LAReview
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Petit Trois
Included In
Life comes at you fast. One minute you’re sharing an apartment with three roommates in Echo Park, and the next you’re living in the Valley, spending money on antique rugs instead of bar crawls. Petit Trois, the tiny French bistro in a Hollywood strip mall, recently grew up and moved to the Valley. And while this Petit Trois is still a good place to eat, it’s also lost a bit of the original’s magic.
Where the Hollywood Petit Trois is the size of a parking spot and requires loitering outside while you wait for a stool at the counter, this is the Valley, so there’s both more space and more predictability. Petit Trois Sherman Oaks has two big rooms, takes reservations, and has a longer menu. They serve breakfast too, possibly so studio heads can have their first meeting near home while they wait out the traffic.
This location might have a larger menu, but it’s still not the place for a modern take on French food. It’s the place for expensive versions of classic French dishes like steak frites, escargot, croque monsieur, and soufflé, all of which are simple and extremely rich at the same time. The escargot come with enough garlic that no human is going to want to interact with you for the next three days, there’s a giant mound of shoestring fries on top of an otherwise-light tuna tartare, and the confit-fried chicken leg involves your yearly-recommended serving of butter.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
The original location feels like a secret locals’ spot in Paris, but Sherman Oaks has lost a bit of that. There’s something kind of corporate, but also occasionally bumbling about this one. The food can feel a little like it’s coming off an assembly line (your $38 steak might not come out cooked the way you asked for) and service, while friendly, can be slow to the point where you can end up feeling forgotten.
Having said that, breakfast at Petit Trois is truly glorious. The signature omelette absolutely tastes better when you eat it in the morning, the croissants are textbook-perfect, and the Mec Muffin is about as good as a breakfast sandwich could be.
Growing up takes compromises. You move to the Valley where things might not be quite as fun, but also you now live in a house that’s twice as big as your old place (and half the price). Petit Trois has made the same kind of transformation: it’s still cool - just in a different, more grown-up way. Like you and your antique rugs.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Croissant
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Omelette Petit Trois
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Mec Muffin
Burgundy Escargot
Tuna Tartare
photo credit: Holly Liss