Editor: Here is a rather fluff piece on Bo-Beau – the former Thee Bungalow – the Cohn family restaurant on the edge of Robb Field in northwest Ocean Beach. If you’ve tried the place, let us know what you think.
By Kevin Leap and Steve Persitza /SanDiego.com / Apr 5th, 2011
Thirty years ago there weren’t a lot of places to eat in San Diego. Anyone looking for more than a good taco had 4 or 5 choices, and Thee Bungalow was one of them. Along with the old red velvet drapes of Mr. A’s and the bayfront location of Lubach’s, Thee Bungalow served a multitude of delectable country French dinners and was no doubt party to countless marriage proposals, anniversaries and a scandal or two. When the Cohn Restaurant Group took the place over a few years back, they breathed some life into the old girl, but it was time for a complete makeover.
On a Friday night in late March, we tried BO-beau Kitchen & Bar for the first time. It most certainly will not be our last. The funky nature of this little cottage next to Robb Field in Ocean Beach never ceases to charm. Right down to the tiny dirt and gravel parking lot with everyone getting wildly creative positioning their car to just barely allow other guests to maneuver. No big. Everyone is very happy to be here and we all were delighted to smush in.
BO-beau is every bit the old French farmhouse. Antique farm and gardening tools decorate the entry, and a warm wood and stone interior filled with mirrors, gorgeous heavy wood tables and much laughter fills the small but comfortable space. An immense chalkboard conveys the menu and an intimate bar takes up a tiny space behind the hostess desk. There are two dining areas inside and a patio, and we were fortunate enough to get a four top in the main dining room with the large picture window looking out onto the street. Nothing to see, but fun nevertheless.
For the remainder of this article, please go here.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Quite honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the Cohn restaurant group. Places like Indigo Grill, Kemo Sabe, Corvette Diner (which moved to Liberty Station from Hillcrest) don’t live up to the hype. They’re not bad but nothing life changing. C Level is decent but more than anything else I like that place for the view of the harbor more than the food. All that being said, I will certainly give this place a try and keep an open mind.
fluff, indeed. the sad state of restaurant writing in San Diego is about the only thing that leaps out at me after reading this article. this week’s City Beat has a restaurant review about a “steakhouse” where the writer admits that the steaks suck but still manages to make it sound as though we should try the place. the Reader tells us that their reviewer can eat near-lethal amounts of hot peppers and survive with evening with a smirk on his purple, swollen lips. The Daily Fishwrap has decided to “crowd source” their process with “Super Diners” whom I suspect aren’t getting anything more than an ego boost for their efforts. And then there is this type of review, which leaves us wanting… some meat on those bones.
I know, I know (sigh). The only folks who I knew who had eaten at Bo-Beau’s didn’t want to do a review.
Personally, I adore BO-beau. It’s a neighborhood gem that has brought a little tza-tza-tsu to our sleep culinary community! The food is impeccable, the design remarkable and the Chef is promising. Cohn has done a phenomenal job with this restaurant revival. Everyone in OB should dine here.
Not majorly impressed from my first visit. Good salad, some olive tartine…basically, cheese, olives melted onto some french bread. Then we had the shrimp flatbread, kinda bland if you ask me. Needed some bacon pcs on it I think. But I would like to go back and try the beet flatbread, supposed to be great, but the friend I was with doesn’t like beets. The hostess said she doesn’t like them either, but loves it on their flatbread. I would also like to try the beef bourguignon and some other things. I always believe in giving a second chance to a place and the fact that I only live 3 blks away!
according to a recent NYTimes piece about travel to Paris that the word Bobo (same pronunciation, eh?) stands for the “bourgeois bohemians” who hang out with the “artists and writers” in places in the “edgy eastside of Paris.”
Patty just laughed at this when I read it to her.
me too
A coworker told me it’s great, but I have yet to try it – these days unless I’m getting some sort of half-off coupon I’m not dining out…which has been cool in and of itself, as I’ve scored some great deals to new places.
And I agree with Goatskull on the Cohn offerings – the Corvette Diner just doesn’t do it for me like it did at the old Hillcrest spot, and their ‘fine dining’ restaurants (I’ve been to a few) are good, but at the end of the day Christina and I have never turned to one another to say “Now THAT’S a dinner worth $120!”