Sottise Is Classy French for Millennials
Sottise
Maybe it’s the price point that causes this, but when you go to the many French spots around town, you mostly see people nearing retirement. No knock on that—people nearing retirement are usually the only ones who can regularly afford the dollar amounts French spots are commanding these days, so of course that demographic would be seen more frequently. But Sottise—being the sister restaurant to Progress—is a doing it a little differently. Sure, you can still get a high-dollar, high-end French experience, or you could get some reasonable cocktails and a few smaller plates and have a fantastic date night that comes in around the $100 mark. It’s French food for the people, and if you get a spot on the patio on a pleasant day, it’s just about perfect.
Downtown - 1025 N 2nd St
Awards + Accolades
Reviews
The dining room is airy and gorgeous, but also tiny. You may find yourself sitting at a communal table with random people or under a hanging plant. And on one occasion, the Dave Brubeck record playing from the vintage speakers was so loud that I was practically screaming over my steel pan of baked camembert.
But at the same time, Sottise feels like a home — an exceptionally well decorated one filled with fashionable people eating snails — but still comfortable thanks to exceptional service and a welcoming host.
- Andi Berlin, AZ Central
Sottise is a French term for “folly or “foolishness,” but there’s nothing offhand about the food, wine or service here. In fact, it would be folly not to take this well-oiled machine seriously.
- Nikki Buchanan, Phoenix Magazine
What to Get
Baked Camembert
The music at this trendy new French restaurant was so loud, people were shouting over their Burgundy snails. It was well past 9 p.m. and our second dinner of the evening, so we found a seat on the patio of the vintage downtown bungalow and shared an appetizer. Sottise oozes style, and the same can be said about the baked camembert cheese, which practically poured onto my crusty baguette. The cheese was milder than the Normandy mushroom-forward flavor bomb I'd expected, but the kitchen made up for it by tossing on toasted hazelnuts, a boozy calvados honey and a scatter of dried rosemary and thyme. It was pure, creamy decadence.
- Andi Berlin, AZ Central
Beet Salad
I recently had a beet salad at Francine that I loved, but the beet salad at Sottise is my other all-time favorite. Beets and horseradish are a classic combo in Slavic countries, but Sottise’s version is more sumptuous, bringing together earthy roasted beets with a fluffy drift of hot horseradish cream, brightened with lemon. Dill adds a fresh, almost grassy note.
- Nikki Buchanan, Phoenix Magazine
Oysters Rockefeller
The "giant" oysters Rockefeller I tried one Sunday afternoon, was an updated take on the French-inspired dish from New Orleans, nothing like the baked cheese bombs I've struggled through in the bistros of yesteryear. With bright shimmering shells that dwarfed the parmesan-flecked oyster meat, they were delicate and almost bare except for a wisp of spinach and crunchy bacon. An ethereal butter sauce collected around the bottom as I nudged the oyster into my mouth and tasted the pure essence of the sea.
- Andi Berlin, AZ Central
