Christian Constant Strikes Again with Les Cocottes

Tonight we had dinner at Les Cocottes (pronounced like it looks..."co cot"), another restaurant on Rue St. Dominique operated by Christian Constant.  In a word, it was delicous!  Like its sister restaurant, Cafe Constant, which we ate at last night, they open for dinner at 7 pm and don't take reservations.  The decor is casual bar style with most seats at a long bar and other seats at high-top tables that line the walls on the perimeter.  There really aren't any bad seats and although you might be sitting next to other people at the bar it doesn't have the same closed in feeling as other traditional French bistros with tables crammed in on top of each other (like at Cafe Constant).  We walked in at 7:15 pm and sat down at what we later believed to be two of the best seats in the house......the corner seats at the far right of the bar when you walk in.

We were greeted by a warm and friendly woman bartender who gave us menus in English (guess she could tell we weren't French).  The offereings were broken into "entrees" (appetizers), "cocottes" (mid-sized casseroles served in iron skillets) and larger main dishes (which we did not get).  There were several selections that appealed to me, but I chose the langaustine raviolli as an appetizer and the cod with tomatoes, olives and capers as the "cocotte."  Joe ordered a ceasar salad and the chicken fricassee with lemon and roasted potatoes.

While we waited for our entrees, we enjoyed our wine (served in our own individual bottles) and the best sparkling water we ever drank.  I'm not always a fan of sparkling water, but there was something about this water that was delicious...it came out of a tap at the bar so we're not sure what brand it was.  We ended up having 2 bottles. 

As we enjoyed our wine and sparkling water, we indulged in a basket of bread (me moreso than Joe) and the bartender kept filling up our basket.....all of a sudden we would look down and the basket would be full again...that's my kind of bread basket!  I don't want to even think about how much bread I ate. 

The pace of the meal was perfect (not too rushed) and our appetizers came just in time before I completely filled up on the bread.  I would say that I enjoyed my appetizer more than Joe, but I wouldn't order mine again....it was a little too foamy...I would have preferred more ravioli and less foam.  Joe's ceasar salad wasn't exactly what he expected...it had chicken and a sliced hard boiled egg.  So, by now you're probably wondering what we loved so much.....except for the bread of course.  It just goes to show how atmosphere is just as important as the meal.  At this point, although we were not in love with our appetizers, we were having a great time and enjoyed the bustling atmosphere.

And then....came our dinner!

The presentation was impressive with our meals served in our individual skillets which made the food extra hot (which is something I really like).  The skillets were attached to wooden hot-plates, which we eventually realized were magnetized, a neat invention that we had never seen.   It was then love at first bite for me......perfectly cooked cod seasoned with a delicious blend of tomatoes, olives and capers.  Sometimes a blend of olives and capers can be too salty, but this was not.  It was really perfect.  Joe also loved his meal, but perhaps not as immediately as me....rather it grew on him with every bite.  We both agreed that we would order these cocottes again.

And, then the grand finale......the dessert!  I'm not always a dessert person and most of the time pass it up, but not on this trip!  We seem to be on a chocolate kick so I ordered the chocolatte mousse and Joe ordered a choclate tart.  Both were delicious.....mine had the prefect amount chocolate shavings throughout, and Joe's was dense and rich. We would both order these desserts again. 

I also had a delicious cafe au lait that was served with a spoon-shaped butter cookie....a nice touch. 

We both agreed that we would come here again, but with only two nights left, and three restaurants we would like to return to, one of them will not make the cut.  Tune in tomorrow to see where we end up.