L'Ardoise
Last Friday the hubs and I went out to dinner to celebrate my first full week of work and my first paycheck! It was difficult narrowing down a restaurant since San Francisco has an abundance of great food, but I had heard of a charming neighborhood French restaurant that was near my place. A quick check on Yelp and a look at their menu and 2 seconds later I was making a reservation at L’Ardoise. And let me tell you, it lived up to and exceeded my expectations!
L’Ardoise is the kind of intimate neighborhood bistro I’d expect to find in Paris. It’s a quaint restaurant located in a lovely residential area. Upon entering we were greeted by a host with a French accent, assuring the hubs and I of the authenticity of the restaurant (ha!). The restaurant was dimly lit with a soft glow made by candles and table lamps. There were baskets of baguettes hanging around and the specials were written on a chalkboard. It was really the perfect setting for a nice and relaxing evening of good food and good conversation.
Unfortunately I’m terrible at taking pictures of my food since I always end up devouring half of it before I remember to whip out my camera, so you’ll have to believe me when I say that the food was delicious! We ordered the charcuterie plate as an appetizer, which consisted of a variety of salami and pates. The hubs had the filet mignon for his entree, which he claimed was really good, and that’s saying alot coming from a Korean man who grew up in Argentina (that man knows his meats!). But what was truly outstanding from his dish was the pommes landaises, which are lightly fried potato slices. They were so good that I couldn’t stop taking them from his plate! I ended up with the cog au vin, which was delicious, albeit slightly dry. I wish we had tried the desserts but we decided early on that it’d be nice to walk around the neighborhood to digest and then go for some ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery.
As someone who loves all things French, this restaurant truly brought me back to when I was vacationing in Paris. In fact, during our walk after dinner, the hubs and I talked about traveling to Paris as our next vacation to try all the great food we couldn’t afford and didn’t know about when we were last there 7 years ago. I think what truly made our evening so great was that for the first time since we moved out West, we just enjoyed going out and not having to worry about our finances. We were free to dream and plan our future. And isn’t that what being in Paris is all about?
Wow, I wasn’t anticipating that this be such a long post! Anyway, I know that San Francisco is chock full of French restaurants, but if you’re looking for the one that will transport you to Paris, definitely try L’Ardoise!
A Sprinkle of Adventure 