Cafe Rouge (The Strand)

Saturday, September 24, 2011 - The duck rillettes tasted freshly prepared and authentic. As did a twice-baked cheese souffle. Not so the steak frites. Billed as 'succulent, prime sirloin steak', the meat was tough and ragged, and seemed to grow in the mouth the longer you chewed it. The meat was also the weak link in one of the new dishes, poulet jaune grille, whose juxtaposition of dry, exhausted chicken and pert baby tomatoes brought to mind Hugh Hefner's recent engagement photos. Bouillabaisse was better, built on a decent stock with a saffronish warmth to it, and clearly made from scratch.