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Editor's note: Renard has closed.
Renard had both a rocky start and a rough legacy.
This spring it rolled into the former space of esteemed French bistro St. Jack with another French restaurant. But since Paley's Place kitchen vet Ian Best stepped into the kitchen, this cozy bistro and bakery has settled into itself as an utterly unfussy, humble place in Provence or an ode to Julia Child, with old-school fare like ramekins of finely made French onion soup ($10), and a service staff that might remember you'd left a hat there a month before.
The charcuterie plate ($14) is a country board—galantine, duck liver pâté, a spot of local fig—an art that Best learned from Stan Luoma at Paley's Place. And the coq au vin ($26) is likewise old-school and welcome, chicken (not rooster) leg and breast tenderized with wine and served up with oyster mushrooms and healthy bits of lardons. Molly Lasko's pastries are an equal comfort.
Renard is the French dining of decades past, gone comfy as an old chair.
Pro tip: One of the best things on the menu is a flight of Armagnacs. Skip the cocktails and get a flight of four for $25.
GO: 2039 SE Clinton St., 719-7529, renardpdx.com. 4 pm-close daily, 8 am-2 pm Monday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm Saturday-Sunday. $$-$$$.
Willamette Week