restaurant review: petit trois

Recently, Martinikitty and I with a 3rd friend (not Sazy Rock who was on a road trip) tried new hot spot (opened 7/24) Petit Trois in Hollywood. We showed up early (5:15!) on a Wednesday evening to grab three coveted bar stools.

Before diving into the food and ambiance, here's the 411 you should be aware before going to Petit Trois:

• located in a strip mall at northwest corner of Highland and Melrose
• $7 valet parking (very restricted street parking in neighborhood)
• no cash; only credit cards accepted
• 18% gratuity automatically included
• no reservation; no public phone number
• will only seat when all members of party have arrived
• only 21 bar stools available
• open M-S noon to midnight
• very limited entree menu (only 2 options on night we went: streak frites and chicken leg)
• no modification even for steak
• select alcohol menu available
• lovechild of star chefs Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook, and Vinny Dotolo

Call me square but all these rules seem pretentious, especially for a place meant to be like an authentic casual French neighborhood bistro.

Now for Food

Dinner menu was very limited: steak frites; chicken leg; steak tartare; green bean salad; omelette; pomme frites.  Dessert menu: cheese plate, napoleon, chocolate cake.

I had the steak since I don't eat chicken. As we were enjoying the complimentary baguette (very good by the way) with our choice of alcoholic beverage, I saw the chefs churning out at least 8 steaks and leaving them out to rest. That would not have been odd if there were 8 orders for steak but at that point, we had not put in our order and the only other party present in the restaurant had not done so either. By my estimation, my steak sat there for about 20 minutes after coming off the stovetop. My steak was warm when served but I don't know how much longer those other steaks sat chilling waiting for an order.

Since there was no modification allowed, they prepared all steaks to be pink with no red center (medium). The size was about 6oz. There was no steak knife, only a dinner knife, but the meat cut easily.  The sauce was onion and cream with generous side of salty pomme frites. The meat was tasty, but not to the level of known steak houses.

Martinikitty had the chicken. In her words: "It was good- very simple, straightforward, juicy with an interesting crust...maybe garlic or bread crumbs. Served with simple frisee salad. Not the best I've had, but good. "

For dessert, the three of us shared a slice of chocolate cake. It was thin wedge but generously topped with caramel and cream. The cake was not too sweet nor too buttery. It's texture was perfectly soft and not too dense.

And the Ambiance?
What can I say- it's located in a strip mall along with yum yum donuts and a dry cleaners. Facade also still sports the signage from the location's previous tenant: Tasty Thai. Inside you have the classic French bistro decor- Carrera marble countertop; dark wood detailing; and wood floor painted into large black and white checker pattern. The open kitchen can be viewed by any patron sitting at the counter. Is this supposed to be the epitome of hipsterdom? I can't really say since I can't quite define what hipster style is. However, if it means combination of carefully crafted lowbrow casualness, good basic ingredients and high prices, then I think we have an answer. If someone has a better definition, please let me know.

Recommendation: Go if you like to be the first of your friends to try the latest hot spot and like medium steak. If I had to wait for seating (which we thankfully did not have to) or didn't like the steak, I would have been seriously annoyed. My dinner with beer and split desert cost $57 (plus $7 parking). One time decent experience, but not to be repeated.