madbaker | A Mixed Review*

Last night we went to a small local restaurant, Mijoté. It's a hole-in-the-wall place not that far from us, I think converted from a former bar. The chef/owner is Japanese, but learned Fronch cooking in Japan. The pitch is California-Fronch, done with some Japanese plating sensibilities. They only do a three-course prix fixe - no substitutions except for fud restrictions. You can add additional courses but you don't get to choose what they're serving you otherwise, which lowers their cost and makes it far easier on the kitchen. They do change their menu weekly.

There is one row of tables in an L around the outer edge of the place, and the rest of the seats are along a long bar (where we were seated). The bar faces a narrow section used as final assembly / plating (the stoves and ovens are in the main kitchen). So we got dinner and a show.

The menu:
pâté de campagne (an add-on, which we chose)
thinly sliced halibut, Tokyo turnip, persimmon
monkfish, brussels sprout, sudachi (an Asian lime-like citrus)
octopus and potato (an add-on which we did not choose, although it looked delicious)
pork loin, cauliflower, quince relish
cheese of the day (add-on we did not choose)
green tea gelee and rose ice cream in a tuile
paris-brest (add-on we did not choose)

It was lovely, not too much food but we were replete by the end. Our eyes would have liked more add-ons but our stomachs were happy we did not. Nothing was a particular standout, but that's because all the dishes were very good. The pork loin was perhaps my favorite but I would have been happy just having a larger portion of monkfish for dinner...

The bill wasn't cheap but wasn't outsized. I'd like to go back sometime.

*Mijoté means "mixed" in Fronch. You see what I did there.