THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Napoléon & Joséphine

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Napoléon & Joséphine Restaurant Review:

About the chef: Everybody knows that Napoléon was French, but not as many realize that he was from Corsica. So, when you are a Corsican chef naming your restaurant Napoléon & Joséphine (the emperor's wife), it's an homage to your native (is)land. Chef Olympe Ricco, after having two restaurants on the "Ile de Beauté" (the Island of Beauty), told her husband that she would only move to Los Angeles for his promotion if she could find a great pâtisserie. Obviously, she did --- that was in 2014. A few years later, Ricco has gotten sick and closed the doors on September 17, 2017. (A new chef has already purchased the location).

Likes: comforting, home cooking-style dishes; the dark and milk chocolate mousse.
Dislikes: closed.

About the food & drinks: Sit at the cozy tables or on the back patio (our preference) to satisfy your appetite with simple and tasty home cooking-style dishes. There is no printed menu but a black board, with three formulas ranging from $30 to $39. The dishes are ever-changing depending on the market and Ricco's passionate love affair with food. We recommend the antipasti, where about a dozen small dishes are brought to the table. Kudos to the grated carrot salad seasoned with orange juice and orange blossom flower, the homemade goat cheese, the beet root salad and the onion jam. Corsicans are famous for their upscale charcuterie, but unfortunately it cannot be imported to America, so the wood board is covered with cuts from Italy and Spain. We were not keen on the salmon "en papillote," which came way overcooked. However, the pork tenderloin with Dijon mustard cream on a bed of mashed potatoes was good. For the sweet ending, there are two must-haves: the fluffy dark and milk chocolate mousse and the "fiadone," a Corsican lemon ricotta cake. There is a small wine list from which you should definitely choose the Domaine Vetriccie, a Corsican rosé wine ($40) --- just perfect for the season.