Restaurant Josephine — Restaurant in Auburn

Took my mother here for her birthday. I have been meaning to try this place, since I've only heard excellent reviews, and I will admit, the food is exceptional. There is a level of refinement and restraint that is shown in the cuisine, along with an attention to the quality of the ingredients, that you see in European continental cuisine. I cannot fault any of the food or the dishes, the drinks we had (a classic cocktail, a contemporary cocktail, a glass of wine) were excellent as well. Its lovely to see something like a Picon Punch on the menu. Service is friendly, yet professional, fairly attentive, and the atmosphere has an Art Deco feel combined with Parisian bistro. Reminds me of La Bourse et La Vie in Paris.

We each had a starter, main and dessert along with an order of bread. Our choices were -- starters: scallop and halibut quenelle with sauce américaine, and duck liver mousse; mains--pea vareniki with green garlic pesto stuffed with a fresh farmer's cheese, and moules frites; desserts--flourless chocolate espresso torte, and a tarte au citron meringuée.

Everything was excellent, but the standouts were the duck liver mousse and the vareniki. The vareniki was incredible and honestly one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had in a restaurant in the US. The duck liver mousse and the siberian pine cones and honey, along with the toast points, were absolutely off the charts--on par with dishes I've had from Meilleur Ouvrier de France charcutier. The bread plate was good, but overpriced (honestly they could probably reduce the price by 20 to 40% and still not lose money on it with the quantity of the butter and the bread--I ordered it mainly because its nice to have bread with a meal).

Moules frites were classic -- fries were excellent and had that earthy depth that you get with really good potatoes and the mussels were cooked and executed very well without having too much flavor.

The desserts were very refined and the use of fennel pollen in the tarte au citron was fantastic. The flourless chocolate cake was essentially a ganache, and the armagnac prunes went very well with it. They decorated a plate with a candle and a beautiful happy birthday script in chocolate for my mother, which was a lovely touch.

The two reasons why I will give this place three stars are because of some little nuances, part of which could have been fixed if I had done something differently--which is why I cannot fault the restaurant for the food or service overall, but I want to notate these little nuances that could be improved or you need to be cautious about:

1. We were hoping to share the starters, but there was a slight mistake made on our part. My mother got a special of the day, that a scallop and halibut quenelle in sauce américaine. Unfortunately I could not try that because I have an allergy to specific types of crustaceans (lobster, shrimp, prawn) and the dish had wild shrimp in it, and the sauce américaine they make with a shellfish stock. I did not note that I had a shellfish allergy, so they were not aware of that (my fault, but I didn't inform them since I thought I would just avoid ordering anything that would have that), but the problem was because of the noise level and the reverb against the wall, we didn't hear the full description of the dish (which included the words "with wild shellfish" positioned between the quenelle and sauce. I think the specials would help to be able to see what is in it because its hard to hear in the environment.

2. I have a habit of giving my card to pay for the meal without looking at what is billed because I trust the restaurants. Upon getting home I reviewed the receipt and there was a cocktail that I had not ordered on it. While not the end of the world, I think it just means you need to be more cognizant when you pay at this restaurant that they might make an error (this is probably because we sat at the bar before our table was ready since we got there early to have a drink, and they might have added a drink to our total bill...

My wife and I have gone 10 times so I though we would write a review. Here goes nothing.

4.7/5 overall compared to the best

This is our honest opinion and is intended for the restaurant owners.

The first thing you will is the quality ingredients. I raise my own meat and veggies, and this tastes homegrown, well sourced, and acutely seasonal. And despite what people say, it is well priced. You could go to Olive Garden and spend the same amount (please don’t). (Ever).

The atmosphere is tasteful, fun, refined, classic—the kind where you’d say to yourself “I’d like to open a restaurant like this some day.” Crowded, a bit noisy, but in a familial way that makes you happy.

The service is quick. Love that. The servers are good, some better than others. Some contribute to the warm atmosphere, others don’t as much.

