| RESTAURANT REVIEW from "The Hill" |  |
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| La Côte D'Or Café: Haute cuisine on I-66 Capitol Hill transplant brings fine French dining to Virginia suburbs By Albert Eisele Rating: Food: 8 Ambiance: 7 Service: 8 Price/Value: 7 Ratings: Based on a 1-to-10 scale for food, service, ambiance and price/value; up to 5 domes awarded on the basis of reviewer’s judgment. Success in the suburbs: La Côte D'Or Café owners Raymond and Lynn Campet. Naming their restaurant after the Burgundy region where Raymond’s late mother was born, the Campets designed a logo depicting a red rooster and blue fish, ordered fresh flowers from a local florist, and opened their doors on Nov. 6, 1992. They were worried that no one would show up until their next door neighbor arrived for dinner with 40 people. “Since then, we’ve never stopped,” the 51-year-old native of Vichy, France, explained last week as he looked back on 10 years of operating a Seven-day-a-week restaurant that has won accolades from Washingtonian magazine, the Zagat dining guide and the Mobil travel guide. The menu at La Côte D'Or Café reflects Campet’s French origins — he graduated from a restaurant school in Clermont-Ferrand — and his Basque ancestors. Campet reaches back to his Basque heritage for a truly impressive dish I had at dinner last week called besugo Hendaya. Besugo is the Basque term for daurade or sea bream, and Hendaya is Campet’s father’s hometown, near Biarretz in the French Pyrenees. Campet gets the delicatedly flavored fish from A&H Seafood in Bethesda, cooks it in vinegar, olive oil and lots of garlic, and serves it with head and tail intact ($26.75). La Côte D'Or Café is strong on seafood We ordered a bottle of the excellent Raymond Amberhill Chardonnay ($38.50). Campet admits it’s a bit of a gimmick because the wines bear his name, but the Raymond wines are among the best made in California. My wife’s lobster bisque ($6.95) was bursting with flavor but so scalding hot she had to stir in ice cubes to cool it I’ve eaten here more times that I can remember over the years, but my favorite dish wasn’t on the menu. It’s sautéed morels imported from Oregon and served in a pastry shell, but it’s only available in early spring. The main dining room seats about 40, with 20 more each in the bar area and an adjacent sunroom along Westmoreland. There’s also a separate dining room added on in 1996 that seats 60 more for private parties. La Côte D'Or Café is a family operation, with Raymond overseeing everything from the kitchen operations to ferreting out the best fresh produce from local markets, Lynne — she’s a Washington native and they met while she was on vacation in Paris — running the front of the restaurant. Their three children also help out. In fact, all three were working Saturday night, as Vanessa, 24 waited on tables; Marc, 17, filled in as maitre d’, and Matthew, 22, catered a party for 100 people at a home at nearby Lake Barcroft. But Raymond said none of his children want to follow in their parents’ footsteps. “The restaurant business is like being in the Army,” he explains in heavily accented French. “It’s discipline. You’ve got to be ready for the show every day.” The restaurant’s success can also be attributed to its 30 employees, some of whom have worked with Campet for more than 20 years, including Chef Enrique Fuentes and the salad and pastry chef, Emilia Toyos, both from El Salvador. The other chef is Mickael Chenal, who is from France and has worked for Campet for eight years. Bartender Chovalit Yadhamol, who is from Thailand, has worked with Campet since 1974. The Campets are very civic minded, hosting benefit dinners for the Falls Church schools system and various charities and community groups. La Côte D'Or Café is an easy commute from downtown D.C., and well worth the trip to the Virginia suburbs. Try it. You’ll like it. TABLE SCRAPS • I don’t understand why more Washington-area restaurants don’t offer prix fixe meals like the $20 three-course early bird dinner at La Côte D'Or Café or the $20.02 three-course lunch at Jeffrey’s at the Watergate Hotel |
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