BLANQUETTE DE VEAU: Cast-iron micro pot of Persian rice topped with cream veal stew. |
| La Voile | 261 Newbury Street, Boston | AE, MC, VI | Open Tues–Sun, 11 Am–4 Pm And 5–11 Pm | Beer and wine | No valet parking | Access down 10 steps from sidewalk level | 617.587.4200 |
The battle to be more French in restaurants — if not in foreign policy — is heating up, with La Voile relocating the staff, décor, and some of the menu directly from a brasserie in Cannes to the Back Bay. The menu is bilingual, as is most of the staff. The wine list and knives are French. Much of the décor also feels French, with a tile floor and rag-painted walls overlaid with poetry by Baudelaire. The sailboat photos and models, however, are American and English. They are J-boats, the enormous, rare, and beautiful racing yachts that contended for the America’s Cup in the 1930s. Apparently it was an American sailor who motivated La Voile — which means “the sail” — to move to Boston.Food begins with an amuse bouche of three tiny canapés for each diner: a little puff of cheese-flavored gougère, a bit of ricotta spread on a pinky-sized slice of bread, and cured salmon topped with a little green caviar. Only then came a bag of sliced-up baguette and sweet butter.
The soup du jour ($9), one of very few vegetarian possibilities, was a nice mix of cabbage, carrot, onions, and potato. It needed only a few dots of pesto — er, pistou — to be a Provençal classic. Foie gras crème brûlée ($14), which can be too sweet, here had just the right balance of savor, richness, and the sweetness of the burnt-sugar crust. Goat-cheese salad with roasted red pepper ($18) was two excellent disks of cheese on melting peppers, with an arugula salad (and some roasted nuts and grape tomatoes) in between. Endive salad ($11) was something of a best buy, with four endive leaves stuffed with savory bits of cheese and onion, and a chopped endive salad, as well garnished with fresh chervil.
My favorite entrée was the bistro classic blanquette de veau ($20). This was served as a cast-iron micro pot of Persian rice, topped with a mini casserole of creamy veal stew with carrots, pearl onions, and mushrooms. The veal flavor was almost beef — the animal-rights movement has unwittingly improved the culinary qualities of American veal. Dover sole meunière ($44) was one of several attractive entrées featuring European fish. It was served with a lot of showy tableside boning and rearranging, which is traditional, but the salty buttered-crumb sauté is not traditional. Lighter than the brown-butter sauce we usually see, it makes the Dover sole less meaty-tasting. It’s a fine dinner, with another cast-iron micro pot of snow peas, haricot beans, and carrots. But less-expensive American flatfish would work just as well with this treatment.
