From The New Orleans Menu Daily

La Petite Grocery

French Bistro.
Uptown: 4238 Magazine. 504-891-3377. Map.
Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday.
Nice Casual.
AE DC MC V
www.lapetitegrocery.com

  WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL  
Occupying a comfortable, convivial space on Magazine Street near Napoleon Avenue, the Grocery puts forth a menu of local goods with the illusion of French technique and enough quirkiness to make it an interesting place to have dinner.

  WHY IT'S GOOD  
La Petite Grocery has become the last vestige of the kind of dining experience we used to have at Peristyle during that restaurant's glory years. The menu is full of unusual twists on little-seen ingredients, usually presented with enough originality to make it interesting. The evolution in recent times has been toward a less ambitious menu, but it remains unique. And the place itself feels good.

  BACKSTORY  
This building used to be Von Der Haar's Grocery, one of the great gourmet food emporiums in the middle of the last century. That's the reference in the name. When the restaurant opened, it was under the management of Anton and Diane Schulte, who later left to open Bistro Daisy.

  DINING ROOM  
One big room under a high ceiling is subdivided by low walls into a mix of intimate spaces and one larger dining room. Banquettes are along one wall. Sidewalk tables were recently added.

  ESSENTIAL DISHES  
Crabmeat baked in Brie cream sauce.
Steak tartare.
Crispy confit of duck leg.
Hearts of palm with crabmeat salad.
Tomato-braised redfish.
Flatiron steak with marrow and red wine bordelaise.
Hanger steak with truffled aioli.
Berkshire pork loin with cider reduction.
Grilled quail and stone-ground grits.
Pan-fried rabbit (Tuesday's special).
Pommes frites.

  FOR BEST RESULTS  
Start at the bar. They make good drinks, including classic absinthe.

  OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT  
The menu seems too abbreviated. Tables along the two rows of windows are so separate from the rest of the restaurant that they feel Siberian. It's never clear who's waiting on your table. I've had enough tepid food here that there's clearly a problem. The menu is too heavy on the meat side, with not enough lighter dishes.

  FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD  
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

• Dining Environment +1
• Consistency +1
• Service +1
• Value
• Attitude
• Wine and Bar +1
• Hipness +2
• Local Color +2