truly great restaurants opening in the last year.
Tags: Franco, Justin Keimon