The food:

There is a central theme you’ll start to notice among many dishes: The use of fennel, bay, and other fine herbs that stand out just enough to appreciate them, some times masterfully. Especially the fennel.

Secondly, the dishes tend to be on a sweeter side rather than an acidic side (I tend to want more acidity), some utilizing a type of Russian dressing more perfectly than others.

There is one dish we have gotten every single time without fail: the Vareniki. Some iterations are absolute perfection, others near perfection, and you will find yourself thinking about the dish often throughout your day. Almost life changing. And it’s cheap.

Same goes for the tartare. It is my favorite dish, and will change how you think about life, let alone food. Of all the dishes, I would say it most masterfully utilizes the fennel, fine herbs, and that Russian dressing. It is refreshing, clean, tender, and absolutely perfect. It was best with the potato chips. The sourdough is good, but there is better sourdough out there.

The desserts are also some of the best you’ll have. The chocolat chaud was life changing, as is the almond cake. if you ever see the wine ice cream, make sure to get it. Mind blowingly good. Citron tart, flawless. The profiteroles have a hint of bay and lemon in the ice cream that will make you want to sing. Try all of the desserts.

There are a few things that i wouldn’t necessarily want again:

the burger was wonderful quality, but conservative and forgettable. (The fries are always the best anywhere btw).

The pork chop is an amazing pork chop, but there is only so much you can do with pork chops. The sauce on the plate is too sweet and it clashes with the sweetness of pork after a few bites.

Some of the salads have a little too much going on and don’t have enough acidity (same goes for the burger and the pork chop). I was really excited to try the beet salad, but there wasn’t an acid to counter the sweetness (again).

The moule frites were good, but not great.

The mac ‘n mimolette was very good, but even better cool when you taste the bay leaf coming through the cheese.

Fried Chicken sandwich: most tender chicken you’ll ever eat. Life changing.

The French onion soup is good, but the broth tastes more minerally than unctuous and rich. Some broth from cuts of beef that have more connective tissue and collagen taste better.

I’m the kind of person that never orders beef steaks at a restaurant because I can always make them better. Needless to say I was hesitant to get the steak frites.

However, I couldn’t have been happier. It brought me back to France (was better then steak frites there) and the familiarity and simplicity of a perfect New York cut, perfectly cooked, perfect sauce with peppercorns, and perfect fries was heartwarming. I’m happy right now just thinking about it. Don’t forget to get the aioli.

Overall, if you want a perfect meal, get the steak tartare, the vareniki, the steak frites and some desserts. I would choose that meal over anything in northern...

A fantastic restaurant! I'm so happy I subscribed to the Sacbee in order to read a review about this restaurant. That's how I found out about this gem.

First, there are very few French selections in Placer County...and most of what I've had was not great. This new restaurant (opened in summer 2021) changes that! From the moment you walk in, you are assaulted by the tantalizing smells wafting from the kitchen. As you get seated by the friendly host(ess), you walk by chalkboards with seasonal specials (soup, dessert, oysters) akin to a typical French Bistro.

The menu has some nice traditional options, alongside some other options with the chef's own flair added in. We ended up ordering oysters in addition to three appetizers, all of which were beautiful and delicious. My favorite was the mushroom toast. Just a gorgeous dish and a delight to eat!

For our mains, my son had the bavette steak, cooked perfectly. My wife had the pork chop which was outstanding. And I had the leek and potato vareniki (kind of like a gnocchi) which was beautiful and yummy.

For dessert, I had the seasonal plum sorbet which I absolutely loved. If you love plums, it'll hit the spot. My wife had the buckwheat apple cake and that was outstanding.

To accompany our meals, we had some seasonal mocktails, that were amazing. Apple and spice with effervescence. Really hit the mark.

All of this was served by an attentive and friendly server. All around, an exceptional experience for a great value. I'm already thinking about when I...