A Taste of Populaire Modern Bistro

Chef Nicholas Weber offers a sneak peek of soon to open Populaire Modern Bistro, showcasing a tasting menu featuring brand new dishes to be served at Populaire.

This weekend only, Mix Mix in Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA) is hosting a special tasting as a preview for their new restaurant, Populaire Modern Bistro.

As per the event description

Chef Nicholas Weber offers a sneak peek of soon to open Populaire Modern Bistro! April first and second join us for an intimate tasting menu featuring brand new dishes to be served at Populaire.

They describe the event as a three course tasting, with an hors d’oeuvres and a dessert. This format is pretty reminiscent of my first visit to Mix Mix.

Earlier this year, Mix Mix posted this message on their website.

As Mix Mix Kitchen Bar enters its 6th year of business, we are incredibly proud of everything our team has been able to accomplish — from “Best New Restaurant” to Michelin Bib Gourmand, to growing into a small restaurant group with multiple locations and more on the way.
We will be focused on these new projects in the coming months so Mix Mix will be pivoting to pop-up dinners and special events.
Beginning March 19, 2022, Mix Mix will only be open for special events and buyouts. In the meantime, please visit us at Terrace by Mix Mix at South Coast Plaza and Remix in Long Beach.

It does seem like the creative minds behind Mix Mix are looking for expand their focus on other projects. It looks like they will only do pop-ups and special events at the DTSA Mix Mix location from now on.

Review

Tonight, each party attending the event has been assigned a table, with a hand written thank you note reading:

Thank you for joining us tonight! We can’t wait to see you at Populaire. Alyssa, Nick & Ross

Hors D'oeuvres

Escargot Ebelskivers, Koji Butter, Sauerkraut, Buttermilk, Parsley

The starter tonight is an escargot ebelskiver. I’ve had an ebelskiver pastry before, which is akin to a fried dough ball with raspberry jam on the inside and topped with powdered sugar. Unlike the traditional dessert, this bite is a savory pop-it-in-your-mouth experience. The fried dough is very reminiscent of any other fried food, and for some reason reminds me of funnel cake or deep fried food at a fair. But the inside was a savory and salty mix, combining escargot and sauerkraut inside. This small bite sized dough ball was served over buttermilk with dribbles of parsley oil, providing an eye catching green color. Buttermilk provides a rich and flavorful creamy aspect, while still being reminiscent of a dessert, really putting a spin on the savory aspect.

Hors D'oeuvres

Gougeres, Whipped Fiscalini Farmstead Cheddar

The second small bite is a gougère, which is a French pastry made from choux dough mixed with cheese. (I had to look that up, I’m not that food smart.) The gougère is a small bread like ball pastry with a hallow center. Even before searching what a gougère is, I was able to taste that there is cheese mixed into the dough which really gives it a taste unique to baking the dough with the cheese that can’t compare to simply melting some cheese on bread. (No strikes against that though, grilled cheese is a classic.) In my opinion, the most creative and interesting aspect of this dish is actually the whipped cheddar. That’s is literally what it is described as. But the taste would require additional creativity to imagine. The texture was denser than whipped cream, but still had detectable air bubbles (hand whipped?) and a distinctly lighter and distinctly cheddar taste.

First Course

Ratatouille, Egg Yolk, Aged White Cheddar, Gochugaru Chili, Olive Oil

The first course of tonight is a ratatouille dish. When I saw the movie Ratatouille as a child, I had assumed that ratatouille is a super fancy dish served at high end restaurants. It wasn’t until later that I learned that it was traditionally a poor man’s dish using cheaper non meat ingredients. However, I wonder if that movie has changed the public perception like it has for me. Any who, this dish is a small helping of vegetables sprinkled with aged white cheddar and topped with what I’d guess to be a quail egg yolk. The ratatouille is generously salted and super soft in texture. I would actually be super inclined to try this as a spread over bread -- its that soft. There is also a very subtle spice to the dish that I really appreciate. Flavorful spice added to a dish can add another dimension of flavor, which can really do wonders when done well. For the egg yolk, I mixed it in with the vegetables much like a gyudon, which enriches the texture and adds a likely hard to notice subtle flavor.

Second Course

Dungeness Crab Chawanmushi, Sea Urchin, Octopus, Saffron Dashi, Scallions, Red Yuzu Kosho

If we are on the topic of French food, a chawanmushi really stands out as a dish that doesn’t fit the theme. I’ve have chawanmushi at lots of Japanese restaurants, and I’ve loved all of them. I’m really curious to see their take on this dish, as the list of ingredients are all reminiscent of classical Japanese ingredients.

