Whether pop-up or brick-and-mortar, where chef Walter Manzke (Church and State, Petty Cash) goes, Angelenos follow. His newest venture is the hotly anticipated Republique, a collaboration with baker (and wife) Margarita Manzke and restaurateur Bill Chait. Naturally, the focus is French, but the menu also explores fresh, market-driven, and California-inspired fare. Republique seemed the the obvious choice during a recent visit from Justin’s mom. She’s a woman of discerning taste, and we wanted a dinner that would dazzle her and demonstrate what stupendous hosts we are.
Republique sits in the soaring, dramatic space that formerly housed Campanile.
Between the floor to ceiling glass that greets you and the castle-like brick walls of the dining room, the space is modern and elegant with a touch of Hogwarts. And that, my friends, is high praise coming from this nerd.
After reading my friend DarinDine’s post on his visit, we requested seats at the Chef’s Counter from where we could observe all the action in the kitchen. Situated across from an open wood-burning oven, these are quite literally the hottest seats in the house.
We quickly selected our drinks from the tightly edited cocktail list but waited a frustratingly long time for a server to take our order and then a frustratingly long time to get our drinks. In fact, we would spend a fair amount of the evening looking around the restaurant, needing to flag someone down (and first actually locate someone) any time we needed anything. The staff was undoubtedly hard at work tending to the full house, and we’ve come to be pretty understanding diners, but the slow service tried our patience and was quite the bummer.
Thankfully, when our drinks finally arrived, they didn’t let us down.
The smokiness of mezcal can sometimes prove too potent for me, but the Speaking in Tongues ($13) perfectly balanced its punch with amaro, lemon, angostura bitters and strawberry. Smoky sweet!
The Page Mandarin ($13) with rum, scotch, whiskey bitters and finished with a slice of mandarin orange was also delicious, balanced and deftly prepared.
Perfectly crusty on the outside and squishy within, the complimentary warm baguette was nearly impossible to stop eating, especially when slathered with the accompanying creamy, sea salt topped butter . We polished it off and requested another with no shame. Be sure to ask for this as it’s served only upon request.
Dinner kicked off with the Black Kale Salad ($11), a medley of baby beets and carrots, halved Fat Uncle Farms almonds, chopped medjool dates and slivers of cara cara oranges. This simple salad didn’t bowl us over, but its bright flavors provided a light counterpoint to the rest of our indulgent dishes.
Ushering in our heavier courses was the Nueske Bacon tarte a l’alsacienne ($16), a tasty thin, crispy flatbread topped with cheese, slivers of bacon and caramelized onions.
One of the standout dishes of the night was the Butternut Squash Agnolotti ($18), a plate of pillowy agnolotti and delightfully chewy, woodsy hedgehog mushrooms topped with shaved parmigiano reggiano. Flavorful, balanced and perfectly executed, this dish would be right at home in the best Italian restaurant in the city.
Another table favorite was the Berkshire Pork Belly ($18), a plate of thickly sliced, fatty pork belly atop a bed of cider-peppercorn sauce, creamy celery root, and diced Fair Hills Farm apples. Pork belly may be ubiquitous at the moment, but this rendition felt classic and refined rather than gimmicky or trendy.
Coming in, the Steak Frites were a must-order for our party, and while our strip loin (5 oz., $18) with bernaise sauce was perfectly enjoyable, it ultimately didn’t dazzle as much as some of the evening’s other dishes.
The frites, on the other hand, were golden and crisp but soft in the middle– not just the better half of this dish but everything you could want in a French fry. I do wish that the restaurant would offer these a la carte, and I might take to Twitter to beg them to do just that.
We were quite full by the end of the evening but needed to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. After struggling to whittle down the options to just one, we selected the Croissant Bread Pudding ($10), a piping hot, generously portioned bread pudding that was moist but slightly crisped on top and served with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream. A light dusting of powdered sugar provided the finishing touch on this delicious, comforting dessert.
Overall, despite the spotty service and some misfires, Republique did, indeed, dazzle our party. In fact, it’s been catapulted to the top of my list of favorite restaurants. But please work on that service…and a la carte frites.
Noms Not Bombs 