A Florida Brasserie: Cassis, in St Petersburg.

This handsome bay-side, prime location restaurant attempts to evoke, or possibly replicate the neighborhood brasseries of France. Its chef, Jeremy Duclot, is French, after all, once involved with Philadelphia's Le Bec-Fin.  On a recent late lunch visit, however, I curiously was reminded of St Petersburg, Russia, way back in the days before capitalism, when the lovely city sat empty of cafes, devoid of human community, as if waiting to reawake.

Cassis American Brasserie is a restaurant waiting to happen---the stage is set, but the hustle- bustle, jostling, spirit of enjoyment is missing. Service is erratic--particularly outside, where we overheard one diner say to the hostess--"First visit, and last." The kitchen is said to be huge--2900 sq feet--the restaurant does all its own baking, makes fresh pasta, and yet the food was oddly timid, lacking flair. The grouper sandwich on potato roll was good, but not great---its mango salsa topping was skimpy and dry. The fresh fries were overcooked, the in-house onion rings as well, battered in the manner of fast food joint commercial offerings.

The crabcake was plentiful in actual crab, the garni a sad, shriveled dollop of Asian greens, likely killed by a heat lamp. But it lacked seasoning, as if the chef were wary of the palates of the stereotyped geriatric crowd, none of whom were at table when I visited. ( Of course I was there...)

Having not skimped on architecture, although the interior early 20th c. design does not mesh with the exterior at all, the owners appear to have stinted on the warm generosity of spirit and verve required to create a magnet neighborhood eatery. ( Perhaps there is an underlying, even unconscious contempt for the (American? Florida?) customer driving some of these errors...)

NB Cassis has an adjacent bakery/coffee bar with quality products.

 
Greasy, largely overcooked fries? Untoasted ( tasty) bun? Ultra American garni. Mostly moist grouper. Scant salsa, my dear.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Foodie]

Cloudz--I pulled out the brown, dried up ones for the pic, oddly....they did have taste, yes.

[Cloudzilla]

Actually, those fries look almost perfect to me. I am so sick of the flaccid, pallid, anemic fries that American restaurants usually foist on people.

[Greg]

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