Bureau de Poste French Restaurant in Austin Is Excellent
One of my favorite parts about living in Austin is the joint desire to repair and restore older buildings instead of simply tearing them down. You might be laughing right now, because this is not always the case, especially if you walk through older neighborhoods like Clarksville and Bouldin Creek. But many of the kindhearted folks who open restaurants in Austin strive to make the most out of an older space. Take Aaron Franklin's Uptown Sports Club, which is in a historic Eastside building that was uninhabitable before he renovated it. Or the new Yucatan restaurant Nomadé by the Lucky Robot team, which is in a small bungalow that then received a MASSIVE front porch add-on to accommodate for a larger restaurant space.
And so it was with great anticipation that I booked a reservation at Bureau de Poste the new French restaurant in the middle of the Hyde Park neighborhood of central Austin. It's tucked inside the second location of Tiny Grocer, a specialty grocery store full of curated goods, created by Steph Steele. The entire building was an old post office. (Hence the name Bureau de Poste, which means "post office" in French.)
The interior is quite cozy. It's an outpost in Tiny Grocer, which means diners can easily request specialty items, like N/A beverages that aren't listed on their menu, and their server can quickly grab them from then market.
There are a handful of tables indoors, plus a small bar area.
The outdoor patio is the sweetest space, and if you're dining on a comfortable evening in Austin, request an outdoor table.
It's a very large patio, with bistro tables, a long cushioned bench with black and white striped fabric, and a few trees and canopies for shade. The vines are starting their climb up the canopy, and so this will certainly be a space that's full of greenery in the near future.
It truly feels like a little European bistro. If you've ever dined at June's on South Congress, the ambiance is just a bit like that...except that this Austin restaurant is tucked inside a much quieter neighborhood, rather than SOCO's noisy, tourist-packed streets.
Since this is a grocery outpost, and Tiny Grocer has a great selection of wine bottles, Bureau de Poste offers both wine-by-the-glass (a small selection) and full bottles (a large selection.) Since diners are purchasing it from the grocery store, there's already a corkage fee built in so you can bring home any wine you don't drink.
Chef Jo Chan, who worked as the executive chef at Eberly on South Lamar and was featured as a contestant on Top Chef, has created a menu of classic French fare with modern twists.
What does that mean? Well, if you're a purist and simply want to eat some beautifully prepared French classics food like French onion soup, escargot, and steak frites, they're all prepared beautifully here.
But if you want to mix it up a bit, there are more creative takes on some of the dishes, too. For instance, you'll find the classic Moules Frites, mussels served in a creamy bath of shallots, garlic, white wine, and parsley, with a side of crisp fries. But Chef Chan has also created a Bureau de Poste Moules Frites, which is a deeper version made with fennel, bell pepper, and tomato.
^ Pictured here: Pomme Dauphine, which might as well as well be called "heave in a potato form." These crisp little potato puffs are topped with crème fraîche, smoked trout roe, and fine herbs.
^ Eating the endive salad is a bit like treasure hunting. The perfectly dressed endive spears are mixed amongst citrus segments, crisp, hazelnuts, toasted bread, and chunks of comte cheese.
According to my server, some of the most popular entrees at Bureau de Poste during their first few months of being open include the Steak Frites, the Duck Leg Cassoulet, and the Skate Wing Fish Fillet.
I ordered the fish, which was a hearty serving. The mild fish flavor was heightened with a warm, buttery sauce with enough acidity to brighten the dish. And, of course, the salad verte on the side was mixed with a yummy dijon garlic vinaigrette.
Plats du jour
Bureau de Poste features a different plat du jour every night of the week, except for Fridays and Saturdays.
Monday: Flank Steak
Tuesday: Lobster Frites
Wednesday: Pork Chop
Thursday: Scallops
Sunday: Roast
I dined on a Tuesday, which happened to be the night of Lobster Frites, which I quickly added to my order at the beginning of the meal.
It arrived absolutely dripping in butter, served with a hunk of grilled lemon and a larger dish of bright aioli for the big plate of frites. On the side was a chic plate with an extra hand towel, wrapped in twine, and two bright red lobster crackers to assist is getting every bit of that soft, buttery meat out of the shell.
The side of carrots was a showstopper; a simple dish (side of carrots) that can manage to pack this much "wow" into a tiny bowl is always a sign of an excellent restaurant.
These leaned more toward sweet potato texture. They were served in large, soft, sweet bites (yes, I could truly taste the natural sugary sweetness of the carrot) and topped with garlic herb butter and creme fraiche.
My dining table had a view of the kitchen, and I saw chef Chan expertly scorch no fewer than a dozen of these vanilla bean creme brûlée dishes before they were brought to their eagerly awaiting diners. This dessert and heavenly and would have been the perfect finish to an elevated meal. But...
I couldn't resist also trying the caramel dark chocolate mouse with hazelnut crumble and Chantilly cream. Decadent, dark, and just a few bites of it satisfied my chocolate craving.
Bureau de Poste is a win through and through. It's the perfect spot to enjoy a weeknight date away from the kids, or a cozy place to bring the children and introduce them to the art of French dining. (Try the snails!)
They also offer a weekend brunch menu on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am - 2 pm.
Bureau de Poste
WEBSITE | 4300 Speedway suite 100, Austin, TX 78751