Not a first First Bite, of course, the restaurant has been open since late summer of 2002, but a First Bite as far as new chef Tony Gault is concerned. Tonight, btw, marks the opening of the bar at Cafe 1912, an expansion that has made the restaurant proper more comfortable, because some tables have been transfered to the bar area, creating more room in the restaurant.
Gault has wisely kept old favorites on the bistro-style menu, such as the goat cheese ravioli, the pizza Margherita and the mussels among appetizers and the classic Lyonnaise salad and the roasted chicken, though even here he has tweaked details. On our visit last week, that ravioli, served in a shallot-tomato sauce with Parmesan cheese, was a hit, as was the simple pizza, topped with the tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. Salmon with Lyonnaise potatoes was perfectly cooked, and with its garnish of bacon was hearty enough for a red wine, though it suffered from too much butter in the sauce, which made the dish too rich. No complaints whatever accrued to the incredibly tender and flavorful pork tenderloin, cooked perfectly to medium rare and served with a crisp apple-fennel slaw and a brandy reduction.
Desserts added up to one hit — the toasted coconut pecan tart — and one miss — the chocolate cake with orange-caramel sauce, the problem being that it just didn’t taste like chocolate. More chocolate intensity, please!
On the whole, though, this was an enjoyable meal, made even more pleasant by food prices — the appetizers were $7.50 and $8, and entrees were $16 and $18 — and the short wine list, on which every glass is $5.50 and every bottle is $22.