Named after a popular and strong cognac-and-champagne cocktail—itself named after a WWI gun with a fiery kick—this bistro is the first of several outposts planned for the LA area.

Next to an Arnie Morton's in a fairly nondescript office building, French 75 uses reds, vintage posters and tin ceilings in a seemingly impossible attempt to conjure Paris via Burbank. The appealing all-things-to-all-people vibe, though, is just as it should be. The candle-filled lounge areas, with a bar backlit in a chic glowing red, cater well to the happy-hour crowd; further back in the surprisingly large space are two linen-swathed dining rooms, one rather grand and one rather petite. The crowd varies accordingly; expect a mix of young record-label up-and-comers from the offices upstairs, less young Warner Bros. and NBC-Uni execs from the nabe, curious local families and, of course, Francophiles of all types. The reasonably authentic menu items we sampled were pleasing, with the exception of the oddly fishy beef stroganoff, but the crowning achievement was the huge chocolate souffle for two. After breaking the center, our server then poured in chocolate and Cointreau cream, and then more chocolate all over the place. If it sounds like too much, then we're telling it wrong.