This French restaurant is now firmly in the hands of chef Jennifer Jasinski and manager Beth Gruitch-Verucchi (the same team that operates Rioja across the street), and it's already a Larimer Square landmark. The space is beautiful, the service casually professional and the solidly French bistro fare very impressive. And while dinner is wonderful here, brunch is a thing of beauty. - Jason Sheehan
Great mussels and frites for their Sunday night special - a bargain @ $9.00!!!! Their chicken liver pate with sweet muscat infused grapes is the best I've ever had and very generous! Will definitley go back.
Bistro Vendome may be just across the street from its sister restaurant, Rioja, in historic Larimer Square, but it is an expanse of food genres away from their eclectic menu. Bistro Vendome invites guests to feast on updated classical French fare in the accustomed décor that pays homage to traditional French bistros. Dimly glowing light climbs the high walls of the main dining room. It settles over a modestly tiled floor that does little to absorb the low hum of patrons and the celebratory clinking of wine glasses. Large mirrors line the high walls, leaning forward just slightly to view diners enjoying an unpretentious and intimate meal. To add to the façade that you are dining in a bistro in the center of Place Vendome in Paris, for which the downtown Denver restaurant is named, selected dinner options are adhered to the windows in bold black French words. Being that I spent time in Paris last summer, I greatly appreciated an American restaurant that so accurately tipped its hat to the French bistro. However, certain dishes were altered that would have been better appreciated had they been left in their quintessential forms. There is nothing more decadent than an order of escargot immersed in almost overwhelming garlic and steaming oil and butter. I was served lukewarm escargot floating miserably in a Pernod butter sauce. That is to say, I consumed licorice flavored snails. The snails looked as hesitant on the plate as I was to eat them as they sat atop potatoes in fear of drowning in the green Pernod swamp beneath them. Another chance to redeem my French food-loving palate came in the form of their special that evening: frogs’ legs! I add the exclamation point because I was so pleasantly surprised to hear of frogs’ legs being on a Denver menu. This delicacy was sure to be a treat that would catapult me back to walking through Tivoli Gardens, and then down the noisy living museum that is the Champs Elysees as I see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance, and then the fantasy is muted. The dish placed in front of me rudely interrupted my Parisian day dreaming as it mimicked a plate of Kentucky Fried Chicken, minus the colonel’s red cardboard bucket. The fried frogs’ legs in a roasted red pepper and blue cheese sauce appeared to be a mean spirited play on Buffalo wings. Biting into them got me a mouthful of batter, followed by a small piece of fishy tasting meat. The absence of savory lollipops delicately fried or sautéed in garlic and butter made the lack of traditional French cuisine quite palpable. Bistro Vendome redeemed itself with dessert. Filling my mouth with their strawberry-rhubarb crepe made my taste buds forget the offensive tinge of licorice mollusks and salty amphibians. This dessert special was perfect for summer. The distinct sweetness of the strawberry and tanginess of the rhubarb played together through fine layers of crepe, as freshly whipped cream regulated the two palatable and opposing flavors. Enjoy this year’s Indian summer with a glass of Sauvion Sancerre Centre as you sit in the humble presence of a traditional Parisian establishment. If you are embracing memories of gastronomic mainstays that keep traditional French fare so timeless, your time is not here and now at Bistro Vendome. Be adventurous, but be weary that the interior is a deception as some of the food takes a severe turn away from classical French cuisine. The flavors of old Paris will just have to be retired to my memory for now.
Review by Carly
Overall:
A charming and dependable spot for casual French standards: mussels, duck confit, steak frites, grilled lamb. Bistro Vendome offers a convenient pre-theater prix-fixe menu: appetizer, entree and dessert for $29.50 if ordered between 5 and 7pm.
Review by Not a food snob
Overall:
What a cool place! We ate brunch on the patio. We had Eggs Benedict with crab, fries and memosas. Tre yummi! I had french pressed coffee and my wife had this wonderful tea made by Mighty Leaf. The weather was beautiful, and the patio was just right. Jazz music played on the outdoor speakers and the waitstaff spoke just enough french to make it a fun experience. We had the good blessings of spending some time in Paris and this place had the bistro experience right on. We really loved the food, and we felt to rush through it would just be wrong, so we took our time and savored the flavor and experience. You know it's a good place when you just hate to leave! We can't wait to get back to Vendome in the near future. Bon Appetite!
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you can pretend like you're brunching in paris at this tucked away little gem
Great mussels and frites for their Sunday night special - a bargain @ $9.00!!!! Their chicken liver pate with sweet muscat infused grapes is the best I've ever had and very generous! Will definitley go back.
I have to second Steve H. here, the fries at Vendome are the reason they are called French Fries.
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