Review: The French bistro spirit at Jolie shows why Scott Crawford is a culinary star
When Jolie started taking reservations in advance of its August opening, the restaurant booked 500 tables in the first 15 minutes. That number will come as no surprise to the many fans of owner/chef Scott Crawford.
And you can count me among their number. I named Herons Restaurant of the Year in 2010, and I singled out Crawford & Son for the same honor in 2018.
When he arrived in the Triangle in 2009, Crawford already had racked up a constellation of five star and five diamond awards at luxury resorts elsewhere. In the decade since, he has garnered five nominations for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Southeast Award, and firmly established himself as one of the area’s very brightest culinary stars.
And versatile to boot. At Herons, Crawford worked within the constraints of a resort hotel gunning for world-class status to produce a highly refined menu for the globetrotting expense account set.
In 2016, after a brief stint at the short-lived Standard Foods, Crawford opened Crawford & Son, where he he was able to break loose and develop a more casual market-driven style that, with apologies to the long-running MTV series, might be called “Scott Crawford Unplugged.” Naturally, then, people were dying to see what Crawford’s vision of a French bistro would look like. Months of delays over permitting issues only added to the anticipation.
I’m happy to report that, from every angle, Jolie is as charming as its name — which, in addition to being French for “pretty,” was chosen in honor of the chef’s young daughter, Jolie.
On the plate, “pretty” translates to presentations that are often more artfully composed than you’d expect to see at a traditional French bistro, while remaining true to the spirit of the humble cuisine that inspired them.
On the opening menu, an entree vegetable tart filled with a carefully composed rosette of zucchini and summer squash ribbons could have been on the cover of a food magazine. In a more recent version, thin curls of kabocha and butternut squash are scattered across the classic French pastry crust like so many fallen leaves.
Duck rillettes, another current offering on the seasonally changing menu, arrive beneath a translucent golden dome of potato chips fried in duck fat. Steak tartare, enriched with cured egg yolk and punctuated with cornichons and capers, peeks out from beneath shingles of Belgian endive. In another starter, ricotta quenelles radiate from the center of a Basque piperade of tomatoes and espelette peppers, forming a perfectly symmetrical kaleidoscope pattern of pristine white and vivid red.
But gougères, light-as-air puffs of cheesy choux pastry delivered straight from the oven, need no flourishing touch. Nor does an exceptionally rich French onion soup, served simply in the stoneware bowl it was baked in.
Trout amandine departs from tradition only slightly, with a tangle of shaved fennel and slivered almonds topping a flawless filet swimming in a puddle of brown butter.
Beef cheeks bourguignon, its red wine- and lardon-enriched gravy oozing into a mound of buttery pommes purées, would be at home in a Paris bistro. So would steak frites au poivre — except you’d be hard-pressed to find flat iron steak this tender in your typical French bistro.
And you’d be fortunate indeed to stumble across a traditional bistro that serves a chocolate tart to rival pastry chef Krystle Swenson’s two-layered wedge of coffee-laced chocolate and dulcey ganache. Or a pot de creme as silky as her lavender-perfumed version, glazed with honey and served with sandy-textured sablé cookies.
Jolie’s all-French wine list does bistro tradition proud with a dozen by-the-glass options, including four sparklers.
The bar also offers a couple of local beers and a small changing selection of French-accented cocktails. The Aperol Pétillant is so pretty to look at, you may be reluctant to take a sip. Do it anyway.
Designer Louis Cherry has given Jolie’s dining room a look that he describes as a “contemporary French bistro with loving nods to classic design and clean modern forms.” With highlights including antique gold mirrors, warm oak hardwood floors, marigold yellow banquettes, and a ceramic rooster perched atop the end of a long marble bar, it’s a suitable setting for the food.
It’s a narrow space, though, with closely spaced tables creating a vibe that might generously be called urbane-cozy. If you’d prefer a little more elbow room, ask for a table on the rooftop patio (which, along with the bar, is reserved for walk-ins). The entire patio is covered by an umbrella, and it’s heated when the weather turns chilly.
Jolie’s location next door to Crawford and Son is a bonus for the chef, who splits his time between the two restaurants. At Jolie, you’ll often see him working alongside chef de cuisine Madison Tessener, whose resume is impressive in its own right, and includes iconic Charleston restaurants FIG, Husk and McCrady’s.
“I’ve been able to create my dream job,” Crawford says. “I get to cook two different styles, both of which I love to cook.”
The rest of us are lucky to be able to share in that dream.
Jolie
620 N. Person St., Raleigh
919-803-7221
Cuisine: French
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Prices: $$
Atmosphere: urbane-cozy contemporary French bistro
Noise level: moderate
Service: welcoming and well-trained
Recommended: everything (but get an order of gougères to munch on while you’re deciding)
Open: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday
Reservations: recommended for the dining room (bar and rooftop patio reserved for walk-ins)
Other: full bar; accommodates children; limited vegetarian selection; patio; wheelchair accessible; parking on street.
The N&O’s critic dines anonymously; the newspaper pays for all meals. We rank restaurants in five categories: 5 stars: Extraordinary. 4 stars: Excellent. 3 stars: Above average. 2 stars: Average. 1 star: Fair.
The dollar signs defined: $ Entrees average less than $10. $ Entrees $11 to $20. $$ Entrees $21 to $30. $$ Entrees more than $30.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Review: The French bistro spirit at Jolie shows why Scott Crawford is a culinary star."