It was one of those "I had forgotten all about it" moments. Avenue, Brian and Diane Carr's new spot following the closing of Pomme and Pomme Cafe, is on North Meramec. It formerly was Roxane, but more significantly to some of us, it was the second location of Cafe Zoe. I realized what it had been when I walked in, and it's a good heritage.
The entrance has been moved back to where it was, at the north end of the restaurant, with the hostess stand and bar area slightly above the rest of the room. There's something about looking out over a dining room before entering it that creates a nice little frisson of Occasion, and that's certainly the case here. The steps are shallow and wide, but beware the second cocktail if you arrive early.
This time of year, one craves hearty food, although good sense sometimes gets in the way of being an all-out trencherman, and we, sort of, managed to balance that out. Wellfleet oysters kicked things off. Wellfleets aren't huge, but these were particularly big-flavored, cold and minerally and delightful. Mignonette sauce with them carried a little extra oomph from what seemed to be a note of garlic. A simple salad of mixed lettuces, very fresh and perky, wore a red wine vinaigrette – a sweater rather than a coat, so lightly was it dressed, quite properly, and a good thing to scour the maw, as Rabelais said. (He certainly knew about eating like a trencherman, of course.)
And then there were the mushrooms, mixed wild mushrooms sauteed in butter, their unctuous juices spooned over a generous slice of toasted baguette, the whole topped with a ball of burrata cheese. Absolutely delicious it was, and a generous serving that could have been a light lunch.
Is this the only menu in town with a pork schnitzel in town? Thick enough to retain juiciness and only lightly breaded, it's clearly about the meat, not about the bread crumbs. Each pair of schnitzels were topped with a mustardy sauce studded with pieces of French cornichons and fresh tomatoes, just sharp enough to give contrast to the rich meat. Some green beans alongside, plus, interestingly, a different potato on each of the two orders, one roasted potato cubes and the other a square of what seemed to be an oven-baked potato pancake, a nice idea, and quite tasty.
I've always admired Brian Carr's ability to do grandma cooking, or in the French phrase, cuisine grandmere. Grandmas who cook that sort of hearty traditional food are becoming an endangered species, so it makes Carr's work more valuable. On this menu, among other items, there's a daube that could have come from a grandmere in Aix. The traditional Provencal stew has as many variations as there are kitchens it cooks in, but it's nearly always beef cooked in red wine with garlic, various herbs of Provence, carrots and mushrooms over a low fire for hours and hours. Carr's daube is thick, meltingly tender, full of flavor, downright seductive. There's just a little hint of orange, not unusual in the dish, and plenty of black olives, another common ingredient. It's served in the style of the area, over pasta. Yes, pasta in France – it long ago crept over the border from Italy. (Very disconcerting to Anglophones to see written on restaurant windows and menus "paste", its French translation.) It's a fine partner for the dish, of course; grandma knew what she was doing.
One bite of the chocolate mousse and I was thrown back into the much-missed Sunshine Inn. It was probably the first place I ever tasted it, and, in memory, at least, remains my benchmark. This seems much like it, light rather than gummy, nicely chocolate but not so dark that the milk-chocolate fanciers are not put off, a dollop of whipped cream alongside that cuts the richness further, if needed. Bread pudding appeared, studded with pear and sauced with salted caramel, a good match for the pear's honeyed sweetness. Chewy edges and a fluffy interior marked this version of the classic.
First-rate service, well-paced and knowlegeable and pleasant. Noise levels are, for a Clayton restaurant, not impossible, although we were in the smaller dining room. Things emptied out after a while, although we were delighted to see four people march in at 10 p.m. and sit down to dinner, a truly civilized situation. Food and beyond, all good stuff.
Avenue
12 N. Meramec Ave., Clayton
314-727-4141
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner daily, Brunch Sat.-Sun.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access:Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $18-$32
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My dad and his wife were fans and frequent customers of Pomme. They went to Avenue early on and report good food, good service, but a noise level that will keep them away except for very off hours.