Cote Sud - 2005.11.12 -- 5.7

The scene
From the street, you go up an uneven flight of stairs to discover a well-lit cozy room. Red slanted ceilings and a tiny painted white window makes it feel like the attic of some country house. Big attic though. A marble-like wraparound bar counter is lit from the inside. Small tables huddles together both in the inside and on the enclosed porch area. Plain white linens, candle lights, and tall slender wine glasses that pout just a little at the lips. You can imagine dining on the porch area, by the window, on a summer evening, looking upon the happening streets of Castro, warmed by a gas lamp beside you (I did say a summer evening, in San Francisco).

The entry
We were starving, or at least I was. So to our delight the appetizers came out not 2 minutes after our order was taken and bread was delivered. And what bread. Baguettes in the shape of individual freeform buns that were warm like they just came from the oven, delicately crusty and moist soft inside. Smack on some butter, we each had two rolls before diving into the appetizers.

Salmon marinaded with honey and mint. Three very large slices (almost sheets) of my favorite fish served just a tad chilled, with a sprits of lemon juice and a sprinkle of microgreens. The honey barely showed through the tang of the lemon juice, but I thought I could detect the mint flavor, and certainly the tight, smooth texture was the work of the marinade process. Syl and JT commented that it was virtually undifferentiable from sashimi. I quite liked this refreshing dish.

Clafoutis of grape tomato. We divided this into three equal parts. JT had a piece that apparently lacked bacon so he wasn't too impressed. I lucked out on a bacon bits laden slice. The smoky salty bacon played perfectly with the light creamy clafoutis (kind of like a quiche), setting off the bits of tomatos and vegetables. Nice.

Mille Feuille salad with seafood and pesto dressing. The plate arrived with a beautiful tower of a pesto mousse layer topped with shrimps and clams topped with shiny bright green leaves. Tiny pools of pesto sauce encircle the tower. All of the appetizers were camera worthy; however I left mine in the car 4 blocks away, up a steep SF hill, so I wasn't about to leave my appetizer unattended and run back. The mousse did not have a good mouth texture. But the shrimps were wonderfully well seasoned and cooked just right. My guess as to the component of the delicious pesto sauce would be basil, cilantro and parsley.

The entrees
I didn't mind it too much, but the service at Cote Sud was a bit too fast. Our entrees came moments after the appetizer plates were cleared.

Seafood Bouillabaisse. Since this place was supposed to specialize in french country food, I thought a bouillabaisse (french seafood stew) should be a good showcase, especially if the bread was good, which is not a risky bet at any french place. Well, the bouillabaisse was kind of disappointing. A tiny copper pot came with a few huge chunks of fish and shrimp, sitting in a broth that was covered in half an inch of orange oil. First thing I did was skim off the grease: that's a definite no no in my books. Then the rest tasted fine but I never got the feel that this was a stew that could have came out of a real french country home. More like a quick pot of seafood broth and potatoes with some seafood chunks thrown in. If I had this at a friend's place it would have been fine, but not at a french restaurant. Especially, it cannot compare with the fish stew from Poggio.

Veal Cheeks. Syl had this picked out before we even got to the restaurant. Two tender, well seasoned cheeks laid out in a plate of veal stock reduction, accompanied by two quenelle of what resembled soft polenta. I would rate it higher than my bouillabaisse, and the sauce went nicely with a buttered dab of bread. However, it wasn't as tender or mouth-melting as the veal cheeks we had at Baker Street Bistro.

Lapine (rabbit). I never really had outstanding rabbit, so I wasn't too enthused when JT elected this entree. All three of us were a bit mystified when the waiter (a slender guy with a girl's voice) brought out an iron rack and a separate deep plate with a ladle and placed them in front of JT. The rabbit, stewed, came in a red metal pot (much bigger than mine, yes pot envy) and it was ladled out right on the table, mash potatoes, breast, leg, and sauce with vegies. As soon as the pot lid was lifted, JT immediately amazed and commented at the heavenly aroma that wafted out. And when we saw the copious creamy white sauce swirling in the pot we knew, we have the perfect bread fodder. The meat was very good, tender and not too dry, but still, tasted no different than chicken. But the sauce/broth was to die for. Before I even touched my own food, I already downed a whole loaf of bread (palm sized) dipping on that sauce. I felt a little insulted when the waiter came to pick up our dishes at the end and didn't seem very impressed that we mopped up every bit of the sauce in the plate. We must have had 5 or 6 rounds of bread just to have more of the sauce. I think "Best rabbit ever" is a fitting description.

The closing
JT, with his appetite a mere shadow of its former glory in the university days, actually made the request to the waiter to skip his dessert. It took about 2.5 seconds for this to sink in with me and syl. I quickly intervened and told the waiter to ignore this crazy man to my left (not my exact words, but you get the point). Then we spent a good minute condemning JT for this atrocious notion of his.

However, in hindsight, it wouldn't have been so terrible if he got his ways. There are very few places where desserts are of a lower quality than entrees. Strange, perhaps. But true. However, I'm sad to report that Cote Sud is such an example.

Creme Brulee. Recommended by the waiter, this by far was the best dessert out of the three. Rich smooth delicate cream, thin well toasted sugar crust. The only complain: the cream was room temperature.

Nougat Glacee, with dried fruits and nuts, strawberry sauce. Sounded good on paper. But unless you are a diehard dried fruits (of the xmas fruit cake kind) fan, stay away from this one. The nougat was a very dense block of vanilla ice cream that had very little flavor in the way of creamy sweetness.

Lemon tart with meringue. This was actually their dessert of the day. I could have bought nicer tarts if I went to a whole foods. Soggy pie shell, lackluster lemon cream, and a meringue top that tasted as if it came out of a spray can.

The value
Even with the disappointing desserts, at $25 for this prixe fixe menu on a weekend, this meal was a very good deal. Especially comparing to the not-so-distant memory of a far pricer French restaurant. And the absolutely divine rabbit more than makes up for the desserts. I wouldn't go back to a place that had good desserts but bad entrees, but vice versa is ok.


$99 for three all incl. (with a coffee)