Meet French Bistro

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Meet, a French Bistro, located where L’Hermitage Bistro used to be, is a lovely addition to the Culver City area. This is not a typical pretentious French restaurant with exorbitant prices. The all French wait staff is very attentive while still maintaining a very unhurried atmosphere. Dinner is served at a French pace, no one is rushing to turn over your table, so you can have a nice leisurely meal. The service is excellent, new plates and silverware are brought between courses, the waiters aim to be unobtrusive and always try to serve to the left and clear to the right. We had mussels during our meal and when our bowls were full of shells they were replaced before we even realized it was necessary. Our table had a slight wobble that we didn’t even notice, but when one of the waitresses was setting something down she noticed it and had it fixed immediately. I was quite impressed with this unassuming establishment. It’s located in a less congested area of Culver City so sitting out on the patio is like sitting in a little cafe in Paris and the food is just as good too.

Our meal started with an amuse-bouche care of the Chef. It was the soup special of the day, a carrot and ginger soup, served in a charming cappuccino cup. The soup was delicious and a very pleasant way to start the meal.

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We tried a few different hors d’oeuvres, one better than the next.

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The Crab Cakes ($10) were very flavorful and served with a red bell pepper coulis.

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Tomato Tarte Tartin ($10) is tomato confit with bosc pears, bleu cheese, frisee and served on a puff pastry.

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Escargots a l’ail ($10) is served on a delicate puff pastry with garlic and parsley butter. The escargots was cooked well and the sauce was delectable.

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The menu features a Meet for….Mussels and Frites! section with mussels prepared 10 different ways! This is a little slice of French heaven, we tried 3 different versions [pictured from left to right]:

Provencale ($19) ~ Steamed in white wine with shallots, garlic, tomato, thyme,
fennel & fresh tarragon

Dijonaisse ($19) ~ Garlic, shallots, tomato confit, house mustard, tarragon and cream

Thai ($20) ~ Indian curry, garlic, cumin, lemongrass, coconut milk , cream

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The mussels were perfectly cooked and the sauces very flavorful. The frites are yummy but before you know it you’ll be ordering more bread to dip into the delicious sauces. The Thai preparation was the most unique, but the other two preparations are classic and all worth trying.

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All the dessert options looked scrumptious but with such a heavy meal there wasn’t much room left for dessert. We tried the Creme Brulee (Tahitian vanilla bean, turbinado sugar) ($9) and apple tarte tartin (Red delicious apples, caramel, puff pastry) ($10)

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Overall, we had a delicious meal, the sauces are to-die-for, and we shared two carafes of reignac, bordeaux. Definitely coming back to try the Roquefort mussels, steak, scallops, and again for brunch 🙂