To get a perspective on Herbie’s, you need taste only the restaurant’s buckwheat crêpe: pan-tanned, orange peel–thin, rolled around wild mushrooms and drizzled with roasted-garlic aioli—rich, textured, aromatic.
Relocated from the Central West End to a Clayton corner replete with patios and an Ernest Trova sculpture, Herbie’s retains the same bistro sensibilities of the original storied location. The interior has lots of dark wood and tastefully muted colors, along with those familiar fin-de-siècle French posters.
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Beyond the crêpes, the escargots beckon, shimmering in garlic butter and accompanied by a basket of splendid bread. Smoked trout is like a pâté, piled atop cupcake-size pancakes. Choose the house salad over the Caesar; the former’s elaborate, with bacon, avocado, and a basil-smacked buttermilk dressing over romaine with fried wonton strips.
Among Herbie’s iconic dishes, there’s the extravagant fruits de mer—platters of lobster, oysters, snow crab claws, and shrimp erected into grand seafood towers. The filet mignon’s another standard—thick, tender, splashed with a syrupy red wine demi-glace. And this place without beef Wellington? Unthinkable. It’s here in all its en croute glory.
A roasted chicken breast is small but perfectly prepared, the skin a crackly sweet treat. The pork chop, with a bourbon-tinged demi-glace, is a porky wonder and easily enough for two. Ivory sea scallops sport a caramelized crust. Shrimp and grits and lobster mac and cheese are both grandly extravagant, the former embellished with Tasso chunks and a brandy-and-veal demi-glace. The latter: Well, it’s lobster with cheese macaroni.
There are few bargains, but the wine list is a wish book balanced with superb vintages. (The affordable 2011 Bodegas Volver Tempranillo is made for the beef Wellington.) You didn’t know cocktails had seasons, but they do here. They’re imaginative and worthwhile, especially before dinner in Herbie’s bar, arguably the most beautiful in town, with the same marble tabletops, Eames chairs, and leather benches that made the original location feel like home.
Clayton seems to have embraced the new Herbie’s. That wonderful wood-and-brass bar is inevitably packed; the dining area’s often full, particularly on weekends. It’s the same old Herbie’s in some ways and happily updated in others. The food is bistro-style, the atmosphere classy and upscale. It’s a welcome addition to the vibrant Clayton dining scene.
Try those crêpes. You’ll agree.
