The Verdict
MONSIEUR BENJAMIN is Corey Lee's Hayes Valley French bistro on Gough Street - the companion restaurant to the three-star Benu whose specific identity is built on Corey Lee's decision to apply his accumulated classical French culinary knowledge to the French bistro format whose apparent simplicity conceals the demanding craft that distinguishes the genuinely accomplished bistro from its imitations. The steak frites whose specific preparation communicates genuine knowledge of what the French bistro's most essential available protein and side combination requires; the French onion soup whose specific gratin preparation communicates the accumulated knowledge of what the Parisian bistro tradition's most comforting available preparation specifies; and the Hayes Valley setting whose neighbourhood character communicates a bistro whose audience is the most culturally sophisticated available San Francisco residential community.
The French bistro menu at Monsieur Benjamin reflects Lee's specific culinary knowledge applied through the accessible bistro format: the classical French preparations whose quality communicates genuine mastery of what the bistro tradition requires; the steak frites and French onion soup programme whose execution communicates genuine knowledge of the bistro's most essential available preparations; and the Hayes Valley setting whose cultured neighbourhood character provides the most appropriate available San Francisco context for the French bistro tradition applied by one of the city's most accomplished available culinary minds.
In Hayes Valley for Corey Lee's French bistro companion to three-star Benu - communicating that the most technically accomplished available Korean-American fine dining chef has decided that making the perfect available French bistro represents as demanding a culinary challenge as the three-star tasting menu.
Why It Works for a First Date
Monsieur Benjamin's Hayes Valley French bistro and Corey Lee's culinary intelligence - the steak frites, the French onion soup, the neighbourhood warmth - creates the first date that communicates genuine knowledge of where San Francisco's most culinarily serious available French bistro intelligence is practised in the most culturally sophisticated available neighbourhood.
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