If a restaurant comes off as being too elitist, will it drive customers away? Is there such a thing as a jinxed restaurant location? Jacky Pluton, the owner of Haussmann Brasserie in Northfield, might be working on those two strikes.
This space has seen a few restaurants -- Brasserie T, Meson Sabika, MK North -- come and go, a couple of them not even lasting a year. And with each incarnation (with the exception of the bar area), walls have been moved, colors changed and lights rearranged. Is there a jinx on this space?
What's in a name? Georges-Eugene Haussmann (aka Baron Haussmann) was a French civic planner who played an important role in the rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III. Though Haussmann did transform Paris into the beautiful city it is today, he was a bit of an elitist. He may have been passionate about eating, but he didn't own a restaurant or write a cookbook (though those wide boulevards he fashioned did pave the way for outdoor cafes).
On the other hand, Pluton has a culinary resume longer than a 60-centimeter baguette, so he knows what good food is all about. I believe Pluton was at his best when he was watching the stoves and the store at Provence and Jacky's Bistro. I liked the food at Haussmann Brasserie, but it didn't necessarily bowl me over. And the lighting in the restaurant is horribly bright and glaring.
I would have bet, even before setting foot in the door, that the first dish on the menu would be onion soup gratinee. It was. And I kind of felt I would find a frisee salad. I did. And steak frites? Yes. And so on. The menu at HB comes off more bistro than brasserie. And we've seen most of it before.
Nevertheless, the onion soup gratinee was quite good. The croutes lay thick and moist in the dark, somewhat sweet oniony broth, with a lid of melted Gruyere holding it all together.
The endive salad did its job quite well. Served in a deep bowl, the portion was generous. Crispy-fresh spears of endive got together nicely with crumbles of blue cheese, candied walnuts and thin slices of Granny Smith apples. A sherry-walnut vinaigrette was applied with a light hand. Delicious.
Excellent steak frites, too. The steak was skirt, and it stretched the length of the plate (and a bit over), perfectly medium-rare as requested with a dab of maitre d' hotel butter adding to the richness. Flanking the steak was a haystack of frites. Not the best frites ever, but a huge portion nonetheless.
Beef short ribs are one of the highest-priced entrees on the menu ($28), and the flavorful meat (the menu notes "seven spice" in connection with the meat) was good and easy to pry off the bone. I would have liked to have seen more meat, though, considering the price. A bed of silky mashed potatoes, spring onions and a rubble of corn relish (rather strange stuff, actually) completed the dish.
A side dish of "cauliflower gratin" was enough for two to share. It was a bit undercooked and too crunchy for my taste.
Though entree prices hover in the mid-$20 range, you can get in on the Sunday special, which on this particular visit boasted a croque madame (a croque monsieur with a fried egg on top) for $18. A better bet, though, was the burger (there are three choices). A fine one was the thick and juicy "Royale with cheese." The hunky bun held up to the half-pound of Angus beef from start to finish. It was a bargain for $14.
At first, the dessert menu offered not one surprise -- creme brulee, tiramisu, chocolate cake, apple tart, clafoutis, profiteroles. But with a bit of prodding, we found out the profiteroles were not the usual choux pastry puffs stuffed with ice cream, rather knobs of vanilla ice cream (three in all) sandwiched between plump discs of meringue with a small pitcher of excellent chocolate sauce for an extra kick.
The peach clafoutis almost made the grade. Served warm in a deep bowl, the gently cooked peaches were right on the money, but the batter part (eggs, butter, flour) of this clafoutis wasn't (some peach brandy might have sealed the deal).
Pat Bruno is a local free-lance critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com. Listen to Pat Bruno talk about food and wine Tuesdays at 6:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:53 p.m. on WBBM News Radio 780-AM.
