Left Bank, Larkspur

It was my birthday a while ago. I made time to go to dinner with Andy but never enough to write about it. Chez Panisse was booked, so Andy asked around work for a good date place and came up with Left Bank, in Larkspur. I was a bit apprehensive because it's a chain restaurant...in Marin...but we went anyway.

The restaurant itself is adorable. It looks like a giant living room with a fireplace and has decorations of cute pigs everywhere. Mmm, bacon. It being in Marin, the bar was packed with bleached blonde 50-somethings with designer bags and botoxed lips, all of them drinking cosmos and lemon drops.

I myself preferred to have a diet coke with grenadine (I know, I know) while we waited for our table. Despite having a reservation, we had to wait for about ten minutes for our table. The hostess wasn't very friendly, but considering how busy the place was, we got seated relatively fast.

Being the good boyfriend to a high maintenance foodie girlfriend, Andy told me to order up. I started out with the Salade Lyonnaise, which had frisee lettuce, a poached egg, croutons, and bacon, and was dressed with a mustard vinaigrette ($8.50). Andy had the Salade Verte, which had butter lettuce, herbs, and a dijon mustard vinaigrette ($7.50).

My salad was delicious but also a recipe for a heart attack. Overall, it was a little bit greasier than I would have liked. I think that the thick-cut bacon could have been drained a little bit before being put in the salad. Because of the excess of fat, the croutons which were otherwise great, got a bit soft. But other than that, the egg was perfectly cooked and wilted the frisee just enough. Andy's salad was good; it was very basic but that's how he likes his food so it was perfect for him.

We also split Moules Florentines, which were steamed mussels in a white wine sauce with spinach ($11.75). By split, I mean that I ate all the mussels, dumped some of the shells onto Andy's plate, and he mopped up the sauce with bread. The mussels were very nicely cooked, but I think that the sauce could have had a bit thicker.

I think our server was new, too, because I had already eaten about half of the dish before he came by with those tiny little forks and plates to put our shells on. I had no problem just using my fingers, and the bread thickened up the sauce and made for another great side dish.

While not overly-impressed with my appetizers and the service, I am going to rave about my entree. Two months later, I still want to go back just to have it. While Andy ordered...wait...take a guess...steak and frites ($18.50), cooked medium-well (of course), I ordered the duck with lentils ($20.50). That duck was worth every penny.

It was cooked just enough so that the meat was juicy and the skin crispy. I got an entire half of the bird, so it was a struggle to finish everything. Even Andy liked it. The skin had a bit of a sweetness to it, almost like it had been cooked with dried cherries, but the sweetness didn't take away from the overall delicious, fatty flavor of the duck.

The lentils were just as delicious. They were cooked a bit al dente, and seemed like they had just been soaked in bacon juice. While they weren't greasy in the slightest, they contained the full flavor of smoked bacon.

I was so full at that point that I couldn't even try Andy's fries or get dessert. This is one of the best ducks I have ever had, and apparently it will only be on the restaurant's fall menu, so I need to get back there soon. Left Bank isn't a cheap place, but it's definitely worth it every once and a while.

Left Bank is located at 507 Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur. To make reservations (which I would recommend), call (415) 927-3331. I believe that the restaurant is a chain, so there are a few other locations that can be found on their website: http://www.leftbank.com/.

They are open on Sundays and Mondays from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.