Bistro Poplar
535 Poplar St.
Cambridge, Md.
410-228-4884, http://www.bistropoplar.com
Open Thurs.-Mon., noon-11 p.m.
Atmosphere: Classic French bistro
Service: Friendly and accommodating
Don’t miss: Ham and egg crepe; roasted leg of lamb with duck fat fried potatoes
Tariff: Appetizers, $6-$12; entrees, $15-$24
What did you order?” asked the well-coiffed blonde sitting near me.
“The pasta,” I volunteered. “And the lamb and steak frites,” I continued, pointing to my two companions’ plates. “Are you celebrating something special?” I asked, nosy and wondering about her very well dressed group of fifteen or so.
“It’s my father-in-law’s eightieth birthday,” she told me.
“We’ve been celebrating his birthday for a month,” added another daughter-in-law at the far end of the table, as the dapper octogenarian nodded his head and gave a little wave. The fifteen hailed from Baltimore, Massachusetts, and California, we found out, and throughout dinner, they checked in periodically to see what we were ordering and how our entrees were, and by the time their dinners arrived, I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised if the blonde seated closest to me had offered to share a taste of her salad or scallops.
Authentic bistros can inspire this sort of conviviality, and Bistro Poplar has succeeded in bringing its warm, French sensibility—from its gorgeous red-and-green tiled floor to its modest, well-chosen wine list—to downtown Cambridge. With its classic décor and menu, this homey storefront feels special enough for a birthday, yet comfortable enough to be your Friday night local.
Bistros appeal because they’re a place for everyone, and even on a Sunday night, Bistro Poplar reflected this. A family with three well-behaved, tow-haired youngsters sat on the long bench against a butter-yellow wall, while two retirement-age couples dined at a table in the middle of the restaurant’s gorgeous tiled floor. And later in the evening, a young and obviously-in-love couple shared wine and plates under vintage painted tin advertising signs at the zinc bar.
But, of course, the focus of any restaurant should be its food, and Bistro Poplar doesn’t disappoint there, either, perhaps because chef/owner and Cambridge native Ian Campbell says that bistro style is his “favorite way to cook and eat.”
“I get a kick out of cooking simple things,” says Campbell, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and worked at Charleston and Petit Louis restaurants in Baltimore and the esteemed Bouchon in Napa Valley before opening Bistro Poplar on New Year’s Eve 2007. “I see a lot of chefs shaving truffles and sprinkling truffle oil on everything. I tell them I’m still trying to figure out the potato.” (Note: This may be true, but he’s learning quickly. See below.)
Along with trying to guess which sandy-haired gent at the birthday table was the oldest son, my companions debated among several classic bistro starters, including duck confit with lentils and sautéed sweetbreads, before making their selections. The lightest of our choices, poached lobster salad—sweet, pillowy pieces of lobster meat nestled atop fresh, garlic-laced frisee—was simplicity at its best. Escargots arrived at the table sizzling in a cast-iron dish with six indentations that allowed each escargot to wallow in garlic butter under an individual pastry hat; the effect was both charming and delicious. But the ham-and-egg crepe won hands down as our favorite dish of the evening. Campbell fills a crepe with smoked ham and a creamy gruyere mornay sauce (basically béchamel sauce with addition of the cheese) and tops it with a quivering fried egg. The interplay of smoky, salty, and creamy is irresistible, and while the whole dish becomes a bit of a visual mess, it’s more than easy to clean up. Although we didn’t get to taste it, the award for prettiest dish went to the bibb salad with tarragon vinaigrette that the birthday party ordered. The small head of lettuce could have doubled as a blossoming green prom corsage. It was lovely to look at, though it disappeared quickly.
Demonstrating our love for the simple spud, we felt compelled to order both the steak frites and the roasted leg of lamb that came with duck fat fried fingerling potatoes. The steak eater requested her meat done medium-well, but it still emerged from the kitchen tender and with a tiny bit of pink, and though the frites initially disappointed in their winter paleness, they were crispy nonetheless, though slightly less salt would have made it easier to finish the generous serving. The lamb, however, was simply fabulous. Campbell marinates entire legs of Iowa lamb in garlic confit and thyme, slow roasts them, and slices them thin. Pairing the meat with the nearly caramelized potatoes and spicy arugula works beautifully. (Arugula is a favorite ingredient of Campbell, who says you’ll always find it on the menu.)
Our final entrée was house-made pasta brimming with earthy mushrooms and broccoli rabe. This was my entrée, and it arrived at the table less than warm. When I pointed this out to the server, she whisked it back to the kitchen to be remade, apologized for the error, and thanked me for pointing it out. She also took the entrée off of our bill, an unnecessary but generous gesture.
Chef Campbell’s favorite entrée is the braised pork shank, and while we did not order it, I can report that one of the gentlemen at the birthday table did and polished it off in the time it took for me to walk to and from the ladies room. (And I didn’t linger.)
Desserts are the weak spot in Bistro Poplar’s menu. (Phone manners when taking reservations are where service could use some improvement, too. During one call, a staff member was so disengaged, she hung up while I was still asking a question.) But dessert will likely be improved with the forthcoming hiring of a pastry chef. For now, you might want to skip the crepe scattered with dried fruit and walnuts or the apple slices baked in puff pastry in lieu of the well-chosen cheese plate. (Though at $12, it’s not surprising that, according to Campbell, the restaurant has a hard time selling it.)
Bistro Poplar has already begun serving lunch, and Campbell hopes to open in the mornings during the summer months for coffee and pastries. He also reports that the menu will change five times a year (twice in summer). That, not unlike a milestone birthday, is worth celebrating.
Mary K. Zajac writes from Baltimore.
