Sylvain: Chartres Just Got Better

He Said:

We may have to rethink our list of the coolest places to dine al fresco in NOLA:

We dropped in on Sylvain last night, the new place at 625 Chartres, just down the street from the Cathedral, in the space formerly occupied by La  Marquise pastry shop. Sylvain is marketed as a gastropub, “historic, yet thoroughly modern,” as their tag line puts it. It’s new, it’s in our hood: We had to check it out.

The interior space is dark and cozy, with a bar along one side and tables down the other, but the killer app here has to be the very large courtyard. Really, stinkin’ nice!  Because it was, like, 80 degrees last night, we opted for inside dining. But, once it cools down the outside space is worth a visit for its own sake.

First things first: this place is loud. Loud as in, raise your voices a little bit to have conversation at your table loud. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into. I would never suggest this as the quiet romantic place ideal for the whispering of sweet nothings. But, so what? NOLA’s got lots of those places if you want them, and this is after all a pub, even if you put the gastro-tag on the front of it. Within that context, we think the volume worked. This is a great place to bring a crew, and in fact there was a group of ladies celebrating a birthday at the table next to ours. My wife said the vibe reminded her of some places in Spain: so, think old-worldish, fun, lively, and energized.

The front of the house is always one of the hardest things to nail down in a new restaurant, and we always make allowances for this whenever visiting a very new place. I guess we could wait six months to darken the door, as one local critic does, but where’s the fun in that? We understand that you have to get routines down, and maybe determine who on your staff is a superstar, and who is more of a reality TV star. Separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were.  I don’t think Sylvain needs any help in that department.  The service was exceptionally good, and it started immediately. After we declined the courtyard and opted for the dining room, I mentioned to my wife that it was warm inside. Like, uncomfortably warm and I’m not dropping $100 bucks to sit and be uncomfortable warm. We thought we might want to move outside to at least get some moving air. When we mentioned this to our server, she immediately offered us outside if we wanted it, but also told us she would fix the air situation inside. Now, she did NOT say “I’ll talk to the manager and see what I can do.”  And do keep in mind that we weren’t asking or demanding she fix it; our assumption was just that we would move outside.  But, with a smile on her face she immediately took ownership of the situation, and we heard and felt the air click on in thirty seconds. Small story; huge impact. This tells me a lot about who Sylvain hires, and how those folks are managed and empowered. The small things make a big difference. don’t they?

So, thanks to our server, Dominique for that. Well done. Overall, service was very solid all night. Pacing was great, attitudes even better, and Dominique was obviously well-prepared, able to answer all of our many questions about the menu and the restaurant without hesitation. Really, really a pleasant surprise. Chef Alex Harrell stopped by our table to chat for a few minutes, sharing his thoughts on the place and thanking us for coming in.

There’s a very nice, and nicely priced wine list here, with a Rhone red, a red and white Burgundy, a couple of Malbecs, a Napa cab, a Merlot, and the fabulous Orin Swift Saldo Zinfandel blend all under $45. If you feel like splurging, you could do worse than Orin Swift’s Papillion for $80, a great wine we sampled in Napa last year. Or, for $50, you can have an appetizer of Veuve Clicquot Champagne and fries. Nice touch. Last night, several of the wines were out of stock. I imagine Sylvain is still getting a handle on inventory, but to her credit our server ran down the list on the front end for us. I’d had my heart set on the Saldo (you won’t find many better $40 bottles in any restaurant), but had to change in midstream to the 2007 Rubus Napa cab ($44).  And, I am very glad I did. I was unfamiliar with this wine, but it was exceptionally good; a little tight in the beginning, but opening up beautifully over the course of our meal. Brief digression: 2007 was such a good year in Napa. They are still widely available, and it is hard to get a bad one from this vintage. If you’re struggling over a wine list, these are very safe bets. Sylvain also has what looks to be a pretty good menu of beer and designer cocktails, but we didn’t have the opportunity to try those.

Yeah, yeah: What about the food? The wife went with an app of roasted beet bruschetta with sherry vinaigrette and chevre; I opted for the soup of the day: a pear and parsnip puree. Both were solid, and the soup was really exceptional. Parsnips can sometimes overpower, but the flavor of the pear blended perfectly. I loved the fact that the special used what was in season. In the same way, the chef used pea shoots, which we are seeing weekly at Hollygrove right now, to top the fish of the day my wife ordered: flounder dredged in flour over barley, corn, and shiitake mushrooms with a thyme and lemon sauce. Light, fresh, delicious. I went a bit more manly: braised beef cheeks with potato puree, field peas (more like a purple-hulled pea than a green pea, FYI) , and sweet onions. The beef was perfectly cooked, and I thought this dish epitomized what Sylvain is going for: ambitious, but with roots firmly planted in pub food.

We’re on a roll lately, really enjoying some great meals. This was one of them. Two apps, two entrees, and 1 bottle of wine: $132 including tip, so not exactly budget fare. But, you could also drop in for a drink or two and an appetizer and spend much less.  Or just man up and go with the bubbly and fries. Hmmmm. So, thanks for joining the neighborhood, Sylvain; we’ll be seeing you again soon.