Enchanté Bistro is a new restaurant in the old Red Bar space in Southampton. Red Bar was a popular restaurant that existed for 20 years, then shuttered rather abruptly in 2018.
Red Bar was charming, served good food, and had a lot of windows. The exterior of Enchanté Bistro is painted an inky matte black and is decorated with alarmingly bright garlands of white and orange flowers. Un peu criard, or a bit gaudy, I'd say. The interior is a large square space with cream and orange banquettes, marble-topped bistro tables with black bistro chairs, muslin cafe curtains, a hodgepodge of light fixtures, and a big mirror on the back wall decorated with more fleurs voyantes. There is a long table in the center with bottles of wine and champagne on ice, perhaps to entice patrons to start spending big, as our waiter immediately suggested we do.
"Some champagne, ladies?" Champagne by the glass is $38. "We also have a new Bordeaux."
I asked the price: $325 for the bottle. Sweet mother of pearl, I haven't felt so pressured to spend more money in ages. This is what is known as "upselling."
Upon being seated each guest gets a tiny gougere, a choux pastry cheese puff. These were filled with a tasty mixture described as cacio e pepe, a pepper and pecorino mixture more Italian than French. You also get some very good bread from nearby Blue Duck Bakery. The pain d'epi (wheat stalk) loaves are served with a slice of Le Beurre Bordier butter, an excellent yellow butter from Brittany. Our waiter was so enthusiastic about this butter he wrote down the name for us (unprompted) and suggested we watch a video about how it is made. Totes adorbs, but not gonna happen.
We began our meal with tuna tartare, beet salad, and salade Lyonnaise. The tuna tartare was pretty good. An apple-ginger consomme was poured over the avocado and tuna layer with a charming flourish. The avocado puree had a hint of citrus and the tuna had slices of radish and chopped chives on it. The "heirloom" beet salad was very pretty but the beets lacked flavor, perhaps they had been boiled, leeching out their subtle sweetness. They were served on some whipped Humboldt Fog cheese which was so aggressive in flavor that it was all you could taste.
The garnish of wild watercress, did, however, give the dish a nice peppery bite. The salade Lyonnaise was excellent and just the way it should be. The feathery leaves of frisee were dressed in a sharp vinaigrette, the poached egg added some richness, and the croutons and lardons of bacon were smoky.
For entrees we ordered the roast duck breast, steak frites, and a side of "mushrooms de Paris."
The roast dry-aged duck was served with a round of sweet potato gratin -- delicious -- and wilted greens mixed with wild mushrooms and sour cherry jus, also excellent. The duck itself was just okay: not very seasoned, not enough skin fat rendered and crisped, a bit tough and lukewarm. I'm guessing this was Moulard or Muscovy, which can be tougher and gamier than Pekin. The steak of the steak frites dish was very good, with a judicious dose of salt and pepper and good char on it. The fries were not hot so had to be sent back for another batch which came out warm. The side of "mushrooms de Paris" were nothing to write home to Tante Amelie about. They were somewhat watery button mushrooms.
I wish I could say we were tempted by the "grand formage" [sic] course but it was rather unimaginative, offering three of five choices for $28. Two were triple-cream cheese, one nutty-hard, one blue, one medium-firm. Where's the goat cheese? The splendid semi-soft Reblochon? Pont L'Eveque? Or heck, even a good brie? With a country that makes more than 1,400 glorious cheeses, why does this look like choices from Costco? No disrespect, Costco.
Hors d'oeuvres and salads are $20 to $65, entrees are $35 to $85, sides are $12 to $15, the grand "formage" is $28, the souffle we ordered was $28. Apologies for not finding out other dessert prices. The service on the night of our visit was attentive until the place got busier. Our waiter was nice.
Since he had mentioned when we first sat down that there was a vanilla souffle with Grand Marnier sauce offered that evening, we immediately said yes, we'd like that for dessert. It was la catastrophe, le desastre, la calamite! The souffle had indeed puffed up above the rim of its charming copper pot, and the young man who sliced into it to pour in the creme anglaise was thrilled to demonstrate this method. But the egg mixture had curdled and separated into a watery scrambled egg mess with a peculiar bottom layer that our spoons could barely penetrate. Ghastly would not be too strong a word.
I never complain or send food back when I am writing a review. However, we did point out to our waiter that the souffle was overcooked, terrible, and remained uneaten. We were charged $28 nonetheless.
As I always do, I ask guests the next day if they would return. The answer was "no." Sorry, Enchanté Bistro, your food is tiede, lukewarm, and pas assez bon, not good enough.
Enchanté Bistro
210 Hampton Road
Southampton
631-810-9020
Daily at 5 p.m.
Sunday brunch, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
