Halfway through dinner at Bistrot Margot, my companion leaned forward and chuckled, “This place is such an authentic Paris bistro I was just about to complain about the noisy Americans behind me.”
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Judging by the full house on a wintry Monday evening, “they” caught on quick. Only six months old, Margot is Doppes’s second stab at a neighborhood French eatery. The first was the Taylor Street Bistro, in the heart of Little Italy, which after five years he converted into Francesca’s on Taylor, a partnership between Doppes, his wife, Ann, and chef Scott Harris of the Mia Francesca group.
Doppes began cooking at a Red Cross kitchen in Cincinnati when he was 16, but his romance with France took hold at the Culinary Institute of America, the renowned cooking school in Hyde Park, New York. After graduating in 1983, he worked at the upstate New York restaurant of one of the CIA instructors, Clark Guermont. “I lived over the restaurant, making about $150 a week, and really fell in love with everything French–the culture, the cuisine, the history–listening to Clark talk about it all.”
A case in point is his ethereal chicken liver mousse–an elegant, velveteen pate that comes paired with a lusty, country-style terrine. The crab cake, named for mentor Banchet, is light and airy–not crisped as you’d expect–and almost falls apart, but the sweet succulence of the crabmeat sings right through. Grilled portobello gets hits of rosemary, garlic, and blue cheese that add interest without overwhelming the essential mushroom flavor.
The Dish
–Laura Levy Shatkin
