Date: 4-17-09
I'll try anything once, and unless it's particularly bad, I'll try most restaurants twice before I review it (see LAMILL).
Last night I had my second dining experience at Cafe Figaro on Vermont in Los Feliz. All I can say is "eh".
I ate there with Angie R. a few months ago for the first time and was underwhelmed. I wasn't planning on going back any time soon but it was Stephanie's 30th birthday (congrats Steph!) and she picked it so off we went!
Cafe Figaro is divided into three sections- to the far left the restaurant, the center is the patisserie (bakery), and the far right is more of a bistro. If you are a francophile and are looking for a classic dark bistro then the right side may be a nice option for you. The restaurant had a different feel. First of all, our chairs were very low. It was a bit awkward. The table had a candelabra on it which made it difficult to see the people on the other side of the candelabra. My main fear with the candelabra was that our table for six was three small unsteady tables placed together and I worried that the candelabra would fall.
The food was, as I said earlier, "eh". We started with two appetizers- calamari and crab cakes. The calamari were interesting- they came with some green onions and a spicy aioli. They were decent- not overfried, not overseasoned. The crab cakes were pretty good as well. They were a little softer than I like (I prefer a more dense crab-heavy filling) but were nicely seasoned and came on a light green salad that was well dressed as well as a light sauce.
Jami had the halibut, Andrew had the duck, Chris had the filet mignon, and Lisa had the salmon. Stephanie and I had the hanger steak. The hanger steak is a rather large piece of steak. I could barely finish mine. The mashed potatoes on the side were very good. The steak was cooked as I ordered it- medium. I was not too crazy about the shallot sauce. To me, steaks should have a little sauce or no sauce at all. If you use a quality meat product and simply salt it, it should be good to go. The steak was doused in the sauce and the sauce was not that good. It was a very heavy sauce. When it said shallots I did not expect a heavy red sauce. I will say that Lisa's salmon with vegetables looked amazing, thought I did not have any.
The wine/beer/cocktail list is a good size- lots of good options. The guys and Jami stuck with beers (Spaten and Kronenburg) while the remaining ladies had champagne cocktails. We sampled some sort of dessert wine that they brought us but none of us really enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, the reason why they brought us the wine was that they messed up Stephanie's birthday cake and did not have it ready. For some reason, they thought it was to be ready tomorrow. Andrew (Stephanie's husband) called earlier in the day to confirm and checked in with the host when we arrived at the restaurant and everything was good to go. However, when it came time for dessert, the cake was nowhere to be found. Considering the restaurant has their own patisserie, this was a crucial mistake and definitely brought down the mood of the party.
Thankfully, we were able to stop by Ralph's on the way home and pick up a cake which we all shared with their two shih-tzus at home. I'll take yellow cake with sweet dogs over fancy cake any day!
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