>chatty bistro menu at Chez Papa Resto

(Moved from April 4, 2008)

A beautiful San Francisco night at the newly happening downtown Chez Papa Resto. A bereted chubster holding a red wine glass winks at you. A cartoon drawing at the top of Chez Papa's sensible dinner menu, that is. It comes with a ratatouille side, too, of course. Cute.
You can order "Jessie is in Cuba" cocktail made with Rum Toucano, Chambord, fresh fruit juices and soda. Under it is a perky comment, "....Still!!!!! We are jealous!"
Papa Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Dadaists, even the 5th street zombies make cocktail contributions.
Pastis "will be served the traditional French way. Water and a few ice cubes on the side. We suggest a ratio of 1 to 5. Ask for a "Tomate" (pastis and grenadine) or a "Perroquet" (with mint) or "Mauresque" (almond syrup)". Why, thank you, papa. I go for the red tomato, not my usual choice of plain old pastis. Our bubbly server from Marseille beams.

Under Valrhona chocolate fondant you find our papa exclaiming "of course, a cognac!... or a port!"

When it comes to cheese, "wine pairing becomes more and more subjective". (You think, papa?) "For example, Sauternes, hearty red wine, Calvados, Sancerre could all stand up to some cheeses. One well accepted rule is to marry products from a same terroir i.e. Loire cheese, Loire wine. We leave other rules with you... to be broken. Enjoy!"

How genial. It feels warm, stylishly casual, and welcoming. And talky, like my own papa.

--photos by Sharon Hahn Darlin