The Left Bank in Menlo Park

How’s the vibe? In the zone

Worth the price? Do-able

Service with a smile? No way

A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch. ~James Beard

This week, once again, we stretched the budget a bit and made a visit to one of our favorite places to eat. A French café called The Left Bank, in Menlo Park. Last year when they remodeled they created a beautiful place to visit and eat with the local diners. The ambience is almost perfect, and beautiful by design, especially if you can get a booth. As for the food, it usually is very good along with, sorry, hit or miss service. It doesn’t stop us from going. I don’t know if it is by design or because it is French but sometimes the wait staff doesn’t always smile. On this day however Humberto did a wonderful job. We ordered the oysters and escargot for our appetizers along with a glass of Pinot Blanc and a dirty vodka martini that was poured to perfection. As a matter of fact I had another one it was so good. The only question I have on the escargot is the same question I have for many restaurants that serve these wonderful snails…..did it come from Costco? The little brown dish seems to be in every restaurant and I have seen it at Costco as well. That doesn’t make it bad…. just food for thought. A far as our entrees we had the Canard A L’Orange (Duck) and the Filet De Sol. Both were first-rate and beautiful on the plate. The duck had more of a winter dish appeal while the Sol was light and airy. In my humble opinion the Sol could have done with a tad more sea salt in the recipe. We finished with a delicious strawberry and rhubarb crisp alamode and a couple of glasses of Port recommended by Humberto. The dessert was exceptional along with the pairing of the Port. As I stated before, this has been one of our favorite places for an afternoon or an evening out much because of the atmosphere and we love French food. That being said, it is surprising that a French café would not offer one for the most classic French dishes and one of our favorites. Coq Au Vin! They need this on their menu. As far as the price I suppose it is reasonable based on the soup to nuts approach we took for this meal. Just under $200 which I suppose these days is a little pricey but as stated before ambience is one of the top three reasons to go to a restaurant as we are suckers for great ambience.
635 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park CA 94025
Cheers D-n-A