Le Coq in La Jolla

 Animae, in downtown San Diego, is our favorite restaurant.  We were excited to learn about the opening of  Le Coq, which is part of the same restaurant group.  Le Coq leans into a French bistro menu with a few Asian-influenced dishes and also a nice steak-forward offerings.

We started off with a baguette with a fancy French butter (Pamplie).  I plan on cremation, but if the option exists to be buried in a coffin packed with Pamplie butter, I'll take that.  It is delicious!  We also had two spirit-free cocktails made with beautiful crafted ice.  I like to see spirit-free cocktails presented with the same detail as spirited options.

For our main courses, I had a classic steak frites and my friend had a pretty snapper.  Both were excellent.  We thought about side dishes, but it was plenty of food and I took half my steak home for an amazing sandwich the next day.  

This is a beautiful restaurant with brick walls, a high ceiling and golden chandeliers.  It is the same space that Herringbone used to occupy.  There is a bar at the front and that was packed.  There is a small parking lot, but we easily found parking on the street.