Restaurant review: Populaire, Costa Mesa

There’s no diminishing the high-dollar luster of South Coast Plaza’s shopping portfolio. But the mall’s restaurant renaissance has turned the property into something more. The increasingly global mall is now a dining destination for delicate soup dumplings, springy bowls of udon, exacting French tasting menus, and, most recently, Populaire’s youthful bistro experimentations.

The handsome indoor-outdoor space clad in blues is a collaboration between chefs Nick Weber and Ross Pangilinan, who met while cooking together years ago at a nearby Costa Mesa restaurant. After Pangilinan later struck success with Santa Ana’s now-shuttered Mix Mix and its South Coast Plaza spin-off, Terrace by Mix Mix, the duo could finally team up on a shared project.

Their vision is structured as a bistro but unbound by French conventions. Just look at the duck confit spliff, a winking nod to Vietnamese cha gio, in which crunchy rolls of duck confit are wrapped in lettuce and herbs and dipped into chile-laced nuoc cham. Escargots appear inside Danish aebleskiver—puffy, spherical pancakes made savory with buttermilk and parsley.

Deeply flavorful and comforting, ratatouille is crowned with an egg yolk and curls of shaved white cheddar, and the subtle heat of gochugaru chile will keep you angling for more. Duck breast is rendered a tender, rosy medium rare and flanked by daubs of beet puree, endive, and fruit that changes seasonally.

Salmon is simple but effective, topped with shaved fennel and apples or perhaps something else, depending on the season. The Royale With Cheese is a crowd-pleasing burger topped with a gooey slab of raclette.

Sundays offer a few brunch favorites (think Brie-stuffed omelets and eggs Benedict atop buttermilk biscuits), and weekdays feature the option of a 3-course prix fixe lunch. Populaire recently added a nightly 7-course chef’s tasting menu.