the PRESS SAYS

By ERIKA BAYER-POLAK

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Normandie at Josette's Bistro, 4983 W. Flamingo Road, has recently become Josette's Bistro.

Although the owner and cuisine will remain the same, some changes have occurred.

Josette LeBlond, owner and namesake, said the ambience is always cordial and there will be important changes made to the menu, entertainment and hours of operation. The grand opening of the updated restaurant took place on Aug. 7.

"It's so much more cozy now," LeBlond said between stopping at each table to check up on her patrons. "There will be misters and smoking outside on the patio. That's for the Las Vegans who like to smoke."

The bistro is open Monday through Friday,from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and Monday through Saturday from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. for dinner.

Beginning Sept. 10, Josette's will be open for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. "Sundays will be a live jazz brunch. It will be fun," she said.

The restaurant also features live music Monday through Saturday. "Every Saturday we have Kiki," LeBlond said. Kiki Kalor is a cabaret singer who puts on a festive show that calls for audience participation.

"And every Thursday we have Wine Tasting from 4:00 to 7:00pm," LeBlond said. The price is $26.50 per person and includes appetizers, patés, cheeses and breads as well as new selections of wine every week.

 The eatery embodies a French air. From LeBlond giving an employee guidance in French to the large Toulouse-Lautrec-inspired painting that hangs above the tables set with fresh flowers, it would be more fitting on the Champs-Élysées than it is on Flamingo Road. But that is what her patrons enjoy, she said.

"This is French, real French," said Gérard Fortez, who was dinning at Josette's for the first time.

Fortez, who resides in Tahiti, said he has spent several years in France and is slightly disappointed in several of the French restaurants he has eaten at in the valley.

"I want a French restaurant that is French not only by the meals, but also by the taste and culture," Fortez said. "This is excellent. The French restaurants on the Strip are good, but not the same. I will be coming back here."

The bistro's entrees include mussel provencal, sole almondine, Cajun chicken, parmentier -- shepherd's pie with beef and mash potatoes -- steaks, rack of lamb and of course coq au vin, the traditional French chicken and wine fricassee. Don't miss her famous Crepe Josette for Dessert.

Lunch dishes are about $8 on average and dinner entrees range from $18 to $28.

LeBlond, who moved from France to Los Angeles in 1985, began her culinary career as a "charcutiere, not a baker or chef." A charcutiere is the French term used for someone who makes sausages, patés and other processed or cooked meat products.

However, LeBlond opened a pastry shop in Los Angeles upon first arriving in the country. "I am not a baker, my son is a baker," she said. "The real reason I began this way was because of my son, and he lives in France."

LeBlond still owns her eatery in Los Angeles, which she frequents about once every two weeks. She also has a bakery in Las Vegas which is retail and wholesale at 3701 Sirius Ave.

  At the local bistro there is a television monitor that displays images of LeBlond and her customers, whom she treats as old friends, from both her local and Los Angeles locations.

"I have fun," she said. "Even if it's slow I still have fun. I like people. How did I do it? I don't know. But you have to have a goal, and if you try you can do it. And of course you have to work a lot."

For more information, visit her new website