Restaurant Review: Au Petit

French restaurants have been very kind to Houstonist. They reside in quaint little locales, offer crusty bread and real butter, and cook up delectable and delicate fares. We were delighted to learn that a new french restaurant opened on Colquitt just two weeks ago. The owners and chefs of Au Petit Paris, Eric Legros & Dominique Bocquier, have created a 'casual' neighborhood restaurant with a distinct Parisian feel. Though the restaurant lacks the pretentiousness of most upscale restaurants and the decor is charming and comforting, the food is decidedly upscale as are the prices. We arrived at Au Petit on a brisk Houston winter night (no, seriously - we had to wear a coat and everything) and were delighted to find a cozy cottage restaurant instead of a lackluster stripmall dive. Eric and Dominique took an old Montrose house and created an adorable dining venue that is intimate and comfortable. The only gripe we had with the ambiance was their choice in music - a bit too techno bistro for the setting. The menu options were enticing, but we experienced sticker shock at the prices - nothing casual about that! Appetizers start at $12 and go up to $19. Entrees range from $23-$33. Dessert was $9 a pop. A full three course meal would run you well over fifty bucks. Perhaps these prices are the Euro conversion rate?

At any rate, we forged ahead with our meal. We were delighted with the Salad Des Champs Elysee with frisee salad, perfectly poached egg, bacon, glazed tomatoes and foie gras. The salad was already rich and bold and we felt that the foie gras wasn't necessary and even excessive. The french onion soup was delicately done and perfect on a cold day. For our entree, we decided on the seared bacon-wrapped scallops on a bed of fine-cut ratatouille. The dish was...good. But not mind-blowing or something we will crave down the line. Our companions ordered the rack of lamb on a bed of polenta and the roasted sea bass. Our fork kept finding its way over to the sea bass (perfectly roasted with a touch of acidity to bring out the flavors) and the polenta (creamy and buttery, we could have this alone for dinner).

We could not pass up on the dessert the menu since Chef Dominique has been a pastry instructor at Houston's Culinary Institute Alain and Marie LeNotre. We settled on the chocolate cake with mango filling and the pear tart on puff pastry. The cake portion of the chocolate cake was divine but it kept getting interrupted by the the mango sauce and whatever other sauce was drizzled on the cake. Our table preferred the caramelized pear tart on homemade puff pastry. The puff pastry reminded us of one of our favorite french pastries, the palmier.

Service at Au Petit was outstanding and as it should be: informative, attentive, helpful but not pretentious, judgmental or overbearing. Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Au Petit and really hope this restaurant does well. Houston needs more restaurants like this (read: more restaurants with that neighborhood feel and NOT in stripmalls). We are confident that if we came back a couple more times, the wait staff and chefs would know us by name and greet us warmly. However, at the current prices, we might need to take out a second mortgage to call this place our "casual neighborhood" restaurant.

We would recommend this restaurant for a special night out. This place also lends itself to very intimate and romantic dates for those who want to impress without showing off. They are also offering very enticing prix fix Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve dinners.
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2048 Colquitt
(713) 524-7070