Le Bouchon Du Grove French Restaurant In Coconut Grove

It was Friday and Miss Issa and I decided to take a stroll in Coconut Grove. Hungry, we ended up at Le Bouchon Du Grove, a distinct French Bistro in Miami.

This is a sidewalk café, full of character and personality, close your eyes to the surroundings outside and it is easy to believe that you are in a little corner of Lyons. The decoration is a multi-colored tribute to France, this is a relaxed little restaurant that has been around since 1994 and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

girl sitting at a table — Miss Issa hungry at The Bouchon Du Grove

Neither of us had breakfast and it was after noon. So what to order?

As usual, Miss Issa chooses an atypical lunch: scrambled eggs with bacon and fried potatoes, breakfast for lunch! She truly enjoyed this dish and almost licked the plate when she was done. This was a real treat at this time of the day and made Issa’s belly very happy.

I was craving snails and ordered Snails in Garlic Sauce. The French name is Escargots in Persillade which is a sauce made of a mixture of parsley (French: persil) chopped together with seasonings including garlic, herbs, oil, and vinegar. Escargots are dear to my heart as I love the chewy yet soft texture, it is divine to me. The escargots were swimming in a pool of garlic and parsley sauce, parsley overflowing all over the dish. I almost licked the dish like Issa but instead I did the what I never do: I broke the bread and dunked it in the delicious sauce, no way I was going to let the sauce waste. I always stay away from bread, but not this time.

Moules Marinières– Pommes Frites, such a romantic name for a pot brimming of steamed mussels. I am not kidding when I say a pot of mussels, we are talking a massive red pot crammed full with mussels resting in a flavorful sauce so good it could also be eaten as a soup. We ate the mussels, one by one, filled with glee. Sweet, marine morsels from the sea with a touch of parsley. We drizzled the fries with salt and pepper and this only enhanced the ocean-taste of the mussels. One fry, one mussel, one fry, one mussel. Heaven.