Review: 808 Maison serves a classic French bistro menu in Soulard's romantic and historic setting

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Kevin A. Roberts

Smoked sweetbread Parmentier: wild mushroom–foie gras duxelles, duchess potato, veal jus gras 

Cassoulet, scallops with a ragout of frog legs, steak and frites… There isn’t a single item that wouldn’t tempt at 808 Maison, the French restaurant you’ve long complained that Soulard needed. 

The setting and the atmosphere couldn’t be more perfect (save for the lack of street parking). Original wood floors and eye-catching chandeliers in the beautifully aged brick retreat lend an inviting ambience. Tables, booths, and banquettes are closely packed, but the effect is intimate rather than claustrophobic. 

Former Franco executive chef Jon Dreja helms the kitchen. His bistro fare includes plenty of familiar favorites. The classic bistro steak, a ribeye, is expertly charred, a brilliant rose inside, and tender. It’s paired with a hefty shank bone split to reveal a trough of glistening, salty smoked marrow that’s simply luscious. The bacon-braised Brussels sprouts accompanying the steak are good, and the frites are even better.

Those same fries enliven a deep tureen of mussels, steamed and bathed in a silky broth of crème fraîche, butter, and horseradish with the aroma of the sea and the delicacy of a New England chowder. Wow, is that broth good.

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Kevin A. Roberts

Pan-sautéed scallops are plated in a ragout of frog legs, vegetables, and Madeira. The bourride—a bouillabaisse-like mélange of seafood, clams, mussels, shrimp, and firm white fish in a chowdery broth with the rich suppleness of eggs and cream—is spectacular. The bright blush of a well-made rouille adds the piquance of Basque Espelette to the dish, giving it a lovely russet hue and a garlic-laden smack. On one visit, undercooked potato chunks and the traditional lack of a bowl of rouille on the side for bread dipping were the only imperfections. (Yes, it contains saffron, long interdit in bourride, but let that go.) Order the dish with a glass of pastis, and you have a purely Provençal meal.

Cassoulet, of course, is another bistro standard. 808 Maison’s version is entirely creditable, a trifle less soupy than you might expect; the hearty bowl of beans, braised pork, and a splendid duck quarter is reduced through the confit to a moist, succulent tenderness. There are also slices of lean Toulouse sausage and toasted bread crumbs on top. The proportions are exactly right. Ask for one of those brawny, fruity reds from the wine list, then dig in.

The leg and thigh of a poussin—we’d call it a young chicken—is deboned and stuffed with sweetbread and black truffles. It’s roasted, then plated in a pool of truffle and Madeira-laced Périgueux sauce, along with a barigoule—of wild mushrooms? That would have flummoxed colonial Soulard’s French, who’d have thought this pickling method solely for artichokes. But it works, lending a citrusy tang to the chicken and adding another texture to the wonderful sauce.

There’s also a fine selection of small plates. Escargots glisten in earthy garlic butter, complemented by flecks of chorizo. The smoked sweetbreads Parmentier, an unusual preparation of a thick puck of duxelles and foie gras topped with pillows of mashed potatoes, their surfaces burnished under the broiler, is one seriously rich starter. The taste-and-texture combinations here—the plumpness of the sweetbreads and the earthiness of the mushrooms, along with the starchy potatoes—are completely rewarding. Another simple but extravagant appetizer: a tub of Camembert roasted to a warm gooeyness and served with flatbread.

The fruits de mer section of the menu offers an array of treats—trout caviar, smoked octopus, oysters, scallop tartare—in appetizer portions.

We noted some other flaws on our visit. The same potatoes undercooked in the bourride were, when mashed as a side, bland and butterless. Service was uneven. When asked for a cocktail list, our server replied, “Well, we have a bar, so…” The house-made ice cream had gone crystalline, which was unfortunate, because it arrived with otherwise excellent desserts: a flourless chocolate cake and a tart tatin, still warm from the oven and tasting like the very essence of apple.

808 Maison shares a wall with Soulard staple Molly’s. In fact, a large window looks directly into Molly’s dining area, a somewhat odd arrangement. Maison’s bar is not the typical Soulard sort. It’s tiny, intimate, a comfortable and civilized wait spot before dinner.

A French restaurant in a neighborhood that exudes early St. Louis history is welcome. The fact that it’s of such high caliber is even nicer.