Malmaison was truly an auberge, a French country inn. In 1988, when Simone and Gilbert Andujar opened it in what was originally a barn, the site had already hosted Charles Lindbergh and plenty of other diners over four decades. Together the husband and wife from Marseilles, France, turned it into a fine example of French cuisine and hospitality. Simone and son Norbert ran the kitchen and jardin potager (kitchen garden); Gilbert handled the front of the house.
The cuisine was mostly French but often lightened to reflect contemporary tastes. A first course might be a pâté or two, but there might also be a gumbo—French colonial, if you will, but a lighter-tasting version—a proper appetizer to avoid overwhelming the rest of the meal.
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Main courses also reflected the traditions of the French bistro: a fillet with béarnaise sauce or a half duck, roasted until the skin crackled and the meat fell away at the touch of a fork, dressed with the tongue-prickling contrast of a green peppercorn sauce. For years, Simone’s signature dessert was an almond tuile, formed into a basket while still soft from the oven and filled with ice cream and fresh fruit.
The rustically elegant restaurant surely saw its share of proposals and romantic moments. Champagne and diamond solitaires were at the diner’s option until 2001, when Malmaison closed.
