Bicyclette Bistro

This restaurant is a relatively new Parisian-inspired restaurant by Chef Walter Manzke and his wife Margarita Manzke, also the owners of Republilque. This Bistro has an upstairs and downstairs, and the downstairs is more of a "bistro" setting. The upstairs offers only a Tasting Menu for $225/person. There were 4 of us. My brother was treating me for my birthday, and the 2 other people, Ramon and Milena, both gourmets, went along.  My brother and I are more gourmands!

We all decided to share everything. We started with Avec Notre Baguette with Normandy Butter. This French baguette came with a small tower of butter and a few grains of salt. We all loved it! The Sardines we ordered went well with the bread. We needed a vegetable, so we had the Roasted Brussels Sprouts/ Frisee Aux Lardons and soft egg. The "lardons" made a big difference in flavor (fatty bacon). The Steak Tartare with Potato Chips was excellent. I would order that again; maybe even order 2 servings of it!

Ramon thought we should try the Burgundy Escargots En Croute with garlic parsley butter. Our server Julia who was excellent, highly recommended it. She was right, and we did enjoy it. The Caramelized

Onion Tarte Tatin took the cake, and I've never had anything like it before. It was exquisite.

I wanted to try the French Fries with Tarragon Aioli, which was okay. The tarragon aioli was delightful though the fries to me were overdone. Some people like it very crispy, which they were, but I think the taste of the potato is somewhat lost when it's too crispy. That was just my opinion. For our entrées, we all decided on the Duck Leg Confit with baby beets, steel-cut oats, and blueberry peppercorn jus. That was nice and crispy and mouth-watering. The Beef Short Rib a la Bourguignonne was served with baby carrots, bacon, and potato mousseline. I loved these 2 entrées. They thought it was a bit salty, but I  thought it was perfect! We all decided to get another order of the French bread which came without the butter. The second order of bread is free but not the butter. 

It was decided that we would share 2 desserts.  One was the Profiterole with dark chocolate sauce and the Apple Tart with salted caramel sauce. They stuck a candle on the Apple Tart for my birthday. FYI, that dessert was not complimentary; only the candle was. We were not impressed with the desserts. They were not bad, but it's not something I would order again. This was surprising because we all have been to Republique many times, and everything we have had there was outstanding. 

Overall, we all enjoyed most of the food and had a wonderful time. Oh, be prepared to pay an extra 4% for employee health insurance.

Bicyclette Bistro is located at 9575 W Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles.