Cote Sud - French Bistro in a Castro Setting

By Bill Sywak

Four years ago, three French partners brought their grandmothers’ recipes and a complement of native-speaking wait staff to an upstairs space on 18th Street, and Cote Sud, the Castro’s version of a French bistro, was born.

After a recent absence, I revisited the place and found a true neighborhood abode where friends and partners meet after a day at work to relax with a glass of French wine and their favorite fare.

The Provencal dining room is traditional in yellow and blue with dining spilling out onto an enclosed patio. A quartz bar lit from below along with owner Raymond Arbelbide invite you inside.

Compared to my previous visits, this time I observed a more substantial menu and a bustling and nearly full dining room. Diners return again and again to one of their favorite venues in the Castro.

This may be due in no small measure to the fact that, contrary to the situation in at least 60 percent of our city’s restaurants where carrying on a conversation is a challenge and not just for the hearing impaired, at Cote Sud noise levels are comfortably low.

The restaurant features a three-course $27.50 prix fix or a five-course $45 tasting menu. Dishes on the prix fix can be substituted from the tasting selections at various supplementary charges.

Appetizers include a cornmeal blini with salmon and caviar, a traditional charcuterie and a bowl of mussels in Cote Sud’s own sauce. Diners should be forewarned that the newly introduced Coquille Saint Jacques with scallops in lobster sauce eschews the traditional cream and cheese approach, substituting a light sauce instead.

My all-time favorite entree is the venison with cranberry sauce, and any dish with pommes dauphine (scalloped potatoes) registers high on my scale of French comfort food. Other main dishes that our crew of tasters liked were roasted rack of lamb with thyme sauce, the roasted pork medallions, striped bass and an incredibly delicate seared tuna.

While it is hard to go wrong at dessert, our favorite confections were the warm chocolate cake and
the scrumptious apple clafoutis.

And what would a French restaurant be without Paris Brest, that creampuff-like pastry shaped like a wreath that hides a special blend of fresh chocolate and other pastry creams underneath? The one here is superb.

The biggest caution to make is not to be blinded by the bright quartz bar upon entering because you are going to have to exit down a somewhat steep and narrow stairway back to 18th Street. In any event, you can enter knowing you will enjoy the experience and your brief time in la belle France.

Cote Sud is located at 4238 18th St. in between Collingwood and Diamond streets. It is open Monday through Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m. Reservations can be made by calling 255-6565 or at its Web site: cotesudsf.com.

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