Who says that French cuisine is passé? Ok, maybe the white tablecloth formal haute cuisine establishments have drifted away into the Michelin stars. But the bistro is roaring again in Palo Alto. French cuisine is back at two neighboring spots humming along with one eye looking back at bistro nostalgia and another ahead towards the evolution of casual French growing up with California ingredients.

Palo Alto is no small sleepy small town but it's fascinating how its two anchor French restaurants now happen to be on the same block of downtown, only divided by a chocolate shop (what else would you expect?). Bon Vivant brought its “modern French” dining to town in 2011. The three-month-old Zola is the new bistro on the block from Guillaume Bienaimé, formerly at Marché in Menlo Park.

Marché was often regarded as not just the best French restaurant on the Peninsula during the 2000's but the premier restaurant between Manresa and San Francisco period. Though much more casual than Marché, the crisp performance right now by the front and back of the house at Zola is exceedingly rare for such a young restaurant in the 'burbs. Outside of a dessert misfire, you just don’t see that level of young maturity by restaurants in these parts.

Zola’s short rib bourguignon ($26) could not be a more appropriate dinner for the non-stop rain this week. It’s a classic one-pot dish that could be heavy and flat but here is hearty with life. Using a red Rhône blend and brandy as the base, the short ribs, onions, celery, leeks, and carrots get simmered at low heat for 12 hours. The pull-apart tender meat and thick broth full of depth shows what time and patience yields for wintery stews. For a little tweak, breadcrumbs soaked with garlic-heavy “escargot butter” crown the pot. Is this the right dish for a post-Thanksgiving light meal? No, but it’s far more rewarding than last week’s turkey and stuffing. It's the definition of rib-sticking comfort food.

The French classics succeed beautifully at both, especially duck à l’orange at Bon Vivant and steak tartare at Zola. Both though prefer adding a little creative nudge to their menu of standards: a little Aleppo pepper here or a pineapple aioli there. Zola has a particular strength with its lengthy roster of small composed vegetable plates like nicely charred brassicas with curry powder and raisins. Bon Vivant’s textbook pastry work with a wild mushroom tart with saba and a white peach glaze is exactly what Escoffier would’ve whipped up after a week visiting the South. 

Zola is intimate and dark while Bon Vivant is like a bright and spacious, almost belle époque elegant tea salon full of art with a prominent bar. However, it’s the wine programs and desserts that really show the separation between the two.

It’s strange that in this world of gastropubs and Trick Dog-like craft cocktail dens with exciting food programs, most wine bars still can’t get past routine cheese and charcuterie to go with excellent wine. So it’s a bit backwards how being a half wine bar-half restaurant, Bon Vivant’s food is convincingly the headliner and its slim, generic wine list could have been curated by BevMo. Zola actually has the wine list to know about with shockingly low mark-ups for certain esteemed wineries.

Desserts were the opposite. The highly recommended almond cake with pears at Zola proved bland and begged for a major brown butter and marzipan spark. On the other hand, Bon Vivant triumphantly brings back the forgotten art of the soufflé ($13). The Grand Marnier soufflé has the perfect eggy custard to crisp edges ratio down and fully clicks with crème anglaise added to the souffle’s center tableside. It’s a showstopper.

Yes, Paris has hundreds of delicious bistro and café-filled blocks like this but Palo Alto is lucky half a world away to have bistros like Zola and Bon Vivant, let alone on the same block. After that final bite of soufflé and sip of Sauternes, City Hall at the end of the block even starts looking like the Opéra Garnier.

Bon Vivant, 535 Bryant, Palo Alto; (650) 485-3228. 
Zola, 565 Bryant, Palo Alto; (650) 521-0651.