THE GOSSIPING GOURMET: Saucy new chef shines at French 75

There is a new young chef in town and he has taken over the helm at David Wilhelm’s French 75. Mitch Gillan is bringing new energy and his own vision to this bastion of romantic upscale dining in Laguna; gradually infusing the menu with new dishes while refreshing and, if you’ll pardon the now obnoxious but appropriate cliché, “kicking things up a notch.” It just seems everything tastes better now.

If you’ve never been here before, the decor is intended to be fin de siècle French brasserie: white linen, soft lighting, dark wood and red leather booths. There is also an outdoor patio lit by chandeliers and warmed by a cozy fireplace and radiant heaters.

The bar scene is lively and offers the option of dining more casually. They have a selection of small plates or you may order from the regular menu. Martinis abound in all their baroque forms, including an entire menu section of dessert “martinis” such as the curious crème brulée martini and its cousin, the raspberry truffle martini.

Since we last reviewed this restaurant, they have added a three course prix-fixe menu for $34, served until 7 p.m., with a choice of three appetizers, three entrées and two desserts.

We began our meal by nibbling on perfect bread and slathering it with the best tapenade in town. It has always been tasty, but now it’s even better with two kinds of olives, giving it a little texture. Melissa, our very friendly and pleasant server, told us the bread we were raving about, with its dense chewy interior and thick crisp crust, comes from Jacques Bakery in Costa Mesa. Why doesn’t everyone serve bread this good?

A tradition in fine restaurants in France is the amuse bouche, a small complimentary starter, usually one or two bites or sips. Happily, it has made its way to American tables. On our first visit, we had a lovely squash soup served in a tall shot glass and, on this occasion, lobster bisque.

On the menu, upholding their French namesake, is frisée au lardons (a bacon and egg salad with croutons), and escargots with Toulouse sausage and forest mushrooms. Then, there is quail cassoulet with French lentils, as well as bouilliabaisse. California cuisine pops up with spicy ahi tartare with avocado, or lobster two ways: bisque and a BLT slider (bacon, lobster and tomato). New to us on the menu are short ribs and the fricassee of garden vegetables with sage, which we’ll be sure to try next time.

We chose the shrimp in cassoulette (available on the pre-fixe menu). There were five or six shrimp cut in half in a luscious cognac Dijon mustard sauce finished with tomato fondue. The sauce was extremely well balanced and not overwhelmed by cream. Stirring the lightly cooked tomatoes into it added yet another layer of flavor and when the shrimp was gone, we relished soaking up the sauce with that great bread. However, the shrimp themselves were a bit briny.

We particularly enjoyed the chef’s special scallops: perfectly seared and moist with a buttery brown exterior. They came topped with a julienne of leeks that had been sautéed in butter and white wine “” a perfect foil. Drizzled on the plate was a delicately sweet reduction of wine, butter and juices that had real depth of flavor.

Because we have reviewed this restaurant before, we wanted to try the current version of one of its classic dishes, moules frites. We liked it before but now it’s one of the best we’ve ever tasted. The mussels were tender, sweet and succulent. Here again, the sauce was the star and again it had just the right touch of cream, which gave it a consistency that allowed the sauce, abundant with minced shallots, to cling to each and every mussel. Crowned with a mound of thin crispy French fries that were impossible to resist, we gave in to temptation.

Three-way duck was a presentation of duck leg confit; sliced, medium rare duck breast and seared foie gras. The term confit refers to a method of preserving meat, usually duck or goose, by salting it and slowly cooking it in its own fat, then packing it into a crock and covering it with the fat to seal it.

Confit is distinctive for its crispy skin and tender meat. It is also quite salty. This particular leg was a bit too salty and some of the meat was tough. However, the interior meat was very tender and the skin had a nice crunch.

We ordered the breast meat very rare as they serve it in France. It is difficult to find really good duck breast in the U.S. so we were very pleased to taste this one. Nicely seasoned on the outside and rare as requested on the inside, it was served on a bed of tiny cubed potatoes accented by little cubes of apple. The final touch of succulence was the seared duck liver, while the entire dish was enhanced with a deeply flavored port wine, black peppercorn sauce. Chef Mitch certainly seems to shine when it comes to sauces.

On another occasion, we had the Kurobuta pork chop special. Kurobuta pork is now the gold standard. It is pork raised the old fashioned way so the meat is fat and juicy. This excellent chop was paired with especially delicious braised cabbage cooked with applejack and cider vinegar. If you have room for dessert, the chocolate soufflé is their pièce de résistance. This time, we selected the warm rustic apple tart, which is not a tart at all but apples in puff pastry package. It was pleasant but nothing special.

French 75 seems to be back on track and we are eagerly looking forward to more new dishes from this talented chef.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: French 75 (949) 494-8444

WHERE: 1464 S. Coast Hwy

WHEN: Sunday through Thursday: 5:30 to 10 p.m.

Friday through Saturday: 5 to 11 p.m.

PRICES:

Appetizers: $7 to $18

Entrées: $16 to $50

Desserts: $8 to $13

WINE:

Bottles: $30 to $700

½ bottles $30 to $98

By the glass: $9 to $33

Corkage Fee: $20

?ELLE HARROW AND TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at [email protected].