Paris in Boston: Petit Robert Bistro

By Mike Tom

From a family of well-practiced and renowned French chefs, executive chef Jacky Robert brings genuine French cuisine at a reasonable price to Boston University’s campus. Robert is a well-seasoned French chef who pours his passion for fine, authentic French cuisine into every dish he creates, and you can taste it. General Manager Ishmael Guessous said, “We try to give customers a taste of France in an affordable way.”

The restaurant itself is a small yet elegantly understated café-style restaurant that serves traditionally home-cooked food with a price that will surprise even the most frugal of college students.

The chrome finish signage reading “Petit Robert Bistro” found above the large, unadorned windows makes the restaurant seem like it might serve modern French fusion cuisine. Upon entering the bistro, however, the pastel-yellow walls are reminiscent of a Mediterranean style and framed, vintage French ads, hung above tightly packed tables with space for no more than three or four to sit at, imply that the French bistro experience will be a genuine one. Guessous explains that a lot of smaller restaurants in Boston seem to slap the word “bistro” onto their store fronts in hopes of making their eateries more appealing and high-brow to the ignorant patron. At Petit Robert, on the other hand, Chef Robert takes great pride in serving the home-cooked style food that is traditionally found in bistros around France. Robert takes advantage of his years of culinary training while keeping in mind the desires of the customers by creating dishes that are rooted in traditional French recipes but can be ordered for a reasonable price.

At first glance, the seemingly endless list of menu items might appear daunting to say the least, especially considering a large part of the menu is written in French. But don’t let this fact discourage you from first asking your waiter or waitress what he or she recommends, and second, trying something on the menu you may have  previously been unfamiliar with. It may not be your next favorite dish, but it will be delicious and decadent. Petit Robert has a wide array of options for brunch, lunch and dinner.

One of their featured appetizer items is their on-premises cured and smoked salmon. Served with a capers and a wedge of lemon on a delicate bed of pink, smoked salmon and a few slices of freshly toasted bread, this dish is not overly fishy, nor is it too overwhelmingly smoky. I find a lot of store-bought smoked salmon to have an artificial smoky flavor that is almost nauseating especially when coupled with an overpowering fishy flavor. This smoked salmon is made with care, from its one to two day curing stage, to its final stages in the smoker where it slowly—for five hours or more—absorbs the flavors of the apple wood chips that are smoldering away beneath the salmon filets. Each thin slice of the house-smoked salmon carries the light fruity notes of the apple wood chips they were smoked with; this fruitiness is only accentuated with a light spritz of lemon juice, which is how the chef recommends you enjoy the specialty. The time consuming process of preparing this great dish isn’t just a novelty. Chef Robert and his team are constantly at work in the kitchen trying to produce delicious, authentic food with great flavor in every dish they bring to the table.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a food junkie, so when Guessous told me he would be bringing out “the best lobster bisque I’ve ever had,” I had to brace myself. The deep orange color of the soup was as deep as the pure, sweet flavor of lobster. The broth is made by extracting all the flavor from the shells of whole lobsters. The flavor of the bisque is rich and creamy and tastes like the essence of lobster. It’s not fishy tasting at all but has the subtle taste of lobster and the warm heat of pepper as you savor the flavor of the bisque. If seafood doesn’t float your boat, I definitely recommend you try their boeuf bourguignon or the coq au vin.

Both the boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are braised for hours and fall apart at the slightest touch of a fork. The boeuf’s flavor hasn’t been sacrificed for the robust flavor of the bourguignon wine reduction that it was braised in. Both work well together for a powerful burst of flavor that fills your mouth with every bite. Coq au vin is also braised for hours in a wine reduction but is seasoned with a Pâté sauce. Traditionally, coq au vin, or “rooster with wine,” is made with a farm rooster who has grown to a ripe old age and can no longer fulfill his “duties” around the chicken coop. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for a rooster to age before getting to taste this traditional French dish. Both the boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are loaded with the rich, robust flavor of bourguignon wine while managing not to mask the actual flavor of the meat.

Petit Robert Bistro is a great way to step out of the city of Boston and into the city of Paris. You can taste some authentic dishes that are made with care and careful preparation as well as some non-traditional dishes that are made with the same amount of care. Although the space seems cluttered with chairs and small tables, it adds to the feel of a crowded French café—along with the light-up replica of the Eiffel tower just outside the front windows. The ambiance and atmosphere is very intimate and romantic.  At sundown, the house lights are dimmed and the candles are lit. This small eatery is the perfect place to take a date for an anniversary dinner or somewhere to go out to eat with a few close friends. The price range is a little steep for the typical college student, but considering the amount of time and hard work that goes into every dish—let alone the amazing flavor—the cost is very reasonable.