The best things at Le French aren’t French at all

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A restaurant name like Le French conjures up visions of tartare, moules-frites and other bistro staples. Therefore, it may seem strange to go there for Senegalese dishes. But stay with me: It will all make sense when you consider the backgrounds of the owners.

The 9&CO restaurant is a sister restaurant to the original Le French, located in the Denver Tech Center and owned by Aminata and Rougui Dia. The siblings’ family are from Senegal (a former French colony whose cuisine was influenced by 300 years of occupation), and they grew up just outside Paris, where family cooking sessions and visits to farmers’ markets gave the sisters a love of cooking . Rougui stayed in the City of Light, where she became the first black woman to serve as a chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant and even won France’s National Medal of Honor for her culinary contributions.

Meanwhile, Aminata and her husband moved to Denver in 2002 after falling in love with Colorado while visiting friends. He got a job in IT and she started a catering service called AmiCuisine. In 2019, Aminata persuaded Rougui to come to the United States to open the casual yet chic restaurant they had always dreamed of creating together, and Le French came to life at Belleview Station. Then last September, the Dias expanded their business into the Hale neighborhood with a sleek, sophisticated, dimly lit space that included a sparkling black men’s bar and a floor-to-ceiling wine wall dividing the dining rooms. It’s busy with conversations and clinking glasses, the kind of place that ventures right to the edge of the stuffy, but stops just short.

The seasonally changing menus at both locations are the same and offer mainly French dishes. But if you scroll past the champagne, sparkling wine and cocktails (try the refreshing bubbles and crème-de-violet Les Perles) at the top of the menu and skip past the escargots and steak frites on the dinner menu, you can start looking for the limited number Senegalese dishes, which happen to be the restaurants’ best offering.

My favorite is jollof rice, a West African main course where rice is cooked with herbs, tomatoes and sometimes fish or other proteins, depending on the recipe. Le French’s is kept vegetarian by slowly simmering peppers, tomatoes, curry powder and cumin, each grain thoroughly absorbing the deep flavors. Think of it as the African antecedent of jambalaya. Jollof is available as a side dish, but I would have it as an appetizer and add pan-seared shrimp or scallops.

The poulet yassa – a quarter of a bone-in chicken leg marinated overnight with lemon, vinegar and Dijon mustard – is also excellent. Grilled for a hint of char and then cooked with caramelized onions, the result is an ultra-juicy, spicy bird that I devoured with the accompanying pop-in-your-mouth white rice and sweet peas.

Another Senegalese dish not to be missed are the pastel-colored, empanada-sized pastries loaded with tuna, habanero, garlic and parsley, then shrunk, fried to order and served with more of those caramelized onions. The puff pastry falls apart with the first bite, revealing the umami-filled filling, and you’ll need to grab some onions to temper the richness. It’s a tasty, albeit heavy, starter that fits seamlessly into the French-centric menu.

Less successful was the boeuf bourguignon, which didn’t have the melded flavors I wanted from the classic French dish. The beef should be tender and sticky from the wine, but instead of the subtle wine flavor infusing whatever it is slowly simmered with, Le French’s tasted as if the wine had been added too late, leaving it bland with a hint of acidity.

However, when I came for brunch, the crêpes – a very French dish indeed – were tasty, especially the variety filled with Nutella, chocolate syrup and berries. Light and delicate, the ultra-thin pancakes provide a neutral canvas for everything from andouille sausage and cheese to a beurre Suzette, a traditional French sauce of citrus, sugar and butter. The Parisian omelette is also hearty; the fluffy eggs showcase roasted cremini mushrooms, Gruyère and tender Parisian ham.

Still, perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite brunch dish was the Senegalese fried chicken sandwich. Brined in pickle juice and coated with gluten-free flour for a tissue-thin breading, the breast is topped with citrus-kissed yassa sauce in the form of a spicy jam. In a city overrun with fried chicken sandwiches, this is something deliciously different.

The Dia sisters have managed to create a très chic bistro, but the best things at Le French aren’t French. Instead of beef tartare and bouillabaisse, I wish they would give us more of those West African dishes packed with chili peppers, lemon, caramelized onions and tomatoes that we don’t often see in the Mile High City. It’s those flavors, and not the predictable French options, that make the 9&CO restaurant a must-visit. 846 Albion St.

In summary

• The lottery: French and Senegalese dishes in a refined setting
• The disadvantage: Some French dishes are lacking compared to the tastier Senegalese dishes.
• Noise level: Moderate
• Do not miss it: Poulet yassa, jollof rice, fried chicken sandwich, crepes

3 more French restaurants you must try

Denverites are saying bonjour to several new or updated French eateries. Here are three to satisfy your cravings.

Jacques

Nicholas Dalton is on a mission to make French food less smothering. Dalton, one of the founders of Brasserie Brixton in the Cole neighborhood, opened LoHi’s Jacques last fall. While Brixton offers a French menu with global influences, Jacques’s is more traditional, with lots of butter on plates such as escargot in puff pastry and potato pavé with caviar beurre blanc. 3200 Tejon St.

Crepes ‘n Crepes

In the spring of 2023, Crêpes ‘n Crêpes – a beloved 20-year-old company founded by chef Alain Veratti, a native of Montpellier in southern France – moved from Cherry Creek to an upgraded space with a bar and patio in Congress Park. There it offers an extensive range of more than 25 crêpes, including savory and dessert varieties. 1222 Madison St.

La Forêt

The nearly two-month-old establishment took over the Beatrice & Woodsley space, beloved for its aspen tree-filled decor, on South Broadway. The ownership team at La Forêt (also behind Arvada Tavern and Tartarian) kept the whimsical atmosphere, but revamped the menu with French liquors and cocktails and Alpine-inspired European dishes (think: stag au poivre). 38 S. Broadway

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