Maijean, when you really, really want to like it

Though it had greater ambitions, Bistro Banlieue did a very nice job with the bistro classics. Based on reviews I have read, Sequel, much like 302 West's successor out in Geneva, has replaced elegant food, with tricked up, tarted-up, fusion cuisine (Dickson's restaurant rule #12 - the more ingredients listed in the menu descriptions, the more challenging it is to the chef to make it all work together harmoniously, and the less likely the meal will be good. Fusion cuisine, like blackened whatever, is much more likely to be a marketing ploy than a path to an enjoyable meal).

But I digress wildly with that rant. The short of it is that with the conversion of Bistro B the westland has been without a really quality bistro, and with the shuttering of Bistro Margot we have been bereft of even a workmanlike bistro. So as I have read of Bistro Monet, and Maijean, my heart beat faster and a smile crossed my lips.

I set out tonight for Maijean with high hopes.

The room was harmonious, decorated in cool umbers and yellows, with Art Nouveau swirling tree limbs in paint and in lovely wood behind the bar. Really quite pretty. The servers were pleasant, and the chef's pedigree very good. One false note - after two courses my new camera's battery gave it up, so when I add the pictures, they will only go so far.

Interesting wine list, and I started with a glass of Monbazillac, and the pate plate. A sliver of silky chicken liver, a lump of rillettes of pork that was more like a pulled pork (not smoked of course, but in consistency) in a light cream/butter that most likely was just the pig fat, and lastly a slab of pork and duck pate of the style one can find in vats in every market in France but hardly ever in the US. Served with perfect cornichons and two mounds of mustard, a dijon and a rough grind German. A very good start.

This was followed with an even better pear and basil soup - creamy, sweet with pear, the richness cut with the sharpness of an oil of basil flecked with shreds of leaves. Great idea, and I can and will make this at home. Inspired.

The bride had the other soup, a very well executed mushroom. Rich, earthy, yet simple, it disappeared quickly. The daughter had the baby greens and haricots and deemed it good. She followed that with the French Onion soup, which also was spot on, with a side of perfect baby asparagus, and finished with a palette of sorbets, blueberry, mango, passion fruit, mixed berry, raspberry.

That's it for the high points. I think I may have noted before here, I know I have said it to some of you at least, that I keep having these meals where the appetizers are much better than the main courses. At times, I wonder if this may be because I eat too much in the first courses, and so am eating my entrees without the pleasure of satisfying a hunger. Not the case here.

The Bride had a tenderloin of pork, with the sauce of the evening. She substituted the mashed potatoes for the menu accompaniment of sweet potato puree. The daughter snagged a taste of these potatoes off the plate, and commented, "no seasoning, just pure potato." I then snagged a taste of the pork, and noted not only that there was virtually no seasoning, but the pork had gone a little past its proper doneness and to a whitish chewy stage. To be fair, the Bride did point out that she gave me the end, and that the middle had a touch of pink and was not quite as chewy. Might be true and completely fair, but at $20+ per plate, is it unfair to expect that every bite will be cooked properly?

My seared duck breast was accompanied with a little tart of apple compote and fried onions that was tasty. But the duck breast also had what can only be called two serious technical defects, both probably resulting from the same error. First, the searing process should result in a crispy skin, atop the lovely little cap of fat. Not here. There was a touch of brown color that seemed to indicate the breast had been seared, but the last steps of preparation to bring it to my table had clearly robbed it of any crispiness. Each slice of breast did have a good pink hue to it, but upon closer inspection it became clear this was just a trick, for the bottom half had lost any pink, probably during the reheating before serving and addition of the sauce - somehow my duck, and probably the bride's pork, had been subjected to a moist heat that had done it nothing but bad. The duck did have a pleasing peppery flavor to it, but not a lot more, and the sauce was again very lightly seasoned.

Clearly the intention is to prepare the food with a very light touch in seasoning, so as to highlight the flavor, not add to or alter it. For me this did not work, both because the most simple, beautiful dish is usually really a trick - the deft hand has seasoned it, but in such a way as to make it seem as if there is no seasoning - and the trick was not pulled off well here, and because of the really lousy technique exhibited in both entrees. Technique quite honestly that was about the level of a decent restaurant in a resort/hotel.

The good news is that the breathless press the place has received has worked, and it was quite busy, so if you avoid it you will also be avoiding that crowd.

Will try Bistro Monet soon, and hope to have much better news to report. Meanwhile, I do not plan to return to Maijean unless one of my LTH west brethren goes and is able to report that the kitchen was experiencing some sort of burp - perhaps a line cook was out sick, and the substitute was not quite as qualified as one would hope - or maybe it is just a matter of too much business too early, and the kitchen is not yet up to it. For your reference, we ate there at 6pm on a Friday, and while the place was full by the time we left, it was less than half full when we ordered.

Maijean
30 South Prospect Ave.
Clarendon Hills, IL 60514
630-794-8900

Thanks very much for the information on this place. Given some of the reviews, I'll probably give it a try just to see what's happening. Hopefully your experience was an aberation.

I'm also anxious to try Bistro Monet. Please let us know your experience.

All the best,
John

Thanks for posting the review. We were considering going to this place a few weeks ago. We decided to take a pass and, as I recall, stay closer to home. While I generally don't give much weight to the reviews on Metromix, the reviews for Maijean were all over the board at the time (with some recent reviews being quite negative). It's a shame that the food at Maijean isn't spectacular -- it's sounds like a neat place.

While I haven't been to Bistro Monet (in the former Les Deux Gros location?), we actually have made several trips to Mon Ami Gabi since the Naperville Bistrot Margot closed. I know that Mon Ami is a LEYE restaurant, etc., so it has its detractors. However, we've always found the food there to be pretty good.

John, I would certainly go if I were you. The difference between my meal being excellent, and what it was, was likely no more than 5 minutes or so of shoddy prep resulting in semi-poached meat. If that had not happened my only quibble might have been that some of the food was a bit underseasoned, which is a quibble. Excellent food, prepared well but a bit underseasoned is still excellent food with the quibble being solely at my taste buds. But they did not get that far.

Ron, I like Mon Ami Gabi okay, and suppose it rates as the best western bistro. I love their oysters, and they generally have some white Loires to go with them, at least one Sancerre, that makes it a blissful pairing. But I never found the rest of their food to rise much above the level of good, like Margot. Nothing terribly wrong with it, though.

Actually, I feel a bit bad about hitting Maijean so hard, but I also think they deserve it for what we were served. I should disclose that I lived in France for a couple of years, and my Mom lived there for about 30 years, so I have had a lot of bistro French over the years and may, as a result, have a higher standard for it at the price point they charge in the US than some. After all, in France a bistro is more akin to a Greek Family restaurant in Chicago than a fine dining place. And you can get good steak frites and a decent roast at the corner cafe for lunch in just about every town in France, so it shouldn't be that hard.

Any recent reviews on this place? Some suburban friends have suggested meeting here (my turn to go out there, I guess). Personally, I'd rather eat at Vie; but because this was their albeit tentative suggestion, I'd like to honor it. Unless it's really terrible.