Philippe's Clementine

Of course, things have been off to a somewhat rocky start. We dropped by last Saturday to check out the new place and say hello to Philippe after dinner at Chapeau!, and saw that it was still in pieces, with painter's tape on the walls, no light fixtures, and neither bathroom working. Apparently in 11 years Didier let some of the maintenance of the place slide, and Philippe had to do far more renovating than expected. Philippe tried to demonstrate his new iPod-based sound system for us, which of course failed to work.

Even last night, half the backingboard in the one working bathroom was still visible, and the restaurant still didn't have a phone. Worse for Philippe, it meant that the restaurant wasn't ready for the expected Valentine's Day opening. It actually opened on Friday this week.

But the kitchen's working now, and that's what counts, eh?

Going Saturday, the second day it was open, was like some kind of Gardelle fan convention. It was relatively full, and I doubt that there were two tables of people who were not long-time customers of Philippe's. At the table next to us were Philippe's sister, brother, and sister-in-law.

On openining weekend, the menu looks a lot like the menu at Chapeau!. It even had the same shrimp appetizer (which we ordered anyway, since it was delicious). However, Philippe is already making some stuff different, including my entree, a whole dourade fish in saffron broth. I think more changes will be on the way. Further, the kabocha squash soup and the coffee pots-de-creme were sublime.

The wine list right now is a subset of the Chapeau! wine list. However, Clementine has a full bar and a bartender, so I'm hoping that cocktails will become part of the Clementine experience as well. The seating and layout of Clementine are more spacious and relaxed than Chapeau!., and Philippe has redecorated around a green color scheme with a copper bar.

Overall: as excellent as we'd expect from Philippe Gardelle, and with the promise of more for the future.