Mirepoix begets Bistro M in Windsor

Executive chef Matthew Bousquet is a droll fellow with a good sense of humor. He'll need it now that he's doubled his workload by opening Bistro M around the corner from Mirepoix - his other, older, well-known, and highly respected Windsor restaurant.

Mirepoix was never a large restaurant, and a thorough refurbishment hasn't added many seats. The reservation book is generally full, even in these tough times, so expansion by opening the bistro in the space once occupied by Langley's on the Green seemed like a good idea to the Bousquets (his spouse is Bryan Bousquet, who uses her talents to manage both places).

Now, Bistro M has been discovered and is doing good business, but the space for a sign above the front door is still blank. To find it, you have to know where it is - sort of like the famous Chumley's in Greenwich Village, a literary watering hole that has no exterior signage. But here's a clue: Bistro M is at the east end of McClelland Drive, facing the Town Green.

Chef Bousquet has taken the old menu from Mirepoix, reduced prices, tweaked a few dishes here and there, and given it to Bistro M, where it functions as good French cooking for the local folks.

Meanwhile, at Mirepoix, he has created a new, high-end, prix fixe ($45-$65) menu. Bousquet's chef de cuisine, Ben Davies, worked at Mirepoix in the past, then spent two years as sous chef at Meadowood in St. Helena and Murray Circle in Sausalito, both world-class restaurants. He returns to Mirepoix and Bistro M well seasoned and capable of creating, with Bousquet, the full-on Sonoma County food and wine experience.

The new Mirepoix, then, deserves its own review. But for now, Bistro M is the focus of this one.

Folks familiar with French bistro food - home cooking fancy style - will love the menu. Of course there's onion soup, but also frog's legs Provencal, tender little escargots peeking from their shells and dripping with garlic butter, lamb tongue and fingerling potato salad, trout rillettes, p??and duck liver mousse, among other treats.

The drink menu includes full-bar cocktails like the Dr. Sidecar for $10 and the Jimi Juice for $9, among others. The wine list is a very well chosen sampling of bibulous bounty from near and far. It includes some oddities, like the 2008 Curveball White "Spinning White" from Sonoma County for $28, the 2007 Bella Zinfandel from the Dry Creek Valley for $33, and the 2007 Hartford Court "Land's Edge Vineyard" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir for $69. Corkage is a tolerable $11.

The service was certainly pleasant, if somewhat scattered due to a full dining room. The only serious complaint is that our party was told as we were seated by the hostess that "we'll be right back to open that wine," which was a bottle brought from home. But then the promise was forgotten and we waited. Someone joked, "This is why they call them waiters." Eventually our server arrived and asked if we'd like the bottle opened. Granted, a small matter, but good service is built up out of small matters well attended to.

Then out from the kitchen came a bowl of the most beautiful Broccoli Soup ($7 ?), light green from the pureed broccoli, decorated with little florets from the broccoli head, and given a swirl of melted cheddary cheese. But the soup base was a revelation of savory goodness. I inquired about this stock, thinking maybe it was a rich chicken stock, but the word came back that it was "water."

After some more probing, it was explained that the stock was simply water made into a vegetable broth, but with "two or three times more broccoli than someone would ordinarily use." It paid off in keeping the flavor focused on the broccoli rather than chasing after chickens and such. A long, thin, toasted and oiled slice of baguette was placed on the side of the soup.

The romaine lettuce for the Caesar Salad ($9 ?) was - surprisingly - chopped. The dressing was creamy and tangy with a background of anchovy. Parmesan cheese was liberally added, and the dish was accompanied by a house-made black pepper cracker.

Among the appetizers was the intriguing-sounding Mushroom and Brie Omelete ($16 ). That's the restaurant's spelling of omelet, or omelette, if you will. In any case, it was a superb omelet, cooked just right to set up the eggs properly and redolent of mushrooms, house-cured bits of bacon and Brie cheese. A dish like this can easily go over the top flavor-wise, becoming very intense, but somehow this beauty remained light, refined and under control. One reason: not too much butter in the pan, and not letting the butter brown or burn.

A portion of the menu is listed under the heading, "Avec Frites." And in this portion is an order of Mussels ($12 ) - a huge bowl of plump and sweet shellfish from Prince Edward Island, cooked in white wine with lemon and sprinkled with the chopped leaves of chives, parsley, tarragon and thyme. The bowl was topped with plenty of great French fries that appeared to be double fried to give that irresistibly crispy surface.