Leave it to the French to turn everything into a double entendre. Cinq à sept, or “five to seven,” loosely translates as “happy hour.” But in addition to denoting an after-work get-together over drinks, the phrase can also refer to a romantic rendezvous. (Hey, some hours are happier than others.)
How apropos, then, that it’s now the name of a new French bistro. The latest addition to the Half Eaten Cookie Hospitality family, Cinq à Sept opened in north Boulder on July 7 to serve as a go-to for aperitifs and hors d’oeuvres, a date-night haunt, and everything in between.
“I’ve always wanted a casual, straightforward little French spot,” said chef Samuel McCandless. “To me, it’s just simple and fun—an easy place to come twice a week.”
Added Half Eaten Cookie founder Bryan Dayton, “We were thinking about what Boulder needs, and there hasn’t really been a French restaurant here since Mateo and L’Atelier closed. So it was an opportunity to do something different, something we haven’t seen in a few years.”
Concentration on the Classics
Billings, Montana, may not seem like a bastion of haute cuisine, but for McCandless, it may as well have been Paris. After all, it was home to Bistro Enzo, operated by French native Laurent Zirotti and chef James Honaker, whose resume included such New York institutions as Le Bernardin, Bouley, and Rakel.
“They taught me a lot of French technique when I was really young,” McCandless said of getting his start there 30 years ago. Now his career is coming full circle: At Cinq à Sept, he’s training his cooks in the art of going back to the basics.
“We buy great products from farmers down the road and try to not overthink the preparations,” he explained. “The menu will evolve, but we never want it to be complicated—four or five flavors with good ingredients is maxing out for me.”
Indeed, the opening carte du jour couldn’t be more concise or clear-cut. The selection of six appetizers includes oysters on the half-shell, grilled artichokes with mustard aioli, and a tuna crudo inspired by salade Niçoise. Among the half-dozen entrees are sole meunière, steak au poivre, and roast chicken (mais oui), supplemented by a few sides such as pommes raclette and desserts like crème brûlée. That’s it and that’s all—and that’s enough, as far as McCandless is concerned, just so long as you don’t sleep on the bread service.
“I was the assistant baker at a three-Michelin-star restaurant called L2O in Chicago,” he recalled. “[That’s] where I learned how to bake baguettes, oddly enough, from Alen Ramos [of acclaimed Parker patisserie] Poulette Bakeshop. So I’m really into the baguette with Brie or butter.”
“Simplicity’s the key to success” when it comes to the beverage program as well, according to Dayton, whose cocktail roster looks towards the classics. Think martinis, French 75s, Boulevardiers, and above all Kir Royales. “I remember making those at my first bartending job back in the ’90s, and I’m like, ‘Do people still drink these?’ But we’ve been selling a lot of them, so that’s been really cool to see.”
The same goes for pastis, the anise-flavored aperitif so cherished by day drinkers across France. “The people who order it definitely love that black licorice kind of vibe,” Dayton noted. “We’ve actually gone through a few bottles [already], which is crazy—I think all the pastis at our other restaurants just sits there.”
Meanwhile, the all-French wine list “isn’t overly cerebral, just super-fun,” said Dayton. About a dozen selections by both the glass and the bottle hew to the tried-and-true—from Chablis and Sancerre to reds from Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley—though grape geeks will spot a couple of surprises such as Alsatian Pinot Noir and Gros Manseng from the Jurançon.
Effortless Atmosphere
The importance of ambience to the dining experience here goes without saying (after all, the very word is borrowed from the French). In a nutshell, Cinq à Sept’s interior design could be called “nonchalant chic.”
“Since we’re up in the NoBo Art District, I was like, ‘Do we do this Parisian punk underground kind of thing?’ But Samuel was definitely looking for more of that classic bistro,” explained Dayton. “So we landed on this modern farmhouse vibe—really warm and welcoming [in] yellow and blue. It’s a soft, Belgian waffle kind of yellow and a lighter blue than we were anticipating, but it looks really good.”
No wonder it’s already attracting a neighborhood crowd, who will no doubt be thrilled to learn that Friday and Saturday lunch service will launch in September.
“I’ve been in this business in Boulder for over two decades, and we’re seeing a lot of people that we haven’t really seen before,” Dayton observed, referencing his other restaurants, the contemporary American fixture OAK at Fourteenth, Spanish steakhouse Corrida, and C Burger. “We’re only a week and a half in, so we’ve got a long way to go— but we’re excited about keeping that trend up.”
Visit Cinq à Sept Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. 4580 Broadway, Boulder, cinqaseptboulder.com
