Charming shoebox BYO in Italian Market with good Gallic vibes seeks talented couple, preferably French, to serve stuffed pig's feet and bone marrow to region's best wine collectors.
The chances of such a match were slim. But this unpretentious 32-seater hit the voilà! jackpot when Pierre Calmels and his wife, Charlotte, walked through the door. Calmels, you see, is one of the region's finest French cooks, fresh off eight years in Le Bec-Fin's kitchen, the last five as its executive chef.
But there would be no polished silver bells or tuxedoed servers for this unpretentious little room. And neither would Calmels, 37, have behind him the brigades of sous-chefs, bakers, and pastry artisans that are the minions of haute cuisine. That rare gastronomic air has been his world since leaving his Loire hometown for culinary palaces such as Les Crayères in Reims and Restaurant Daniel in Manhattan.
No, this cozy space, with its mustard-and-gray walls, bentwood chairs, and crisp white curtains, is a true bistro by birthright. So Calmels and his longtime Le Bec sous, Ron Fougeray, produce it all, down to the flour-dusted loaves of crispy baguette they bake each day and serve with little foil-wrapped packs of Échiré butter. And Charlotte, a Brasserie Perrier and Bistro St. Tropez alum, runs the dining room with a personal charm and well-trained grace. Her frequent glances from the table back toward "my husband," who's framed through the kitchen window in cool but constant cooking motion, are a sweet reminder that Bibou is a genuine throwback - not just to the Ansills and Philly's myriad other BYO couples, but to the long tradition of mom-and-pop bistros of France.
