Life on the Line

Sean Kelly is back in the kitchen -- back where he belongs.

A A A Comments By Jason Sheehan Thursday, Nov 21 2002

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Clair de Lune is the restaurant that every burned-out, grill-scarred, sick-of-it-all veteran of the food industry dreams about when he collapses into a booth at the end of the night with his crew. I've been there, and I know the whole, tired spiel backwards and forwards: "Fuck it," he says. "Fuck it all. Fuck these hours; fuck this heat, these customers who don't know a gratin from a gaufrete. Fuck the fish guy and that stinking grandmother of a salmon he sent me. The investors crying over a slow Saturday. Fuck 250 covers at brunch. One of these days I'm gonna..." And it goes on from there. They all want a place to call their own, a place where they can work the rest of their days with the kind of simple happiness I saw on the face of Sean Kelly. A place like Clair de Lune.

It's small, yes -- so small you will become intimately acquainted with everyone in the dining room, because you'll be able to hear every word of their conversations. But you'll get past that. Yes, the menu is in a state of constant (and welcome) flux. And no, your plastic is no good here: Kelly didn't feel right about giving thirty grand a year to credit-card companies for the dubious honor of using their machines when he could instead give that money to a dishwasher. You'll get past the cash-and-check-only policy, too.

Anna Newell

Give the man a hand: Sean Kelly oversees everything at Claire de Lune.

Details

1313 East Sixth Avenue
303-831-1992
Hours: 5:30-9:30 Tuesday-Saturday

Plateau de fruits de mer: $18, $38, $56
Antipasti misti: $14
Seared sea scallops: $26
Muscovy duck: $24
Vegetable tagine: $20
Chimay Red (bottle): $10
Gateau victoire: $7

Closed Location

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Clair de Lune may be small, but the food served here is bigger than the walls, the block, the neighborhood. It's big enough to feed anyone who understands how rare it is for a cook with Kelly's resumé and skills to be touching every plate that comes out of the kitchen. To be sure, it's too small for a celebrity, so it's a good thing there aren't any here. There's just a cook -- a great cook, with the hands to prove it.

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