The presentation of this dish is truly gorgeous. All of the ingredients decorated on top make this feel like a dish-within-a-dish with multiple small experiences . To be honest, I feel lied to. The menu indicates red yuzu kosho. I love yuzu kosho, so I was really looking forward to seeing red yuzu kosho. It was not red. It was green. My night is ruined.

That aside, there is a lot to pick apart in this dish, so let’s address it in the order I consumed it.

The uni, or sea urchin, was your average Santa Barbra uni. The texture was more gelatinous and didn’t melt as easily as super high quality uni, or have the sweetness of Hokkaido uni.

The octopus is served as medium sized slices, and was fantastically tender. Not even the slightest indication of a rubbery texture, it was fantastic. If they served a whole octopus dish in the fashion of a pulpo with this quality, I would love the heck out of it.

The complaint I have with this dish is that it is too salty. In my opinion, the culprit is the dashi broth. The dashi broth is included on top and adds to the flavor of all of the bites you eat. All of the ingredients - crab, octopus, and uni - are all seafood ingredients and are naturally salty. Salting the dashi broth just tips the boat too much and is too salty for my preference. If you are making a dashi from saffron, let the saffron and kombu shine through, and let it be a decorator to the other ingredients, rather than having it vie to be the strongest flavor of the dish.

The egg part of the chawanmushi is fantastically well done, and delivers on the creamy soft texture that a chawanmushi promises. Inside are pockets of shredded Dungeness crab that is flavorful, and goes well with the egg when not overly salted, providing a subtle but not too contrasting texture.

Main Course

Duck Breast, Pickled Cherries, Red Endive, Brown Butter Beet Puree, Black Garlic Molasses

The main course for tonight features a duck breast and duck sausage (not listed on menu). You can call me crazy, but I’m actually getting Thanksgiving meal vibes from this dish. The duck sausage reminds me of the turkey, the pickled cherries of cranberry sauce, the sauces are like an au jus or gravy, and the brown butter beet purée is like a mashed sweet potato.

This dish is served plated with red endive to complement the velvet red color palate of this dish.

The duck sausage is super tasty and homogenous in texture. The flavor is lighter and not as potent as the duck breast. I really like it, as it’s just a fantastic sausage all on its own. Flavor and texture are on point.

The brown butter beet purée is a vibrant red color from the beets, and tastes like a mix of brown butter, beets, and mashed sweet potato. Since beet has a stronger more accented flavor, I think this goes really well with the duck.

The duck breast is served quite rare, or if not, then it is naturally pretty red. The thin layer of fat between the meat and the skin is really great and one of my favorite parts, so I’m glad it’s included and well prepared. The rich flavor notes of the duck breast is stronger than the sausage, and is very flavorful, combining the meatiness from the breast and the rich fatty notes from the skin, all in one bite. The meat is fairly tender and excellently cooked.

Dessert

Blue Bird Farms Citrus, Whipped Grass Fed Cream

Tonight’s dessert is a whipped cream served over a grapefruit shaved ice with slices of grapefruit. The whipped cream is pretty thick and very creamy, and certainly hits the spot for those with a craving for ice cream like I did. It’s notably not ice cream, but the sweet creaminess of it is certainly reminiscent. It is denser than your typical whipped cream, and more flavorful with a natural cream flavor, rather than from added sugar. Really delicious, and for anyone who’s ever ate whipped cream from the can, you’d love this even more.

The grapefruit shaved ice is super tart. Grapefruit has always been super tart to me, and this dish does not shy away from embracing that. The shaved ice really may make you pucker, but the slices of grapefruit hiding underneath are actually quite sweet.

Here is the problem though. The whipped cream on top totally does not go with the shaved ice on bottom. The top is sweet and creamy and the bottom is tart and watery, so the flavors and textures collide in a way that is confusing and unclear. I think the incredible tartness just does not go well with the creaminess unlike other fruits like strawberry ice cream. And even if you try to consume them together, the texture is all wrong. The ice kills the creaminess of the ice cream, and the grapefruit overpowers the milky flavor that they are so proud of.

In my opinion, the whipped cream is by far the better part of this dessert. One idea could be to serve this almost like an ice cream dish, and if you are insistent on using grapefruit, maybe try turning it into a syrup drizzle that can better compliment the texture and add some flavor, but still have the sweet creamy notes be the dominating experience.

Overall, I really enjoyed this dinner experience. I wish the Mix Mix team the best in their new venture.

I think that a tasting menu experience is a really interesting way to try new foods and creative combinations that you may have not experienced otherwise. I also think that it is a good way for a chef to flex their culinary skills in putting together a sequence of dishes that relate and fascinate. Every single one of the dishes tonight had some element or aspect that I thought was creative or was impressed by, which is quite an impressive feat.

Populaire is planning on opening by the end of May at South Coast Plaza.