Bistro

Sebastopol, July 5, 2014—

CONTINUING THE INDEPENDENT theme, we ate sorta French tonight, the French having been our allies in overthrowing the divine right of kings and establishing representative democracy in the world (for however short an era it turns out to be). The local bistro isn't completely authentic, but it'll do, particularly in its recently enlarged, more comfortable setting, with a welcome full bar.

(Saturday just isn't Saturday without its Martini.)

I opened with the house-pickled sardine you see here, on a slice of baguette, with celery-radish salad and agrodolce onions, positively awash in "evoo"— a culinary term I absolutely detest, standing of course for "extra-virgin olive oil," another term etymologically meaningless but commercially significant. Though you can't imagine any decent restaurant serving an oil of a grade inferior to ex-virg.

The sardine was delicious; ditto the salad: the oil was, I thought, a little overwhelming. And I hadn't ordered wisely, as I went on to this sole meunière, a dish I dearly love, but rather a delicate one: how would it hold up after that agrodolce?

Not badly, as it turned out: but there were other problems. The fish was underdone, for one thing: I think sole meunière should be crisp around the edges, fried in butter and finished with beurre noire, butter cooked until caramelized; and should be sprinkled with chopped parsley. This was in a thick butter sauce, a little sweet, and instead of nice little steamed-and-parsleyed potatoes it came with the french fries you see here. Oh well: the fish was nice, and we left feeling good about our healthful diet…

Chablis, La Chantemerle, vintage?

• K&L Bistro, 119 South Main Street, Sebastopol; (707) 823-6614