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Bastille, Chef Christophe Poteaux Reopen in Old Town Near Braddock Road Metro


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Dining at Bistrot Royal, we discovered that Mark Slater has left Bastille.  Mark, where did you go and when can we enjoy your equisite wine pairings again?

I heard this yesterday as well. He wasn't by any means the only reason we went there, but it is likely we will be there half as often now. I'm sure it won't be long before he's scooped up by somebody.

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I'm looking forward to visiting Bastille in their new location (especially since it's a short walk from chez moi). The space is looking lovely, based on a peek in the windows a few nights back.

Just a heads up: Bastille no longer has their Chef de Cuisine (Dawn Burkhart, who came from, and returned to, Bistro L'Hermitage ("She's back home now," the owner, Youssef Essakl, told me) or their Sommelier (Mark Slater, who is now at Hunting Creek with Michael Nayeri).

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Notwithstanding the departure of the noteworthy chef and sommelier, I had a really nice meal at Bastille yesterday. The frog legs starter was a nice riff on chicken wings, and the seared scallops with spring pea risotto was nailed to perfection. Not a hint of grit in the perfectly executed scallops, and that risotto was amazing for a French restaurant. My companion had the hanger steak, and the piece he shared with me was delicious and beefy, with a nice chew.

Now I really want to try Bistrot Royal, where Bastille was once located, and which is under the same chef's influence, and I want to get to Occoquan to try Chef Burkhart's offerings....

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I had a really nice dinner with a friend last night at Bastille.  I like the new space, plenty of parking last night on the street by the restaurant.  We sat in the bar area right by the window, and it was a cute spot, great for watching the neighborhood dogs go by and etc.  Nice and bright colors and it just seemed open and inviting. We started off with some happy hour glasses of wine.  I was a little disappointed as I thought they also had food happy hour specials, but what we had was really tasty none the less and not a bad value at all.  I had a few glass of the chardonnay which was oaky, but not buttery, I really liked it.  My friend had a glass of pinot noir, which I think was off, they very quickly replaced with a sancerre that was good.  I haven't tasted a lot of "off" wines, but that one just didn't taste right, but no big deal, which was nice.  Our server was really a gem, very nice and sociable without being too much, informative, but not intrusive.  She was really great.

Food wise: we split the rock shrimp beignets, which were crispy, but not overly done.  I thought they had a nice sauce, but could have used just  a touch more acidity somewhere, but very solid.  Next we had salads, Caesar and wedge.  Both the salads were really good versions of classics, the Caesar had very good dressing, what almost tasted like non-sweet shortbread croutons and a sous vide egg that was lovely.  My wedge was a wedge of leaf lettuces, so not a distinctly wedge shape, but I liked the lettuce better than the traditional in a wedge so no complaint here, topped with really good bacon and blue cheese.  Then I had the pork belly and my friend the mussels, I really liked the sauce on her mussels it was very good for crusty bread.  My pork belly was good, it came with some gnocchi (not the best gnocchi I have ever had, but not bad) and brussels.  I think it may have been better with something besides the gnocchi like black lentils or etc, but that is just my thought.  We split their smore dessert with was a homemade graham cracker, chocolate cheesecake, toasted homemade fluff on the plate, topped with a graham flavored ice cream.  It was really a good dessert.  I liked the portion sizes on the dishes, I felt like we could have a proper coursed meal without it being too much.

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Just thought folks should know that Bastille runs a Happy Hour Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-5pm - $2 OFF Small Plates & Beers, $6 House Cocktails, and $5 House Wines.  These compliment well their brunch menu and contribute to an affordable mid-day meal if you lean toward the day-drinking type.

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7 hours ago, dcs said:

Just thought folks should know that Bastille runs a Happy Hour Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-5pm - $2 OFF Small Plates & Beers, $6 House Cocktails, and $5 House Wines.  These compliment well their brunch menu and contribute to an affordable mid-day meal if you lean toward the day-drinking type.

This is handy, dandy information, thank you!

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Grover and I were the first to snag dinner at Chef Will Artley's pop-up at Bastille.  He's there July 19 to 29 while waiting for his new restaurant to be completed. To say that the five course for $55 dinner we had was amazing does not even begin to describe how well the flavors balanced and complemented each other.  The menu:  Smoked crab cake with root slaw and remoulade (this might be the best slaw I've ever eaten. I could be totally happy just eating five courses of it alone); BLT Gnocchi with Sweet Corn;  Agnoloti with Ham Hock Broth and Popcorn; Sea Bass with Succotash and Horseradish, and for dessert, Banana Trifle with Caramel and Candied Pecans.  Dinner was excellent, the service was impeccable, and the entire experience was a steal at $55 per person.  I had the wine pairings which added $35 to the total but the pours are generous, they paired well (with one exception which I believe was corrected after we finished dinner) and timely. Highly recommended before Chef Wili decamps to Scott's Restaurant, Bar & Cask Club, which will take over the former Co Co Sala in Penn Quarter.

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Superb restaurant week lunch. Sat at the bar. 

1st course was a charcuterie plate with two kinds of salumi and a wedge of smooth liver pate. The pate was amazing! Smooth, balanced, rich without being too rich. The bread basket was very good with crusty breads in two shapes.

2nd course: greens, vegetables in a tangy dressing. 

Main course: croque monsieur was simply fantastic. My first croque monsieur was at Disneyland in the 60's and this version brought back memories of my eating that first sandwich with fork and knife. I wish they would put it on the bar menu at night.

I took the 2 aps option and did not have a dessert. Their desserts are usually fabulous but I was not in a sweets mood. 

Cocktail: Head of state, a Manhattan spn, very good and well made.

Great lunch, nice atmosphere.

In fairness, Christophe, Michelle and I have a friendship based on our many evenings spent at food events. But my first two courses came out before Michele knoew who I was and Christophe was ot running errands.

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Surely someone has been to Bastille since 2020.  Grover and I went tonight and perhaps the no posting should have been a portent.  I ordered from the Bistro Royale side of the menu; an appetizer, main and dessert.  I ordered escargot, bouillabaisse and for dessert, the chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream special.  Where to start with this disaster of a meal?  Escargot, naked snails, mushrooms, unidentifiable pieces of vegetable somethings arrayed in a dish with a liquid at the bottom that wasn't butter, definitely was NOT garlic infused but did have pieces of mushroom (hooray for some flavor). The bouillabaisse?  Avec Homard?  Sure, two pieces of lobster, two shrimp, a limited sampling of shellfish in a somewhat flavorful broth. And for dessert?  Chocolate round somewhat similar to volcano cake minus the volcano, topped with "almond" (?) slivers with sides that almost defied cutting with the supplied spoon.  A tiny globule of chocolate ice cream sitting in lonely splendor. Once past the iron fortress of chocolate edge, the cake was almost the highlight of the meal.  It was actually chocolate tasting.  Quelle surprise.  Oh, and the Sauvignon Blanc that I ordered to come with the entree?  Well after a brief conversation with our server in which I had to convince her that it had never arrived, she graciously brought it gratis followed 5 minutes later by another server bringing another glass of wine.  A bit too late for the main course, a bit unwanted as the plate for the entree was on it's way to a dishwasher in the back.  The absolute worst meal I have ever had at Bastille.  It's a good thing we're nowhere near Marseilles, the outrage would have been heard all the way to Paris.

The first time that Bastille has been a total disappointment.  I certainly hope that this was an off night.  It is going to be some time until we take a chance here again.

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