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| - How the mighty have fallen: For years, my wife and I had enjoyed this tucked away little gem of a bistro, with its great service and consistently excellent fare. It somewhat reminds us- or reminded us- of the excellent, "Le Select Bistro, " in Toronto. Sadly, in recent months, with a change in management and what is obviously a degradation of kitchen talent, things have slowly slid into mediocrity. It became abundantly clear when we ordered a few of our regular items on a recent visit: The onion soup, formerly enhanced with flavorful morsels of beef and liberally capped with cheese and crouton, was a pale shadow of its former self. A tepid, under-seasoned vegetarian version topped with a couple of baguette slices and minimal cheese. The true down side though was that the toughness of the bread indicated a trip to the microwave had been likely. The duck tartine (formerly duck CONFIT) was soggy and under seasoned. The accompanying salad, which used to have a zesty lemon-vinaigrette dressing, again- bland and oily. The beef tartine was horribly under seasoned, prompting me to actually request salt and pepper- something I'd have NEVER considered in past years. My wife's chicken tartine could have used more time under the broiler. She sent it back. The chef brought another one- exactly the same. (Ironically, it was far better the next day after a short toaster oven visit. See? Told you so.) Ever since John, the affable host, departed, things have gotten worse. Now, more staff has departed. I'll never get why, when there's a successful formula- one that NO ONE else has- someone comes along who feels a need to change it. In this case, for the (far) worse. Just sad. So unless things improve, we can no longer recommend it.
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