North Bay Woman

S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 | NORTH BAY WOMAN 19 waterfront city or town in France. "It was important to try and create the visual feel of our culture," says Denis, who handles the front of the house while Souvestre is the chef. "Being next to the boats. More than half our servers are French. An open kitchen. These are things we do in our culture." The menu is where you really taste the partners' intentions. Souvestre says, "What makes it authentic is finding the balance between evolving what we serve and keeping what people love. In the end, we experiment with a lot of taste and we always make sure the flavors hit; they have to taste to us like home." Souvestre has built a following for dishes such as a deep bowl of Prince Edward Island mussels rife with white wine, butter and garlic — it's their best-seller — served with warm, crusty bread and butter as well as French fries with garlic aioli (the way they're eaten in France). There's grilled steak with those same thin crunchy fries; duck confit accompanied by seasonal sides such as lentils in winter or fruits in summer; salad nicoise made with fresh tuna; garlicky imported French escargots (snails). There are croque monsieur and croque madame, filling sandwiches of grilled ham, gruyere cheese and béchamel sauce, with madame topped by a fried egg. The bouillabaisse here is classic Marseilles, made with rockfish as well as assorted shellfish. Desserts include a traditional individual-sized tarte tatin: crispy pastry piled high with caramelized apples and a side of tangy crème fraiche. This bill of fare, along with a new three-course early bird menu that features most of these specialties for $35, bring in a clientele that Martin says is 70 percent regulars for lunch and dinner. "You get the French experience all the way," he says. We've tried to change things over the years but we can't. Our customers won't let us. I think when people come here, they know what they want to eat already. They want the French classic. If they want something different, they'll probably go somewhere different." Le Garage Bistro, 86 Liberty Ship Way No. 109, Sausalito, (415) 332- 5625, legaragebistrosausalito.com. Lunch Monday to Friday; Dinner daily; brunch Saturday and Sunday. Bangkok Thai Express Like many of the best down-to-earth restaurants in Thailand, Bangkok Thai Express is owned by a husband-and-wife team, who have been in business for more than 28 years. Born and raised in different parts of Thailand until they were teenagers, Bongkot Ouneklap and his wife Maly run their eatery as a duo. He's the chef, she's the business end of the team who both manages and does most of the serving. The couple have created a neighborhood destination that they say is literally their home away from home. "We eat all our meals here. When we are closed, we still eat here and have friends here. The restaurant's kitchen is an extension of our home, and we want that feeling to extend to the customers," says Maly Ouneklap. Though they went to college in California and met here, both partners missed Thailand enough, in particular the beach, that they painted Bangkok Thai's interior with large murals of the area around Phuket. The little bar rests under a roof that's typical of the type of house you'd find throughout Thailand. It's warm, different, and funky. Colorful without cliché. "We eat outdoors year round in Thailand. That's why we tried to create a feeling of that with our decor," she says. As for the menu, Bongkot, aka Ben, makes all the sauces from scratch. Dishes aren't necessarily hot, and can be adjusted to your taste, as they are in Thailand. "People have this idea that all the food in Thailand is super hot, but that's not the case," says Maly Ouneklap. "In Thailand, there is always hot sauce to add to a dish. You can always ask for a chef to cook it mild. That's not just something people do in the U.S." Street foods are hugely popular in Thailand, where people typically snack all day rather than sit down to a meal. The Ouneklaps present a version of the sweet/savory/chili-spiked fried chicken wings sold by many street vendors. Called sweetheart wings, the crispy chicken parts are covered in a complex sauce that's at once tangy, mildly hot and piquantly sweet, then mounded with fresh, crackly leaves of deep-fried basil. Angel wings is another traditional, labor intensive Thai dish. Skin-on chicken wings must be boned without tearing the skin, then stuffed with a mixture of chunked chicken, ground pork, bean thread noodles and more, before being fried. "It takes hours," Maly Ouneklap says. "Women sit around in Thailand and talk all day while they cook," she continues. "They make all kinds of dishes like this. It's what we do. Nobody sits and talks Authentic con't on page 35> Above: Angel wings from Bangkok Thai Express is traditional, labor intensive dish where chicken wings are boned without tearing the skin, then stuffed with a mixture of chunked chicken, ground pork, bean thread noodles and more, before being fried. Left: Owners of Bangkok Thai Express are the husband-and- wife team Bongkot Ouneklap and his wife Maly who have been in business for more than 28 years. – Photos by Stuart Lirette

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