Cafe Provencal: country French in a private home

Nation's Restaurant News, May 9, 1988 by Carolyn Walkup

CAFE PROVENCAL Country French in a private home

'We appreciate gutsy-flavored food, country and peasant flavors'

The combination of flavorful food, professional service, and a dining room that looks like a private home brings 75 percent of Cafe Provencal's customers back for more.

The well-heeled clientele of this comfortable restaurant just north of Chicago, in Evanston, Ill., especially enjoys the restaurant's intimacy and warmth, according to Leslee Reis, co-owner and executive chef.

Such dining room features as a large brick fireplace, leaded glass windows, ceiling beams, and other original architectural details of the 60-year-old building could not be duplicated with new construction, Reis said.

Adding to the guests' comfort is the sight of the familiar faces of the wait staff which has experienced little turnover.

"We've had no new waiters in two years," says Reis, noting that the servers' skills have grown along with the restaurant.

Head chef Philip Stocks has been in the kitchen for nine of the cafe's nearly 11 years, collaborating with Reis on menu development and taking charge of the hands-on-operations. She no longer has time to do so since opening two other more casual restaurants, Leslee's and Bodega Bay Cafe, nearby.

While she misses her former chef's duties, she has complete confidence in the kitchen staff's abilities, she says. And if the kitchen is shorthanded, she can pinch-hit. "I'm always available to chop onions," she says.

The consistency that has resulted from staff stability has been integral to the restaurant's success. "When you have a team that has worked together for a long time, you get a consistent product," she says.

Reis did not always have a passion for food and cooking. She was working on a doctorate in biochemistry at Harvard University when she first developed a serious interest in food.

She credits Julia Child with introducing her to the joys and challenges to the kitchen. They were neighbors in Boston when Reis volunteered to do dishes for her behind the scenes of "The French Chef" TV show, which was just beginning then.

After her marriage, Reis studied French cooking in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu. Later, while her two sons were preschoolers, she began cooking professionally as a caterer, calling herself "The Friday Night Caterer." That was the night her husband stayed home with the boys.

She also taught French cooking classes and did restaurtant menu consulting. She never actually worked in a restaurant before opening her own.

Reis finds the Midwest's four seasons a continuous inspiration for creating ever-changing seasonal menus. She gets ideas for new food combinations from "food I have tested anywhere. My mouth and my eyes are always open." She makes semiannual research trips to France or Italy and yearly trips to California and New York.

The style of Cafe Provencal's cooking is primarily country French, since France is where Reis developed her skills. Most of the products used are American, such as New York foie gras; American sturgeon caviar; California prawns, shrimp, and lettuces; and Wisconsin veal.

Preparations are lighter than traditional French ones, although not nouvelle, using natural stocks, vegetable purees and herbs, some of the last from the restaurant's garden. "We use no cream with any meats or game" and little butter, Reis says.

Winter dishes, for instance, include grilled Monterey prawns served on a salad of field greens with a hazelnut-sherry vinegar vinaigrette; sauteed Maine lobster and grilled sea scalllops served with a lobster-fennel flan and saffron noodles; and Wisconsin milk-fed veal chop marinated in olive oil and herbs, grilled and served with Gorgonzola ravioli.

Flavor always comes first when Reis is creating dishes. "We have an appreciation for gutsy-flavored food," she says. "It's a combination of a lot of country and peasant flavors but with better-quality ingredients. We stay away from Parisian cooking, like mousses and played-out flavors."

Loyal customers give her the freedom to try new things, knowing she won't combine ingredients that don't work. "They trust us," she says, adding, "People like to know what to expect."

-- Carolyn Walkup

Reis finds the Midwest's four seasons a continuous inspiration for creating ever-changing menus.

1625 Hinman Evanston Ill. 312-475-2233

Owners: Leslee and Andrew Reis

Head chef: Philip Stocks

Opened: July 1977

Seats: 80

Cuisine: Country French

Ambience: Intimate, homey

Check average: $52

TABLE: Hors d'oeuvres et Potages

TABLE: Salades

TABLE: Entrees

TABLE: Desserts

PHOTO: Leslee Reis, seated, and chef Philip Stocks at Cafe Provencal.

PHOTO: Homey atmosphere of dining room lures customers again and again.