Gamine is a French restaurant on the Union street shopping corridor that used to be named Chez Maman but was purchased by the manager and renamed. Everything else remained the same.
They have a lunch menu and serve Sunday Brunch. They focus on more lower cost fare than many of the expensive restaurants nearby. They are know for the friendly waitstaff.

Decor, Vibe - Small homey dining room, French accent decor, with some counter seating by the kitchen. Couples, people in their 30’s, shoppers, and families were enjoying their food.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Lunch Menu

Wine List

Picks:

Escargots ($10.50) in garlic butter were of high quality with a strong buttery flavor. Nice and chewy. Use the leftover garlic butter for the bread.

Warm Frisee and Duck Confit Salad ($11.50) with poached egg, lardon, white wine vinaigre was a solid salad with a decent egg and light dressing. Not enough to act as an entree.

Grilled Flat Iron Steak ($18.50) with Bearnaise sauce and french fries was cooked to perfection and tender. Nice but tiny fries. Good sauce.

Marinated Grilled Lamb Loin ($19.50) was very good, tender, not gamey, and cooked perfectly. Quantities of meat were on the low side, but lardon potato gratin was huge.

Berries & Creme Fraiche Crepe ($7) was full of raspberries and blackberries, not a lot of creme inside, so it was lighter than expected. Pretty good quantity.

OK:

Basic Burger on a french roll ($10.50) with Cheddar cheese ($1.50) with fries was juicy and cooked to our desired medium rare. The bun was a little soft, making it a little mushy with the meat juice. Solid but not excellent.

Onion Soup Gratinee ($6) had a lot of dry sherry flavor and decent cheese crusting. Soup was decent, nothing fabulous but solid.

Sauteed Tilipia ($18) with garlic spinach, tomato concasse was good not great but a solid value. Crust was nice, meat was tender, but no special flavors.

Creme Brulee ($7) was huge, especially at this price. Hard crust, lots of custard. Smooth, creamy, and good, but not as delicate as others we have had.

Spinach ($7) was average.  Nothing special.

Pans:
None

Gamine had above average service, not as attentive as we would expect such a small place, but it was adequate. Glasses of wine start at $9, with a great Baileyana.
Food was decent and prices reasonable. You can get a taste of France without flying. Gamine is like a lower cost and better quality Left Bank.
Other decent places nearby include Asian fusion restaurant Betelnut.

Restaurant.com $25 Dining Certificate for $10
Entertainment Book 2 for 1 restaurant, food coupons, and much more

Bistro Vida is a french bistro in the Menlo Park Santa Cruz avenue shopping district. It is located right next door to Left Bank. 2 French restaurants next to each other? Crazy. We were in the neighborhood and decided to try it.

Decor, Vibe - Almost like they transported a french bistro from Paris. Classic decor, sidewalk tables, etc. We had lunch and saw that it was mostly full. Lots of business people, friends, enjoying French food.

Menu Pictures

Dessert and Drinks

Picks:

French Onion Soup ($7) was good. Thin layer of cheese on top of tasteful onion soup. Not salty or overly onion flavored.

Grilled Chicken and roast bell pepper Sandwich ($9) on foccacia bread with small salad and fries was a good sized lunch. Chicken tasted fine, bread was toasted, french fries were delicious but salty.

Coq au vin ($13) chicken and red wine stew served with mashed potatoes is a classic french dish. They did a good job on it. Flavorful, tender chicken flavored with herbs. Good mash potatoes that were not full of butter.

OK:
None

Pans:
None

Service started out good until the food came and the place started to get busier. Had to wait longer to get refilled, etc. Prices for lunch were reasonable, the food was good. The online reviews for this place are mixed so proceed with caution for pricer meals such as dinner.

Restaurant.com $25 Dining Certificate for $10
Entertainment Book 2 for 1 restaurant, food coupons, and much more

Bouchon is a French bistro that is part of the Thomas Keller French Laundry empire.  They have locations in Yountville and Las Vegas. The decor sets the mood, with colors, paintings that set the stage for a French meal.  Clearly most of the people here are touring the Wine country.

Cool Bathroom

The restaurant is not large and has a busy, loud vibe. The place looks like it was transported from France.

They have the Bouchon bakery next door, which sells some of the best french bread around.

Great bread and butter

Menu pics

Golden Menu

Desserts

Food Pics

Picks:

Soupe a la Oignon ($9.75) or french onion soup was a very good classic Hors-D’oeuver. It was steaming hot and had a strong onion flavor.  The cheese on top was crusty and tasty.

Quiche du jour ($13.50) was a spinach and provolene quiche. Extremely high quality and nothing like the quiches you buy locally or shudder- get frozen. Top notch ingredients and very smooth.

Steak Frites ($33.50) or pan seared prime flatiron with maitre d’hotel butter and French fries is the quintessential bistro entree. The steak did not look visually appealing, but was excellent.  It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was super tender. The fries were plentiful and awesome. Some of the best around. Crispy and not greasy.

Assiette de Charcuterie ($14.50) with picked vegetables, Dijon mustard, petite baguette was had several kinds of delicious thinly sliced meats as well as accompanying items. A nice appetizer to put you in the french mood.

OK:

Salmon Special ($33) had a huge portion of Poached Salmon on top of kale and potatoes.  Very good salmon even though the preparation was more different than we’ve been accustomed to. The pea shoot greens and potatoes seemed out of place on this unbalanced dish.  A case of weekend special to clear out stuff?

Mojito ($11) was pricey and just average. No enough sugar. Wine was a better bet.

Pans:
None

The service was friendly and functional but not as available as we would like, probably because the place was so busy. Wine prices were high with glasses running $12. The glass of St Clement was a good call by the waiter. Cocktails also were expensive at $11+. The food was excellent and was accentuated by the atmosphere. This is a perfect place for the laid back atmosphere of the wine country.

Diners on a budget could get by with a lower cost sandwich ($17.95) or Croque ($16.95).

Be sure to check out the Bouchon Cookbook

Also at:

Bouchon at The Venetian

3355 Las Vegas Blvd South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702-414-6200

Reservations