Clementine – French Restaurant Review

French haute cuisine 3-course dinner at Clementine
for $19.99!

See also: Prix-Fixe Update, 11/15/04

In these trying times, many find it difficult to dine out as they used to. One of the reasons may be cost, since a dinner for two in a restaurant known for its chefs and food can easily come to $100, without wine.

The restaurant featured below, Clementine, has a 3-course Early Dinner during the week for $19.99. The French chef-co-owner, Labbe Didier, was once sous-chef of the famous l’Arpege in Paris, one of the very few Michelin 3-star restaurants in all of France. After that, he cooked at top-rate Spago of Palo Alto and l’Orangerie in Los Angeles.

This 3-course Early Dinner could easily rival others in the City at twice and three times the price. That’s why I chose it.

Clementine
126 Clement St. (2nd/3rd Ave’s), 387-0408.
The Early Dinner, $19.99, is served Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 5:30-7pm. Not on holidays.
The a la carte menu is available 5:30–10pm Tuesday–Sunday, to 11pm Friday & Saturday.

This attractive restaurant is where famed chef Alain Rondelli used to shine. Clementine is continuing in his footsteps. The decor is classic French.

Early Dinner. The $19.99 menu changes weekly. On November 1 it includes, as appetizer, soup of the day or marinated shrimp salad, then, a choice of Petrale sole with green peas in a parsley sauce, or skirt steak with sautéed potatoes & béarnaise sauce, and, as dessert, choice from the a la carte menu (see below).

A la Carte Menu. This menu fares well price wise with other upscale restaurants. Starters, e.g., escargots (snails) from Burgundy in a garlic parsley butter $6.75, marinated salmon terrine with cucumber salad & dill cream $8, mussels “mariniére” with Noilly Prat vermouth and tarragon $8.50. Main courses, e.g., roasted salmon with confit of tomatoes, mashed potatoes & matelote sauce $15.75, breast of chicken “grand-mére” with fingerling potatoes $14.80, honey-roasted quail with 4 spices, porcini mushroom raviolis & truffle oil $16.25, rib-eye steak in red-wine sauce & French fries $17, rack of lamb with parsley, asparagus, & dauphinoise potatoes $17.50 (exceptional).

Desserts — all $6 — include vanilla crème brule, fresh apple tart with vanilla ice cream, caramelized French toast with hazelnut ice cream, butter chocolate cake with coconut sorbet.

Drinks. The huge wine list—a sign of an upscale French restaurant —is one of the largest in the City and includes some of the best French and California wines available, with choice French wines—including Premiere Classe—from $80 to $305.00, the latter for a Saint-Emilion Premier Grand-Cru Classe (are any dot-commers still around?) But there are white wines that start at $19 (Gewürztraminer ’98), and red wines that start at $18 (Mountain View Syrah ’99), also a number of bottles at $15–20. Glasses are $5.50–7.50, Campari & Dubonnet aperitifs $4.50, French & Dutch beer $4.50. If even these prices appear high, ask for tap water; you won’t be thrown out.

Clementine Recipe of the Day:
Chicken Grand-Mere (grandma’s chicken).
Ingredients:
- two 12-oz chicken breasts
- 1/2 lb. fingerling potatoes
   (small potatoes can be substituted)
- 2 oz. button mushrooms
- 2 tsps chopped garlic
- 2 tsps chopped parsley
- 4 oz. (1 cup) brown chicken stock
- 2 oz. cooked bacon
- 2 oz. pearl onions
- 2 tsps chopped chives
- 2 tsps butter
Roast chicken in 450-F oven, breast side down, until tender. Boil potatoes until tender, strain and put aside. Sauté cooked potatoes with mushrooms, garlic, pearl onions, and bacon. Deglaze with chicken jus and butter. Place vegetables in the middle of the plate, slice each chicken breast in 3 portions, and place on top of vegetables. Ladle chicken jus over the top and finish with sprinkled chives. Enjoy!