Charlie and I planned to go see Gone Girl on Friday night, but all the movie times were either a little too early (7:30 PM) or way too late (10:30 PM). How was I supposed to fit in a decent meal beforehand?! I wouldn’t even be able to make it home to change clothes until 6:00 PM. And I didn’t just want to eat something quick and cheap (although cheap would have been preferable). It was date night!
To solve this problem, I opted not to change and headed straight to North Hills after work to get a seat at the bar of Coquette, a nice little French spot. I’d been craving steak tartare for weeks now and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Charlie showed up a bit later (as I waited seductively with my glass of red wine) and we decided on two other small plates and more drinks.
The bar at Coquette is pretty sexy, with a layer of thin metal and embellishments running the entire length of it. The tiled floors and the small tables of the restaurant look very bistro-esque. It’s kind of a fab spot for a date. And you don’t need a res to sit at the bar. There were only a few other folks seated around us. Coquette has a small-ish selection of wines by the glass and beers, if you don’t have the time or cash money to spring for a bottle. My Cabernet blend for $8 was fantastic.
We started with the French Onion Soup (or, you know, the Onion Soup Gratinnée if you’re fancy). I really love soup and now that it’s cooler, I feel like it’s acceptable to eat a ton of it. Starting now. Charlie’s thoughts on this particular soup: “How did I think about NOT ordering this?!” It was steaming hot and of course I burned the roof of my mouth, but I really couldn’t stop myself. It was super cheesy and delicious. And I might’ve been scared that if I didn’t eat it fast, Charlie would take more than his fair share.
Salty, salted butter was provided with our basket of bread You could see the salt sprinkled on the butter and around the rim- though probably not in this picture because I used my fingers to eat it off. I loved this stuff.
I finally got my steak tartare and, as always, eating raw steak was a lovely experience. I will say that I could have done without the quail egg’s white being included; that could’ve been separated from the yolk a little better. Also, perhaps it needed a little more seasoning or a few more capers to really step it up.
Then we got the clams in white wine sauce with sausage. Are you sensing a trend in my orders now? These were savory and briney, and I think Charles tried to eat the broth with a spoon when we ran out of bread. You could really taste the fennel in the sausage (sometimes a good thing, sometimes bad, as it can get really overpowering). These clams didn’t compare to Stanbury’s, but then again, they didn’t use chorizo. Coquette’s were much much clammier though.
This was a fun way to spend an evening pre-Gone Girl, though a little pricey for the amount of food. Perhaps if we didn’t booze quite so much? Eh, whatever, it was date night. Coquette also does bottomless mimosas at lunch, so I know I’ll be stopping back by.
Coquette is located at 4351 The Circle at North Hills. It’s a great after-work spot and the bar is not typically crowded. They are open for lunch and dinner every day, except for Sundays when lunch turns to brunch!
How are you guys feeling about my new iPhone 6 photos? I tend to think they are worlds better than those taken with my 4s!
