Apr
12,
2024
Juliet is a charming French restaurant located in Culver City. The restaurant transports you with both it’s interiors and menu to Europe in a quiet luxury that makes you feel as if you’ve left town for France.
The food is outstanding, with portions that leave you feeling satisfied and not overly full. But before we speak on serving size we insist on detailing the quality. We were blown away by how incredible both the presentation of the dishes along with the quality are. Scallops that melt in your mouth, cocktails that transport you to the French Riviera, and of course desserts that make you seconds. Welcome to Juliet. Even the menu is curated here. Juliet has easy access to valet and upon arrival to the restaurant their hostess seats you and hands you the sweetest menu you’ve ever seen in your life. Crafted like a piece of art itself, Juliet’s menu is curated by the owner who includes a bit about himself inside and all his favorite places to eat, drink, and be merry in Paris. We haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying a menu that’s also a piece of art itself before and this alone made Juliet immediately stand out to us.
As we browsed the menu we decided to order cocktails to get us started and help us along on our culinary journey. We began the evening with Juliet’s Champagne Cocktail No.2. This lovely summery cocktail consists of brut, gentiane, and lemon. For the more adventerous of us we went with Juliet’s Special Potion. Much like the name implies this cocktail is special indeed, consisting of: Calvados, Absinthe, Apple, and Egg White. If you like apple brandy and a hint of the minty freshness of Absinthe this drink is for you. It’s adventurous and reminds us of a fun drink that could’ve been all the rage during 1920’s prohibition.
Our meal began with the first choice from Juliet’s appetizer’s their Huîtes (oysters), that come topped with cucumber and roe. We’d never had cucumber on our oysters before and this may have unlocked a new favorite way to enjoy them. The appetizer comes with three as their standard but you can ask for a fourth like we did. Or truly indulge and order two! Why not have three each? They’re so delicious it’s a bit of a shame to share.
We’ll let you in on a little secret. We may have looked at the menu ahead of time (always do) and found that Juliet was praised repeatedly online for their Poisson Cru. Needing to find out if this was worth the hype we ordered it, and couldn’t have been happier. The fish is so incredibly fresh and delicate it just melts away on your palatte as the flavors sink into your taste buds. It’s a sliced amberjack in a meyer lemon ponzu sauce that is topped off with a hint of Serrano oil. It’s the perfect compliment before any of their entrees.
Not having anything green on the table always makes dinner feel naughty. Knowing we wanted to enjoy the fresh and light summer fare options that Juliet had we asked for their Endive salad, this was so good we immediately made a mental note of the ingredients to try and recreate it at home. Endives are a fantastic green, don’t overlook them when they’re on a menu. Juliet’s take on an Endive salad is very French and very traditional. We wouldn’t be surprised if the owner grew up having this very salad at home growing up in France. Their Endive salad comes topped with walnuts, grapes and Roquefort cheese.
Getting ready for dinner we settled on a glass of white and red wine. It was a bit of a surf and turf with our options having come to Duck and Scallops. Each of us decided to try a different wine that would best pair with a different dish knowing we were sharing. This is also great if you want to try other wines but don’t necessarily want to have an entire glass. While we’re on the topic of Juliet’s wines they have several pour options you can choose from which is very refreshing. Sometimes you just need a sip, othertimes you want a bit more, but not an entire bottle, the thoughtful menu here reflects the natural impulses of most guests.
You can’t possibly go to a French restaurant and skip their duck. Ordering their Cigares du Confit de Canard that come with a side of sauce valois was a windfall. Confit de Canard is a French delicacy made from salt-cured duck legs and then cooked and preserved in duck fat. Confit involves pre-cooking the meat then preserving it in fat, most commonly duck or goose fat. The word “confit” means “to preserve,” which is exactly what this cooking method does. Because of the cooking method, this entree has so much flavor it’s bursting with a robust flavor profile in every bite.
Our second and final entree was Juliet’s Coquilles Saint-Jacques. Coquilles St Jacques is an impressive looking dish that is also a French staple. Juliet’s take on this classic delivers six beautiful scallops in a meyer lemon butter and topped with trout roe. We swoon. This was a seafood lover’s dream.
For dessert we opted for the Brown Butter Madelines, you’ll find them as the Madeleines au beurre noisette on the dessert menu along with our server’s recommendation of their Gâteau au fromage which Juliet makes with crème fraîche. Decadence doesn’t even do the flavors of these desserts justice as a descriptor. We really wanted a second round of the Madeleine’s despite being full, they were just that delicious.
Getting to chat with their Sommelier was a delight and she put us onto their Savagnin, Fumey Chatelain. We’d never heard of this wine and she took us through the ins and outs of its flavor and explained based on our choices why having a wine for dessert that isn’t a dessert wine but actually has tiers of flavor that are nutty would bring out the flavor profile of our dessert options all the more. She taught us that Savagnin is a balanced, distinctively dry, complex and stony wine with a touch of nutty umami-like aromatics. The result was the best pairing we could’ve imagined for our dessert. We highly recommend asking for Juliet’s Sommelier, and letting her guide you on your wine choices for your dinner.
Juliet is located at: 8888 Washington Blvd Suite 102, Culver City, CA 90232
