Is there an uptick in the number of French restaurants in Los
Angeles? I certainly hope so. French food = comfort food. At least in
the case of Le Saint Amour in Culver City. I haven’t kept track, and I
don’t really know actual figures but it seems to me that there are more
and more French restaurants opening in Los Angeles. And that’s a good
thing. We’ve been so Italian for so long that I’m ready for the return
of France. The best recent example of this was my weekend visit to the
very French Le Saint Amour, a Culver City restaurant that has been open
for a year and a half.
But before I go there, a bit more on French restaurants in Los Angeles, (San Francisco and New York too). I just checked on Open Table and seventy-four French restaurants came up in a search for Los Angeles and Orange counties. A quick cursory glance and I’d remove a number of them because they’re not truly French. A secondary search of West Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Mid-Wilshire and the Westside gave me thirty-five results. For those same neighborhoods seventy-three results pop up for Italian.
Not scientific in the least. The reason I say there seem to be more French places: Le Saint Amour, Petrossian, Fraîche Culver City (French chef Benjamin Bailly), RESTAURANT at the Sunset Marquis (French chef Guillaume Burlion), Church & State, Comme Ça, Bistro LQ (French chef Laurent Quenioux), RH at the Andaz (French chef Pierre Gomes), to name a few and not naming the many that have French influenced menus, or American chefs that lean towards cooking French food.
Joe’s restaurant on Abbot-Kinney in Venice, California is a delight and a deal. Michelin thinks so, having just given this French-California gem a star. And my entire family agrees, and we are not always the most agreeable foursome. Our recent love affair with Joe’s began when I took my husband there for his birthday lunch several weeks ago. A friend joined our table. We ordered from a three course prix fixe menu that ran about $17.00. There was also a two-course lunch with many choices that was much cheaper. The dishes were innovative and fun, reminiscent of my favorite French or Bay Area menus (Larkspur Inn, Aqua, French Laundry). Even the bread was incredible. The service was great and, important to me, flexible and easy. 
"How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"
Having earlier experienced both the exquisite pleasure and excruciating
pain that comes from washing down four or five pounds of Chicken Liver
pate with fifteen dollar glasses of 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape, I was
careful to prepare my sensitive digestive tract by fasting for
practically an entire half-day on Fiji Natural Artisan water, plus a
supplemental half-inch rind of smoked salami that I discovered under a
plastic tankard of Barefoot Contessa Moussaka that I accidentally made
five weeks ago in a bizarre attack of culinary industry. As a note, I
have a firm policy of never throwing away any left-over that originally
took more than sixty minutes to prepare, unless it starts to stink
worse than my daughter’s feet did after two weeks at Catalina Camp,
where filth is a fashion statement.
My first taste of Chef Josiah Citrin’s cooking was at the James Beard
“Chefs and Champagne” event in May. Melisse served a Spring Veal with
Anson Mills Polenta, Morel Essence and Red Wine Jus. I went back
several times for more. My second encounter with Chef Citrin was
at "Taste of the Nation". Melisse’s Liberty duck breast… tender, juicy
and like no other duck I’d had before. This time, I sent my husband
back for seconds and thirds. 