Gaulart & Maliclet (Fast & French)

Teetering on the edge of the commercialized strip of Broad Street, threatening to fall into the residential darkness of the lower peninsula, the hole in the wall of Gaulart & Maliclet (better known as Fast & French) has been a staple of the business lunch crowd for 25 years. Like all the restaurants on here though, I had somehow never been.

The space was surprisingly small, rustic, and immediately enjoyable (despite the seizure-inducing color scheme of their web site).

Thursdays at F&F are Fondue night, an altogether pleasant surprise. Fondue is not common on the peninsula. Maggie and I started with some soups - her a gazpacho, and a lentil for me. Both were flavored wonderfully and cooked well. The gazpacho especially deserves mention, I think. I've found many gazpachos to be no more than the sum of their parts, and others to over-emphasize a particular seasoning like parsley. This avoided both traps; vegetables and herbs blended completely, and tasted like a coherent soup with proper balance. An auspicious start.

The cheese fondue arrived, accompanied by boring bread cubes, and vegetables that didn't seem happy to have been steamed. Along with it, decent looking cubed beef, and oil fondue.

The cheese and butter melted, but never mixed into a proper fondue, leaving an oily layer on top and a dense cheese pancake on the bottom. It was made more disappointing because the flavors were actually spot on. As for beef, it was just too tough. Conversation was replaced by mastication.

The soups were so good though, that we want to go back another night when the chef is a bit more involved. And we will go back. In 40 weeks, when we can repeat a restaurant.