Craig LaBan takes in Coquette, the star-crossed French bistro at the restaurant black hole of 5th and Bainbridge.

Coquette, it seems, has the classic aplomb – and timeless concept – to survive brushes with disaster like Pearl White in The Perils of Pauline. Like any good flirt (that’s “coquette” in French), Neff’s boite has the retro-Paris look down pat, from the hexagon-tiled floor, tin ceiling and ’30s lamps inside to the rattan cafe chairs that gaze out onto this boulevard stretch of Bainbridge Street.

The room pulses with the noisy energy of an authentic neighborhood bistro. And much of the young clientele on my final visit was even dressed for the part, one done up for date night in Marseilles sailor stripes and an anchor tattoo with a glass of lambic, another whose curly tresses were pinned high with a Moulin Rouge carnation.

The French bistro fare is served with just enough success (especially given the reasonable prices) by Jeremy Nolen, who was a sous-chef when the restaurant opened.

Two Bells – Very Good

Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Field Guide takes you around Philadelphia for a tour of oyster bars. Scoring them for cost, Guinness availability, wine list, old-schoolness and more.

• XIX
• Sansom Street Oyster House
• Coquette Bistro & Wine Bar
• Striped Bass
• Philadelphia Fish & Co.
• Original Snockey’s Oyster & Crab House

Shells Angels [Philadelphia Weekly]

A car wound up hitting Coquette Bistro and Wine Bar Tuesday evening. The elderly woman who was driving the car was taken away by ambulance but luckily no one was injured on the sidewalk or in the restaurant. The restaurant was closed for the evening but should be back in service Wednesday with its liquor license. And that’s a good thing because owner Cary Neff will probably need a drink after yesterday!

Drive-thru service at Coquette
Coquette Bistro & Wine Bar [Official Site]

Kirsten Henri checks out bistro Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar and finds it the stuff to impress even those not from the neighborhood.

Neff has taken one of Philly’s inexplicably cursed restaurant corners (Fifth and Bainbridge) and banished the bad juju—freshening it up with lots of pressed tin, big windows and tall mirrors painted with witty culinary quotes. An enticing raw bar is piled high with sparkling ice and oysters. An interesting mix of families, old folks and young couples fills the room.

From the complimentary scoop of chicken liver pate served alongside the bread and butter to classic dishes like nicoise salad and steak frites, the food—from Neff, who’s working in the kitchen alongside chef Jeremy Nolan—tips its chapeau to France.

Sexy Bistro [Philadelphia Weekly]
Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar [Official Site]

Wednesday, October 10th from 7 to 10 PM head to Headhouse Square for the first Savor the Shambles: A Taste of South Street District event. Granted it’s a long name but it’s for a good cause, the continued conservation of the Headhouse Shambles.

$10 gets you five servings from any of the participating restaurants. Additional servings are just $2 each.

Participating restaurants after the jump.

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The days of freedom fries are behind us and French cuisine is making a big comeback in Philadelphia especially at Coquette, the storefront bistro at 4th and Bainbridge.

The raw bar, on the other hand, is in full effect. Neff, owner of Sansom Street Oyster House, clearly knows seafood, so take advantage of the offerings here. We sampled the house oysters, giant creamy Long Island Blue Points arrayed on crushed ice with vines of black seaweed, lemon wedges and twin cups of cocktail sauce and mignonette. The raw bar also features changing selections from both coasts. When we visited it was the Pacific Chef Creek oyster from Newfoundland, a plump dark-edged flower of a bivalve, and the Salutation Cove oyster from Prince Edward Island, which is juicy, salty and crisp.

Beauty and the Bistro [City Paper]
Coquette Bistro and Wine Bar [Official Site]

Rick Nichols checks out Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar on Bainbridge in Queen Village and has a word for picky message board posters too.

Coquette may be just what the neighborhood was lacking, with its honest salads (at $7, the Lyonnaise a light meal in itself), juicy boudin blanc (at $9, a nice plate of juicy white sausage served over warm lentils and mustard-braised lettuce), beautifully seasoned (but non-French!) yellow-tomato gazpacho, and mostly-under-$20 entrees – a decent steak frites, flavorful roasted chicken and light monkfish.

Note to all fussy bloggers: Coquette nicely fills a niche [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar [Official Site]

Blogalicious pays an early visit to Coquete Bistro & Raw Bar and finds lots off good stuff and even three areas for improvement.

For only being open a few days, the food was astoundingly good, from the house-baked breads served with a dollop of mild chicken liver pâté to the intense lavender ice cream that’s like a scoop full of Bath & Body Works, in a good way. Highlights included coquilles St. Jacques and littlenecks over braised leeks and nuggets of summer corn; banners of rainbow trout, simply sautéed till the skin was a crisp cracker; chilled beet soup, the magenta shade of a burlesque dancer’s lipstick, with a cloud of zippy horseradish crème fraîche; duck rillettes, served in a glass canning jar as if it were pulled from the cupboard of a French grandmother; and a nice board of six cheeses with sweet onion marmalade, fresh red currants, and hazelnut butter that tastes like Nutella minus the chocolate.

Let Them Eat Duck Rillettes [Blogalicious]
Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar [Official Site]

This week the Bite takes a first look at Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar and tells of a chance to drink beer where the buffalo roam.

The Bite: Bon appétit [Metro Philadelphia]

Coquette Bistro & Raw Bar is opening today. It is a soft opening as the liquor license isn’t ready yet and brunch is still a few weeks away. But in the meantime check out the menus and stop in for some authentic French bistro food.

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