North Bay Woman

18 NORTH BAY WOMAN | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 By Leslie Harlib Photos by Stuart Lirette E thnic cuisine in America: an idea whose time has become muddled. With fl avors from scores of the world's cultures cropping up in dishes from fast food eateries to boxed snacks on supermarket shelves, how do you know what's real? It's not easy. For instance, ethnic restaurants abound in the Bay Area. Most of them have something important to offer in terms of featuring traditional foods, whether Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican, Indian…there are thousands of these. So this was a tough assignment: to fi nd three restaurants in Marin that presented authentic dishes and moreover, a feeling, representative of their respective cultures. There are many of these in our county. But having dined in a multitude of Marin's ethnic restaurants over the years, I decided on the following short profi les of what I think are among Marin's most authentic ethnic restaurants: Le Garage Bistro Ten years ago, Bruno Denis and Olivier Souvestre (born and raised in France in Versailles and Rennes, respectively), took one look at the Sausalito waterfront location which became Le Garage, and knew it was the right place. "We'd been riding our motorcycles all over San Francisco looking for a site for a French bistro. We never found the right location. When we saw this, we both said, OK, this is the place. It was funny. It was immediate." A decade old this April, Le Garage is right on the bay, with a view alive with scores of boats, distant hills and rich panoramas of sky. The restaurant fi lls a space that was once a garage, and still boasts the big red garage door. It feels like a contemporary bistro (meaning, in France, a place that would seat around 30 to 50 people and serve both lunch and dinner) that you'd fi nd in just about any Restaurateurs talk about what makes ethnic food so meaningful Restaurateurs talk about what makes ethnic food so meaningful W here Authentic Means Home Above and below; Sushi from Sushi 69; La Garage Bistro's the croque monsieur (sandwiches of grilled ham, gruyere cheese and béchamel sauce). Above: The owners of Le Garage Bistro, Olivier Souvestre and Bruno Denis. Below: tarte tatin; crispy pastry piled with caramelized apples and a side of tangy crème fraiche.

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