Write ups.

A smiling gentleman opens the restaurant door and greets us with "Bonjour," and someone appears to whisk away our coats. The gentleman kisses my hand and leads us to a comfy parlor where we're seated in front of a fireplace, served with complimentary flutes of champagne and offered menus to look at while we wait for friends to join us for dinner.

Forget daydreams. We've just entered Joelle's French Bistro, a magic culinary kingdom in a white farmhouse that used to be a bed and breakfast three miles north of the village of Skaneateles.

In early March, new owners, the French-born husband-and-wife team of Alain Castel and Joelle Bollinger, who were both raised in Africa, opened their eclectic eight-table bistro with classic French food with an occasional Moroccan twist.

Chef Joelle and maitre'd Alain also brought a touch of Manhattan to Upstate New York from their Country Cafe in Soho. Their remarkably friendly, attentive staff was flawless when four of us enjoyed multiple international treats on a recent Friday evening.

Pink tablecloths cover patterned ones in burgundy damask in the dining room, and tables are also topped with olive oil, candles and stemmed goblets.

Joelle's menu offers 13 hot and cold appetizers ($6.75 to $15.50) and 14 entrees ($17.50 to $32.50) which include coq au vin, steak au poivre, braised sweetbread casserole, rack of lamb, vegetable couscous, fresh mussels in the shell, roasted mahi-mahi, bouillabaisse, grilled tiger shrimps and sea scallops and more.

The welcome with chilled champagne began in the parlor or at the table for all diners, and we added a bottle of Dom. de la Batardiere Muscadet ($24) from the Loire Valley to our dinner choices. Hot, crusty bread led to four fine appetizers.

Beef carpaccio ($9.50) covered a handsome plate with paper-thin slices of raw beef decorated with pesto, salad and lacy squares of fried shredded Parmesan cheese.

Classic escargots a la Bourguignone ($9) filled the pockets of hot garlic-basil-butter sauce that seasoned the tender snails, and a warm oysters casserole ($10.25) was a hit with champagne sabayon and diced vegetables.

Star of the evening was the delicious homemade duck foie gras terrine ($15.50), which one of our friends insisted was as silky as butter. The generous piece was accompanied by poached fig in ice wine and thin slices of bold spice bread that tasted of ginger.

Stealing the entree limelight, Moroccan veal tagine with dry fruits ($24.75) arrived hiding the spicy simmered stew in a clay cooking vessel with a tall pointed lid. After its dramatic removal, the lid revealed a centerpiece of steamed couscous surrounded by veal and vegetables.

Haddock with a harissa-olive-pesto crust ($25.50) was a stand-out with the fiery Tunisian sauce adding a big kick to the moist fish which was served with coriander sauce, a risotto cake and creamy carrots.

Grilled marinated tuna ($26.50), a splendid medium-rare, was served with sun-dried tomato pesto, crisp polenta, grilled eggplant and homemade smoked eggplant puree. The combination was wonderful.

A Maple Leaf duck duo ($27.50) was doubly grand, with crisp leg of house-made duck confit and sliced roasted breast meat with rich pomegranate sauce. Even mashed potatoes and fresh green broccoli tasted good.

Homemade desserts held their own, too. Warm tarte tatin ($6.50), creme brulee with a tableside bourbon flambe ($7), a large, silky creme caramel ($6) and a chocolate extravaganza ($9.50) showing off four tiny artistic tastes and presentations made perfect finales. Coffee cost $2.50. It doesn't get better than this.

The bistro has big plans for outdoor dining this summer, and its owners were hoping for the arrival of an outdoor sign when we visited.

Yolanda Wright's weekly Dining Out review is based on an unannounced, anonymous visit. A chronological archive of reviews from the last six months is available on www.syracuse.com/dining/.

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Joelle’s bistro: Old World charm, authentic cuisine

If the box office banquet “Julie and Julia” left you yearning for French fare — or if “Casablanca” reruns make your mouth water for Moroccan — both Mediterranean-rim cuisines cross paths at Joelle’s French Bistro in Skaneateles.

Five years ago, Chef Joelle Mollinger, born in Morocco and raised in France, and her French husband, Alain Castel, traded their popular restaurant in Manhattan’s Soho district for a charming white farmhouse on the outskirts of Skaneateles.

Intimate, but not overly formal, the Finger Lakes property was a perfect canvas for their playful imprint.

Our recent visit, on a warm Thursday in late May, felt more like dinner at a friend’s country house than a scripted restaurant meal. Seated on the idyllic stone terrace, we overlooked a velvety green lawn and distant farm fields, as well as Joelle’s freshly tilled potager (a French kitchen garden).

Castel, in the dual role of charming host and seasoned (but solo) waiter, seemed to float between the terrace and the kitchen, exuding Gallic elegance with no hint of arrogance.

He was especially generous with wine tips and menu guidance — a definite plus, as Joelle’s menu covers a broad swathe of culinary territory. When we hesitated over the “at your choice” preparation of Prince Edward Island mussels ($10 for tasting portion), Castel recommended the traditional French mariniere style.

Soon we were digging into a generous bucket of succulent mussels, steamed in chardonnay with cream, shallots and thyme, and mopping up every drop of the subtly layered sauce with a crusty spear of garlic toast.

Another quietly complex sauce accompanied the aged cognac peppercorn steak ($30.75). But the handsome, hefty New York strip steak failed to deliver the same depth of flavor as Joelle’s classic French sauce.

On the other hand, the seafood risotto ($17 for a tasting portion) struck the perfect balance between the creamy, nutty rice and plentiful morsels of lobster and shrimp.

Joelle’s Moroccan creations brought a fresh breeze of exotic scents to the table. Her (justifiably) popular chicken cigar ($10.75) appetizer featured cumin-scented ground chicken in crisp cylinder of brik dough—a paper-thin North African pastry that’s less fragile than phyllo.

A scene-stealing veal tagine ($27.75) was served in its iconic cone-shaped clay pot, designed to retain moisture during cooking. The lid was removed at the table, revealing a mound of steaming couscous surrounded by a stew of carrots, raisins, zucchini, chickpeas and veal. While the veal wasn’t uniformly tender, the saffron-hued sauce was heavenly.

The evening’s least traditional selection was also our least favorite: tuna tartare tacos ($15). While the raw fish seemed very fresh and high quality, its creamy dressing and strong tarragon accent (which was not mentioned in the menu listing) left us cold.

With desserts, we went French all the way. A fine creme brulee ($8.50) was torched at the table and sprinkled with brandy ($2.50), adding a brittle, bitter counterpoint to the sweet rich custard. The banana-filled crepes ($10.75), made with traditional French buckwheat flour, were drizzled with chocolate and served with vanilla ice cream. A dense chocolate mousse with a distinct Cointreau accent ($4 for a tasting portion) would have earned a cheery bravo from Julia Child.

Joelle and Julia — and Alain — are kindred spirits, after all, passionately and fearlessly bringing authentic cuisines from the Old World to the new.

Weekend’s Dining Out reviews are based on an unannounced, anonymous visit. Aimee Koval shares reviewing duties with Denise Owen Harrigan. Recent reviews are availabl....

Joelle's Bistro serves fine French feast

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