“Joyeaux anniversaire” means “happy birthday” in French, and all next week, Bistrot La Minette is celebrating its ninth joyeaux anniversaire with a magnifique menu of authentic Lyonnaise cuisine.
Peter Woolsey and his wife, Peggy, opened Bistrot La Minette in the popular Queen Village neighborhood in 2008. Many of the dishes are inspired by Peggy and her parents, who hail from France and are deeply proud of their heritage. Each dish on the menu hails from a specific region or cuisine style in France.
The cozy restaurant is truly a family affair—Peggy’s beautiful photos are displayed proudly on the walls, and chef Woolsey and his father-in-law built the tables from wood reclaimed from the restaurant’s renovations. Since landing on Sixth Street, this chic bistro has won the hearts of its patrons and earned numerous accolades, including praise from esteemed critic Craig La Ban and being named “Best American Restaurant” in Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” list last year. No surprise there; after all, chef Woolsey is a veteran of the Steven Starr organization, with cooking experience at Striped Bass and Washington Square.
Visit this popular bistro from Monday, August 21 through Friday, August 25, as chef and owner Peter Woolsey, executive chef Kenneth Bush and his team prepare an extravagant menu of bona fide Lyonnaise cuisine in honor of the bistro’s ninth birthday. The entire meal will be accompanied by an array of a la carte aperitifs, wines and digestifs for each course, as they would in a typical bouchon (a popular type of restaurant) in Lyon, for just $45 per person, with an optional cheese course supplement, Check out le banquet below!
Starter course
A buffet-style spread of cochonailles (meats) such as rosette de Lyon sausage (French pork sausage) and rillettes de porc (pork with a pate-like consistency)
Salades such as salade de lentilles (lentil salad), and poireaux (leeks) vinaigrette
Les entrées froids (cold entrees) such as sardines à l’escabèche (marinated sardines) and tartine au chèvre et confit d’oignons (tartine with goat cheese and onion confit
Main course (choose from the following)
Fricassee de volaille a la crème (white wine-braised chicken with onions, mushrooms and sauce suprême)
Boeuf mariné au vin rouge (red wine-marinated and braised beef with anchovies, carrot, onion, leeks and tomato)
Quenelle de Nantua, queues d’ecrevisse (white fish dumplings with sauce Nantua, crawfish tails and mushrooms)
Côte de porc á la Dijonaise (pan-roasted pork chop with sauce Dijonaise)
Tarte aux légumes, sauce Saint-Marcellin, vegetable tart with sauce Saint-Marcellin
Family-style sides
Including pommes Lyonnaise (Lyonnaise potatoes), haricots verts (green beans) and gratin de pâtes (pasta gratin)
Desserts
Including tarte au pralines and mousse au chocolat
“In Lyon, a meal among friends is a sociable and enduring tradition, with a lavish spread of starters followed by main dishes, with accompanying side dishes served family-style for the table to share,” explained Woolsey. “As we considered how best to celebrate our birthday this year, we couldn’t imagine a more exciting and delicious way to invite all of our fans and friends to join us for an authentic, shared meal in the inimitable style of a Lyonnaise bouchon. We hope to see many familiar faces—and plenty of smiling new ones!—as we serve this special pop-up menu all week beginning on August 21.”
Bistrot La Minette is located at 623 S. 6th St. in Philadelphia; phone: (215) 925-8000.
- Featured photo and restaurant photos: Peggy Baud-Woolsey
- Cuisine photo: Pexels
