You can count on one hand — and this after a cleaver mishap — the number of restaurants where you find duck ramen alongside croque monsieur, or miso soup paired with salade niçoise.
But such is the east-meets-west vision at Japoix, or more specifically, the restaurant’s culinary marriage of contemporary Japanese and classic French influences.
As arranged nuptials go, it’s a happy one, down to the napkin roll-ups that unfurl to reveal chopsticks and a fork.
Japoix sits in the north end of the Beauvallon building at East Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Street, in the space once occupied by Nine75 eatery and nightclub.
It remains a sprawling place, extending to a rear bar and comfy lounge with views of the Front Range. (Memo to file: The sofas around the fieldstone fireplaces would make a fine place to watch a winter storm roll in.) The decor is dark and sleek, and the front room is partitioned with louvered dividers. Foodies rub shoulders with club kids, all catered to by a young, eager-to- please wait staff.
A spiffy cocktail list opens the evening. It’s clever: The Kirin Royale is a play on the Kir Royale, pairing Kirin Ichiban beer with chambord, rather than the traditional champagne and crème de cassis. There are also house- made creations, such as the Cherry Blossom, a pear-flavored vodka with a cherry note.
A recent meal started with crispy frog legs, flash-fried in a light tempura batter. The succulent flesh paired well with the tempura treatment. By the end of that course, only a small pile of delicate bones was left to remind the sensitive diner — mon dieu! — of the classic Sam Gross cartoon where the legless frog confronts the patrons in a French restaurant.
The tempura vegetables would have had more snap, literally and figuratively, with less batter.
Japoix offers a short roundup of sushi staples, including takes on California, eel and spicy tuna rolls. The “new-style” hamachi featured several pieces of the fish that came on a chilled plate, looking for all the world like apple slices floating atop ponzu sauce and olive oil. Pretty, yes, but it left an excellent cut of fish swimming against a current of competing, not complementary, flavor.
The day’s soup was a warm, lightly brothed corn with lemongrass. That’s a pairing you don’t often see, but it struck a fine balance between the bright notes of summer and the richer flavors of a deepening autumn, with the lemongrass providing top notes to the pureed sweet corn.
The big hit among the small plates was billed as deconstructed street tacos. Soy-marinated meat from pork short ribs arrived in a ramekin, which you heaped onto fried wonton squares dressed with a sweet-savory pear-onion relish and cilantro-lime vinaigrette. It was a pile of flavor and texture, but it worked.
An entree of duck ramen was a bowlful of umami heaven. The noodles were bathed in a light duck broth that was studded with the roast bird; plus pork belly that melded unctuous, fatty meat with a seared crunch; plus snap peas. Two diners can split this dish and still have leftovers.
The flaky flesh of a sea bass was white as bone china. Clean and luscious, the fish brooked no lily-gilding: It was simply napped with a classic beurre blanc sauce spiked with miso. Again, the culinary compass took a spin around the dial.
But the dinner menu’s showcase was a variation on fondue-style dining. A hyper-hot square of rock arrived at the table, along with slivers of a premium meat: New York strip, beef filet, lamb tenderloin or Wagyu Kobe ribeye, priced from $28 to $45, your pick.
You dropped the meat on the stone, and in a few seconds it sizzled to your preferred doneness. It made for a nifty little floor show, even if the go-with sauces — wasabi, ponzu and a cognac reduction, lacked oomph.
The dish also came with sliced red and orange bell peppers (a nod to color), pineapples and herb-flecked house fries that were thin-cut and golden, but unfortunately doused with truffle oil, the most unnecessary ingredient in a savvy chef’s pantry.
Japoix earns a tip o’ the tippler’s hat for its wine list, smartly categorized and — in a stunning turn of events in these times — offering wines by the glass in the $5-$6 range. And no, it’s not plonk.
Restaurateur Lawrence Yee is the man behind Japoix, but the kitchen’s driving wheel is Jay Spickelmier, the executive chef who arrived from Jing, an upscale Chinese restaurant in Greenwood Village. Spickelmier’s training ranged from sushi havens to upscale French restaurants. At Japoix, he offers a laudable fusion of both worlds — and delivers good value to boot.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
JAPOIX
Japanese with a French twist. 975 Lincoln St., 303-861-2345, japoix.com.
** (Very Good)
Atmosphere: Clever, fun and relaxing. Crowd ranges from middle-aged foodies to club kids.
Service: Vivacious, knowledgeable.
Wine: Well-chosen and reasonably priced wine list, plus some snappy cocktails.
Plates: $8-$45, with most entrees in the $10-$26 range.
Hours: Lunch: Monday Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday noon-4 p.m. Dinner: Monday-Wednesday, 4 p.m.-midnight; Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m.; Sunday 4 p.m.-9 p.m.
Details: Casual dress. Reservations advisable on weekends. Walk-ins welcome.
Two visits.
Our star system: ****: Exceptional. ***: Great. **: Very Good. *: Good.