In 1998, Chez Oskar opened its doors on DeKalb Avenue and pioneered a new way of life in Fort Greene—one that included passable French food and a handful of neighborhood restaurants to choose from come Sunday Brunch. Now its sister, Chez Lola, has staked a claim on Myrtle—the street formerly known as Murder Avenue—and the newest frontier in the nabe’s mind-boggling transformation from grit to chic.
Two nearby restaurants have beaten Lola to the punch. The one that warrants the trek to the outer limits of the hood is the fantastic pan-Latin Luz; the other, the uninspired but decent American bistro Maggie Brown, serves the locals just fine. Which way Lola will swing is still up for grabs, though it strikes an incredibly opulent pose.
On the website, owners Denis Costaz and business partner Charlotta Janssen explain their conception for the restaurant according to the following logic: “If Joey the soda jerk and Susie the cab driver went out for a good time in the roaring twenties, they’d come to Lola.” In reality, their restaurant looks more like the kind of place Gauguin would have taken one of his French Polynesian concubines if he stepped into an H.G. Wells time machine and transported himself, glass of absinthe in hand, to New York in the ’20s. In other words, it’s an incredibly sexy, glamorous and inventive melding of an art deco bar and eclectic antique shop. Painted tin tiles cover the 18-foot high ceilings. The hanging lights look like a cross between Chinese lanterns and lacquered lollipops. The wine rack is fashioned out of a mattress box spring. A beautiful mural in the bar area depicts a colorful island scene of toffee-skinned children posing languidly in white. The garden is paved in grayish-green and white tiles with restored, classic cane chairs. Hands down, it’s the most gorgeously decorated restaurant in this neck of Brooklyn.
But that’s not to say it’s fussy. The vibe is still casual and neighborhoody, and the food is really not all that different from Oskar’s. Though it departs from the elder’s exclusively French fare (“We were a bistro sans frontiers,” Costaz said, describing the international cuisine of Lola), the same chef, Octavio Simancas, is in the kitchen, meaning the menu—which draws from Paris, Provence, the Mediterranean and the New World—is executed in much the same vein: good, well-priced food that satisfies but doesn’t sing. The sweet red and yellow julienned peppers in the marinated sardines and vegetable escabeche ($8) tasted sunny and bright, but citrusy fish was a little too fishy for me. The French onion soup ($6) had the right amount of gooey gruyere, came chock full of thinly sliced onions and had a bold and meaty broth, but the Manhattan clam chowder, a special one night, could have used a little more mellowing. A fresh, hearty veal ragu over pappardelle ($12) hit the spot, though the meat was slightly chewy. The grilled pork chop ($16) (not chops, as stated on the menu) came with a delicious glaze of veal stock finished with fennel butter, but the fingerlings were dry, and the pork itself only a little juicier. And the parsnips, figs, squash, carrots and meat in the lamb tagine ($18) were exceedingly tender—but tasted as though they had been marinated with every spice in Sahadi’s.
The exceptional exceptions were the juicy, bone-gnawing good New Zealand rack of lamb ($20) and the lavender bread pudding ($6), a heavenly-scented dessert that comes soaked in a crème anglaise with a hint of white chocolate. Those two dishes alone—along with the atmosphere—helped establish Lola as the favorite sibling for me and the one I’ll keep frequenting.
Chez Lola
387 Myrtle Ave. (betw. Vanderbilt & Clermont Aves.), Fort Greene, B’klyn
718-858-1484
