Gold Dig #58
Republique is the French bistro on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list that he says “could turn just about anyone into a gibbering, gluttonous fool”. He is not wrong. From the moment I walked up to the outside of Republique, I fell in love with this adorable spot. You walk in and drool over the indulgent pastry case as you wait in line to put in your order, then claim yourself some seats at the communal tables in the airy skylit area that used to be an apartment court.
The Dish
Strategically placed to break your will as you wait in line, you’ll need to add at least a few items from the pastry case when it’s finally your turn to order. And that’s in addition to the items you’ll want from the menu, mostly French food though with a modern execution and in a fair number of cases a bit of an Asian twist… like the Japanese bowl, banh mi sandwich, and a couple of fried rice options. There are so many things I wanted to try – I will definitely be going back.
Jambon-Beurre
We decided at a French restaurant we should have something traditionally French, so went with the jambon-beurre: ham, French butter, and cornichons on their housemade baguette. Disappointingly, this wasn’t as wonderful as we’d hoped it would be. The butter was too clumped in one spot, and the cornichons were a bit sparse. Their baguettes, however, are quite good, and as a pleasant surprise the baby green salad had a light but wonderfully flavored dressing that made it the most memorable part of the plate.
Victor’s Chili
We also went with Victor’s Chili, because we’d never had chili with duck in it before, and I always love me some duck! I don’t know who Victor is, but he’s a smart cookie to think of putting duck in chili and topping it with a fried egg! The avocado and radish added nice creaminess and crunch. The chili also came with a side of blue cornbread, which sounded interesting but turned out to be somewhat dry and bland – we asked for butter and salt, which made it passable but still not particularly compelling.
Passionfruit Curd Coconut Cake, Raspberry Pistachio Kouign Amann
Of course we had to try some things from the pastry case. We wanted one of everything, but managed to contain ourselves and just select two. Passionfruit is one of my favorite fruits and I often wonder why it seems to be used so infrequently, so I jump at the chance to get it whenever I see an item that uses it. I liked the tangy sweet passionfruit filling and the marshmallow-y top, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the raspberry pistachio kouign amann. I like kouign amann in general, and this was a gold standard rendition in my opinion.