Downtown Dining Week Review No. 3: Coquette Cafe

Tonight, I had dinner at Coquette Cafe with my friends Leah and Lisa. We've been talking about going for ages, and we figured it would be a good place to head to for downtown dining. I'm so glad we went--the food was fantastic and a great value. Lisa and I ordered from the $20 downtown dining menu. Leah opted for soup and salad off the regular menu.

I started with the field greens with a Dijon vinaigrette (actually, I really started with a glass of Beaujolais and some of their great French bread and fresh butter. YUM.). It was very simple, but the dressing was fantastic and everything was fresh.

For my main course, I ordered something I've always wanted to try but never had: coq au vin. I don't know why I've never had it before (like when I spent an entire summer in France ...). It was so delicious, with lots of great flavors. The chicken was served on top of some mashed potatoes. I dipped a few pieces of bread in the wine sauce. Delicious! It was a huge portion, too. I had enough leftover to bring an entire chicken breast plus some potato home with.

For dessert, I opted for the meringue snow eggs, mostly because I had had the chocolate mousse during my lunch at Molly Cool's. I expected the meringue to have a bit of a hard outside and a soft inside. These "eggs," however, were very soft--the texture was like a marshmallow. They were light and pretty tasty, although I'm not sure I would seek them out.

For her courses, Lisa ordered the watermelon gazpacho (which I was kind of weirded out by, but it was really good, especially on a super hot day), the coq au vin and the chocolate mousse (which was also really good, and better than the stuff at Molly Cool's).

Leah ordered a cup of the French onion soup (I had a bite of it--and made lots of groaning/yummy sounds afterwards. I would definitely go back for more of that!) and a salad with spinach, bleu cheese, grapes, pears and pecans.

All in all, we had a great experience--great wine, food and service. The only complaint we had, which had nothing to do with the meal, was that the restaurant was really, really warm--the air was definitely not on, nor were there any fans or anything going. But, still, the food outweighs everything!