Last updated: October 14, 2020

In The Weeds

It’s been a rough few years for French cuisine in Charlotte. Lumiere closed its doors for good in 2018. Aix en Provence followed suit and closed permanently in 2019. La Belle Helene has also had its issues with sanitation grades and kitchen staff turnover, and has been closed since June. There is, however, one French stalwart that has remained perennially popular since its doors opened in 2007: Cafe Monte.

You might have heard of Cafe Monte due to its iron grip on the SouthPark brunch scene. Its Yelp page is an endless photographic parade of eggs Benedict, fruit bowls, omelets, powdered sugar-laden beignets, and various crêpes. The brunch craze of the last few years largely mystifies me, mainly because I rarely eat breakfast and when I do, I fully commit, pulling off something along the lines of a full English breakfast. So, this review focuses on the dinner served at Cafe Monte.

At one point on my most recent evening at Cafe Monte, I leaned back and tried to put myself at a neighborhood bistro in Paris, one of my favorite cities in the world. The black and tan rattan chair I was sitting in certainly fit the part, as did the low murmur of gossip from other tables. The mirrored walls and black and white photos of Belle Epoqué Paris also did the trick. The nasally voice of Edith Piaf lingered in the restaurant air the way it might have in a Parisian café. There was even a smattering of French coming from a man behind the bar who looked like he could have been the lead in a Jean-Luc Godard film. But more than anything, it was the smells that transported me. There was a whiff of simmering beef, a tinge of garlic, the warm smell of steak frites from the next table over, and the burnt sugar aroma of crème brûlée. Underneath those competing smells was the faintest hint of high-end perfume, the sort that might trail behind a young French woman as she heads to meet a date by the Seine. It seemed a deliberate touch by the restaurant and reminded me very much of the arcades, cafés, and Metro in Paris.

The wine list covers all the usual bases with an extra emphasis on French offerings but never rises above the pedestrian. The cocktails are much more likely to thrill. I was beaming when I saw they had James Bond’s cocktail of choice from Casino Royale, The Vesper. In Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, 007 claims to have invented it himself and decides to name it after his beautiful new acquaintance, Vesper Lynd. Cafe Monte’s take is only slightly different; a dash of orange bitters is added to the omnipresent gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc, and garnished with a hefty slice of lemon peel. It’s shaken, arriving at your table ice cold. It reinvigorates the nerves, relaxes you into your meal, and primes your palate for the flavors to come. 

Another standout on the cocktail list is the Englishman in Paris, a mix of gin, honey, simple syrup, Domaine de Canton, and lemon juice. The ginger flavor of the Domaine is what really snaps the drink into focus as the other ingredients settle into secondary roles. You can never go wrong with a French Martini, a blend of Grey Goose Citron, Chambord, pineapple juice, and Champagne. But the blue cheese stuffed olives in the Cafe Monte Martini, the restaurant’s take on the classic, still make me swoon. 

Their starters, or petit plats, include traditional French classics like tuna Niçoise, short rib poutine, brie en croute, escargot, and fondue. I will always order escargot if it’s on a menu, and the ones at Cafe Monte are no exception. Here, they come bathed in garlic, melted butter, and parsley, and topped with little puff pastries, adding more levels of flavor and texture to the lovely mouth feel and mushroom flavor of the snails. The burrata, though not a traditional French starter, is a light and refreshing start to any rich, French meal. Served with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, prosciutto, then drizzled with generous amounts of basil oil and balsamic reduction, this small plate is a symphony of acid, fat, and earthiness. 

The main courses at Cafe Monte are mainly French cuisine’s greatest hits: beef bourguignon, mussels and frites, duck confit, trout amandine, roasted chicken, and steak frites. Cafe Monte isn’t trying to do haute cuisine or fusion cooking. The restaurant sticks to bistro classics that are equally appropriate for a romantic evening out or weeknight dinner to get out of the house. The duck confit is a generous portion of almost impossibly tender meat that collapses in surrender to the slightest poke of a fork. Because the bird is cooked in its own fat, the dish is incredibly rich and highlights the already fatty duck. Served with broccolini and potatoes in a duck demi-glace, this dish is luxurious, filling, and not for the faint of heart. 

Steak frites are a dish that can be found at nearly any restaurant in Paris, and one can see why, protein, carbohydrates, and fat will get even the least enthusiastic eater’s taste buds humming. A cut of steak — filet is most common in France, but it’s New York strip here — is well-seasoned and pan-fried with butter in a skillet to your liking and served alongside two giant fistfuls of shoestring fries and garlicky green beans. Two sauces are available to accompany your steak: bearnaise and au poivre. Either makes the steak even better, but I’m partial to the peppery creaminess of the au poivre. Fun aside, steak au poivre was supposedly invented because British tourists in Paris couldn’t taste their steaks after drinking so many cocktails that French chefs began dousing their beef with some of the strongest ingredients they could find:  heavy cream, cognac, and heaps of black pepper. 

Dessert is a must for any French meal. Depending on what you order, the crème brûlée might be just the light end to the evening you’re looking for. Big enough to share, though so well made you might not want to, the crust on their brûlée is thicker than most and gives a satisfying crack when finally broken. The custard below tiptoes up to the line of being too indulgent but never goes over. It goes especially well with a small glass of fortifying port wine. The dessert cocktails are also a great way to end the night. The Cafe Diablo is a stiff whirl of Kahlua, brandy, Amaretto, rum, and coffee topped with whipped cream and a cinnamon sugar rim that makes your heart race, your face flush, and your vision blur. You can also keep things super French and order a Courvoisier and a slice of Roquefort instead.

The service at Cafe Monte can be hit or miss, even pre-pandemic, with new hires not being familiar with the menu, and more experienced waiters being stretched too thin between too many tables, though they do look nice in their black vests and aprons. Of course, the service in Paris can be quite tedious, with waiters leaving you marooned at your table for long stretches, but I don’t expect that experience in America. While it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker in light of the strain of the ongoing pandemic, it was distracting and took a shine off each meal.

Paris is a city that will never be duplicated, nor should it be. Likewise, its dining establishments are not easy to do outside the context of the City of Lights. Cafe Monte succeeds when it sticks to French classics and great cocktails. Though it seems that French cuisine’s popularity has waned in recent years as food trends go elsewhere, it still has the ability to thrill with its superior techniques and decadent ingredients. If Paris is a moveable feast, you’re certainly able to find a course or two of it at Cafe Monte.