Bargain Gourmet

A familiar restaurant name is back - this time as a spot called French-Mediterranean Cafe in Nixa that serves epicurean delights that are shockingly affordable.

Katie Pollock Estes

It wasn't long before I moved to the Ozarks that Al Roubaie's Springfield restaurant had closed. But even though it redated my living here, I heard a whole lot about it. Co-workers and friends would tell me tales about the restaurant's to-doe-for escargot, and I had a little bit of green jealousy that I never got to try it.

The chef opened up shop a couple of other places between then and now, but Al Roubaie's newest venture in Nixa is where I finally got to taste his wares. The spot is simply called French-Mediterranean Cafe (or French Medit. Cafe, if you're looking for the sign from the street). It's a casual eatery with a gourmet menu that manages to offer exquisite French flavor for pennies: Most dinner entrees are less than $15.

And the menu includes that famous escargot appetizer. So of course that's where my husband, Eli Estes, and I started our meal. They are served sans-shell in a pesto butter sauce. Mostly butter, honestly. So much butter. The escargot are tender and decadent, and we used a couple pieces of our bread to sop up some of the extra sauce that remained in the cute little escargot vessel.

Then came the second part of our meal: Two house salads topped with dates and Moroccan orange vinaigrette. I enjoyed this bitter orange dressing because I'm not a fan of sweet sauces, but Eli didn't care for it. It's just a matter of preference, I guess. But if you order "orange" thinking "sweet," it won't be what you're looking for. Not to worry, though; there's plenty of other homemade dressings to choose from.

Then we had what was hands-down my favorite part of our meal: Ceam of almond soup. It is so silky and rich, but somehow has a lightness to it as well. It's pure white and so smooth; I wanted to eat a gallon of it. If it's the soup of the day when you visit, I highly recommend giving it a try. It was only a few dollars, too!

For my entree, I ordered the seafood puffed pastry. The flakey crust comes stuffed with shrimp, crab meat, scallops, white fish and lobster. There are two of these stuffed pastries in the dish, in fact, and they are served on a bed of rich lobster sauce. Every bite was divine, and I just had to eat it all. I mean, does puffed pastry reheat well? I wasn't going to risk it. Any excuse for another bite was good enough for me. For my side I chose the roasted potatoes, which are so incredibly buttery and baked crisp. For less than $15, this was a whole lot of food.

Eli had the French curry shrimp. The shrimp are fat and cooked perfectly, along with the tender onions and bell peppers. The curry is bright yellow and sprinkled with whole pink peppercorns that add a spicy and zippy little crunch to every bite. He opted for the saffron rice side, which is also extremely buttery and comes topped with sweet raisins and slivered almonds.

I know I mentioned how affordable this spot is, but I'm not joking! We had two great entrees, two salads, an appetizer and soup, and our tab was only about $40 before tax and tip. It was special-occasion taste for Tuesday night pices. Impressive.