From August 2005

On a stretch of Indian Head Highway better known as a drag strip for motorcycle cowboys than for dining, two young chefs have opened an ambitious French restaurant called the Citrus Cafe.

Oumar Sy, who hails from Senegal and most recently was chef and part owner of Petits Plats in DC's Woodley Park (a Washingtonian Very Best Restaurant award-winner during his time there), and his former sous chef, Richard Morel, have set up shop in the former Stable Restaurant in Bryans Road, Maryland.

Here Sy, who washed dishes at Jean-Louis's Palladin and went on to work at Provence and Bistro Lepic, is cooking up classics of French cuisine, from potato-leek soup to coq au vin, plus a few regional favorites like crab cakes.

Sy is a genius with soups, be it oniony potato-leek or rich lobster bisque. Also on the starters list, sautéed mushrooms with garlic and basil are simple but satisfying, as are two salads, one with crab and avocado, another with fried goat cheese. Cream-coated lobster ravioli are the height of luxury. By contrast the rough, country-style pâté seems a bit bland until you take a bite of cornichon.

Warning: Once you've tried the coq au vin, you may never want to chance anything else. Here is a perfect burnished bird in a rich reduction of wine and stock with a scattering of mushrooms and carrots. But the kitchen offers other pleasures: trout with butter sauce, salmon with a golden potato crust, and mustard-crusted rack of lamb. The hangar steak arrives with frites that are more like thick fried potatoes than French fries. And though a center-cut pork porterhouse is dull by comparison to the rest, it's remarkably tender for its heft. Crab cakes are not a star on this menu--not a surprise, as the heart and soul of the place is French. As for sides, delicious whipped potatoes, smothered onions and green beans, potatoes gratin, and buttery carrots are reminders of a world beyond steamed vegetables.

Desserts have their ups and downs: Fruit cobbler is all fruit and no cobbler, apple tart is mostly apples with very little tart, and crème brûlée is soupier than it ought to be. But the molten chocolate cake baked in a stylish mold is pleasing with its blob of vanilla ice cream. And Floating Island is the lightest of confections, made with egg whites and little else in a pool of custard sauce.

Sy and Morel's ambitions are evident more in the food than the surroundings. They've tried to glam up the space, painting walls pale yellow, installing cobalt-blue lights, and hanging vivid paintings and prints. But it still has something of a roadhouse feel: Regulars hold court at the bar, the occasional rock band plays after the dinner hour, and in the fall, Friday karaoke will return.

Service has its roadhouse moments, too. Most of the help is aiming to please, but staffers are not as up on the food as they might be.

The wine list is short--and by-the-glass choices limited--but no bottle costs more than $26. And even if you're not going for the $18.95 three-course early bird/commuter special, prices aren't bad--they're lower than at closer-in yet lesser French eateries. Sy and Morel may not be motorcycle cowboys, but they're on the frontier.