Le Bilboquet

They got balls to open up an "authentic" semi-upscale French Bistro in the new Buckhead Atlanta mall. They got real balls to think Atlanta will eat this shit up like NYC and their other locations. Atlanta knows French cuisine as much as German cuisine. Coming from a French culinary background, I'm gonna be looking at technique and ingredients. Can they pull this off in this town? You know, the fancy, fine-dining-esque service that this place is trying to present... But first, let's see if the valet can even pull off their lack of skill and logistics of parking cars. Why are there 8 valets standing around watching 1 valet park all the cars... Were they DOT workers in a previous career? 
So, will the Shake Shack palate crowd be able to appreciate the discerning tastes of classic French cooking? Probably not but let's take a looksie anyways...

Terrine de Foie Gras. Terrine looked nice but seriously, how low rent can you be with that shitty non buttered toasted slices of white bread... At least cut the fucking crust off. You kinda expected a better piece of bread but going the cheap rustic bistro vibe for the high price tag of this dish was a little insulting. The foie gras was smooth, rich and had a nice texture. The random jelly cubes were kinda chintzy that added no additional value to this. I know 10 year olds that could plate a nicer presentation with a slice of SPAM, Wonder bread and a squeezable bottle of Welch's grape jelly.

Moules Marinieres Frites. Classic recipe with white wine, shallots and garlic. A good portion of nice medium size mussels. The broth was quite nice as well, so, get enough bread to sop up the juice. The frites were thin cut and acceptable but I don't think it was double fried. Too many limp ones in the mix. Mussels are cheap as hell but paying top dollar for a well executed bowl is totally acceptable. Kinda.

Carpaccio de Boeuf. I know this ain't classic French but it's basically on every French menu in modern times.. So shut it. If this was made correctly (made to order), it would be a nice dish. But they prepped it like many others do in the industry. Pre-sliced, prearranged and then tossed into the cooler hours ahead waiting for an order to come in. As everyone knows, the thinly slice meat breaks down in integrity sitting around and it is impossible to peel a slice off the plate, it's more like scraping it off the plate that looks so unappetizing in a misshapen mass of meat trimmings. This was unseasoned as well, it had no taste whatsoever.. Even the flavorless pesto broke down, the exception was the parmesan. The food cost on this dish was like 1.89%, all profit. I got Jedi mind fucked again.

Bavette. In this case it's a hanger steak. A rather small narrow piece of meat that was difficult to attain a mid-rare temp... So they pour this shallot red wine reduction all over to cover it. The meat was a bit over cooked and a tad chewy at spots but it was acceptable. But on the other hand the haricots verts was under cooked and unseasoned. It was like they just shocked it for 5 secs in plain old unseasoned boiling water. I think they are allergic to butter or something. Watercress was just something to fill the plate up and that roasted tomato made me feel like Bozo the clown... Taken again.

Poulet Cajun. Their claim to fame dish. First off, there is nothing cajun about this. Even Popeyes laughs at this. It's just lightly seasoned broasted chicken. While it was moist and tender, there were no fireworks coming outta my ass from this. C'mon, blacken it a bit more... At least try to trick me a little. This batch of fries needed a second frying as well... I should have asked for extra crispy. Taco Mac does it for their wings, so this joint should with their fries, too. We also got a duck special of the night (no pic) which was just ok, maybe it was for the better that my one reader not be subjected to the visual of it... It was very brown.

Creme Brulee. The classic dessert. Let's see if they can execute this properly. The crackly sugar crust was ok, coulda used a little more torch. The custard was a little dense, not as creamy as it should be. Nothing special about this over priced snack.

Mousse au Chocolat. I think they forgot to fold in the whipped cream on top because that mousse was way too dense. A good mousse should be airy, fluffy, light, melts in your mouth... Well, you know how it should taste. I coulda put the $10 to better use at Carvel for an amazing Cookie Puss.

The space was clean (almost too sanitary in a hospital kinda way) and minimally decorated which didn't remind me of a French bistro. The service was good, they are well trained on the menu and specials. With their reputation, I expected a lot more from the kitchen on the other hand. The level of the execution and technique is on par with many other local casual restaurants but they also have a lot lower price tag. Nothing on this menu was fancy except the script font used. Buckhead Atlanta excels at selling the upscale concepts but the goods delivered was just plain average. Nothing I have had in this new mall left me craving for more or warrant another visit as of yet but there's still a few other new places to try. This place might get some attention in the beginning for the new and shiny factor but after everyone has tasted it they will be heading somewhere else for the next meal especially at this price point... Not to mention the totally inept valet out front. Attempts at classic French cuisine is a tough sell in this town.

3035 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-869-9944
http://lebilboquetatlanta.com/