Bistro Garden

12950 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City (818) 501-0202

 

In its 15^th year, this tremendously popular French cuisine restaurant flaunts one of the most elegant rooms in Los Angeles.  Not surprisingly it has also been recognized as the city’s 5^th most successful restaurant by the Los Angeles Business Journal.  It may take some time before you’re tended to with a menu but that’s not because the service is tardy.  It’s assumed that you’re in no rush and would like to savor the glass of wine or martini with the customary chicken liver pate and crusty bread.  While there might be the temptation to aggrandize the menu, it remains refreshingly simple.  There is not a hint of pretension in its straightforward descriptions and just enough detail to deliver the promise of good food. 

 

Although daily specials are also available, our selections were from the traditional menu and started with meaty Louisiana Crab Cakes, fried like croquettes and served with a delectable wasabi tartar and salad.  Tuna tartar with avocados and a priceless kiss of ginger came with toast points and was easily one of the best things on the menu.  The filet mignon in a cognac black pepper sauce was prepared medium rare and accompanied by sweet pureed carrots, cherry tomatoes and delicious scalloped potatoes.  This prime cut of meat, perfect in texture, may still have been a touch too subtle and could have used a dash of sea salt.  A better option were the voluptuous Gulf prawns, coated with Japanese panko bread crumbs, perfectly seasoned and broiled, and served on a bed of fluffy white rice and a delightful mustard sauce.  Be sure to order the chocolate soufflé well in advance so that it reaches your table warm and welcoming of the dollop of crème fraiche and the perfect cup of steaming coffee.

 

Modeled after a European-style Wintergarden, the expansive room which seats up to a 160 guests has 30-foot ceilings, glass latticework and skylights that are a perfect compromise between eating inside and al fresco.  Private parties can take over The Fireside Room where up to 80 seated guests can dine around a 19^th Century Scottish marble mantle and crystal. 

 

While the overall experience of dining here reinforces that a meal is meant to be savored and the patrons should always be treated even more importantly than invited guests at a royal banquet, the trick is in how to keep this from making the experience too formal and therefore inhibitive.  One look around the room and it’s clear to see that they have mastered this talent.  Suited gentlemen and veiled dames sit comfortably next to a family with kids in cotton t-shirts and chinos.  The spacing in the room is commendable because a private conversation is possible even in a room packed with over a hundred people. 

 

-GD