Comme Ça: so-so

It's been a while since I felt the "need" to share stuff about what I like. Mainly, it's been due to what I mentioned before (broken hand), and some due to the economic situation. Well, things are starting to get back to "normal", so I have been able to indulge in the occasional dining out foray.

This time, I'm back on the west coast on some business around west Hollywood where there's a restaurant in practically every corner. I am going to try my best to sample as many interesting places as I can.

Today, I searched the web and some local mags for some suggestions. This place (Comme Ça) popped up on the list as a french bistro fare, and google maps put it a few blocks away, so I decided to give it a try.

The place is on Melrose avenue in a nicely decorated place that attempts to give you the feel of a french bistro in what feels like an American way. There's a nice bar as well as a cheese "bar" close to the maitre d' where a lovely lady was working on cheese platters.

I ordered a glass of '04 Bordeaux that I cannot remember the name (it was just OK), a roasted beet salad with goat cheese for the starter dish, Duck confit for the main course, and decided to finish with a raspberry breton for dessert.

The salad was reasonably well executed. I would have hoped the beets were warm, but they were nonetheless good. The dressing worked well with the vegetables as well as the herbed goat cheese.

The main dish was rather strange: The menu said Confit leg of duck with roasted potatoes and caramelized onions. I got the aforementioned ingredients, but with a bizarre (to me) addition: a mound of cold, regular run-of-the-mill cole slaw between the duck and the roasted vegetables. I even had to ask the waiter if they had put the slaw there by mistake. He claimed that is was "a new preparation". That it was...

If you happen to enjoy duck confit as much as I do, you can think of many things that could complement it. KFC-style cole slaw isn't one of them!

Imagine beautifully roasted vegetables covered in a coating of lukewarm mayonnaise and mustard dressing. Or how about the terrible texture of lukewarm cole slaw against a very hot piece of meat that is not:

a) BBQ
b) Fried chicken

I like cole slaw. It has its place- and duck confit is not one of them! I could even forgive a fancy sweeter slaw with a flavor profile similar to a currant reduction or some other duck complimentary fruit, but not fracking mayonnaise!
you can tell I have a very strong opinion about this

I proceeded to move the slaw as far from the actual stuff as possible. The rest of the items were very well prepared. The confit was crunchy and falling off the bone; the potatoes were roasted perfectly as well as the caramelized onions. It paired pretty well with the Bordeaux, although the tannins interfered a few times. An otherwise fine dish, except for the KFC offense...

The dessert was good. The berries were fresh and very juicy. The shortcake was a little too cold, which tended to mute some of the other flavors. This dish also had a superfluous addition of smoked salted nuts. They were relatively good, but it didn't seem to add anything to the dessert (except more questions)

The wait staff was actually pretty good. I got there relatively early in the evening, so the place was less than 1/2 full. The staff paid good attention to me throughout the meal. Everyone was pretty friendly and offered suggestions when prompted, which is great.

I don't know: maybe I caught the chef in a special mood and paid the price for his faux-pas. If that's the case, then I can understand. But if this is the normal way of things at Comme Ça, then I'd hate to think of them appropriately "so-so".

Let's hope tomorrow brings a better experience.

Later,