Bon Appétit

1417 French Bistro Delivers Elevated Cuisine In A Warm And Friendly Setting

WORDS BY CLAIRE CELLA

When most people think of French dining, they usually associate it with the hallmarks of fine dining: highly orchestrated and exceptional service, cloth-lined tables, an air of sophistication, delicate and divine food. But eating French food is not solely relegated to these formal scenes. The French — and Austinites — can relax, too, while still enjoying authentic, passionate French cooking. That’s where 1417 French Bistro off South First in Bouldin Creek comes in.

A bistro by definition is a smaller, more intimate, sometimes even rustic, restaurant that carries a warmth and conviviality to its vibe. And Allison Welsh, part-owner and operator of 1417 French Bistro, is all about the careful curation of her bistro’s vibe. On a Sunday, you’ll be ushered in by Beyoncé and blue cheese beignets and coaxed to stay for hours in the cozy soft seats of thrifted chairs and the muted, almost antique tones of dried pastel flowers, warm wood and vintage carpets. On a Monday night, the vibrant local neighborhood is there, perched at the bar, savoring the $25 steak-frites that are kept coming all night long.

“This is us hitting our stride,” Welsh says, “this is the best we’ve ever been.”

It’s taken a few years for 1417 French Bistro to get here, and Welsh isn’t shy to say so. She understands that, as a restaurant and a business, sometimes she and her business partner “don’t do things in the necessary order of operations that other people do.”

The restaurant first opened as simply 1417 in mid-June of 2021 in the former space of the Thai restaurant Sway. It was a time when Austin and much of the rest of the country was still under restricted dining service due to the pandemic. Because all Welsh could do was run the kitchen and serve people on the back deck, that’s what she did. Later that year, in October, they opened for indoor dining amidst a furniture shortage also caused by the pandemic. “Our MO has always been that ‘We’re getting there,’” she says with a laugh. “Opening things when maybe we’re not 100 percent ready — but I love that we do that.”

That initial indoor opening on barely-dry tile floors turned out to be pivotal in creating the restaurant that 1417 French Bistro is today — and its now widely popular vibe. Because Welsh and her partner were having trouble sourcing furniture in time for the opening, she decided to scrap their original plans and just make do. That meant they did — and still do — a lot of thrifting for the restaurant, sourcing everything from rugs, to chairs, to mishmashed silverware from vintage stores in the Central Texas area.

“We literally did what we thought was cool,” she says. And it seems to have worked. Since late last fall and after their re-brand, 1417 French Bistro has appeared on some of Austin’s top brunch lists. The re-brand, which came with a change of name, also came with a new, “less-tweezered” menu and an even further relaxation into their warm, casual, neighborhood identity that Welsh has been after. Now on the dinner menu you can find duck confit and a half roasted chicken. Their tasteful and timeless drink menu was developed by general manager Anise Broussard and features a cucumber gimlet and a smoked gin and tonic. The drink menu is one thing that Welsh is adamant won’t change in the near future.

This summer, however, the 1417 French Bistro team has a few exciting changes up their sleeves. At the time of this interview, Welsh had just hosted a soft launch of an outdoor, cafe-lit, 46-seat-back-deck caviar bar — one of the only of its kind in Austin. The menu features six to seven types of caviar, ranging from a $275 tin of elite reserve osetra to a couple of $50 jars of truffle pearls and ghost pepper. All of the caviar is sourced from San Francisco-based Caviar & Caviar. Alongside the caviar options are four to five cold plates such as moody blue beignets and goat cheese mousse as well as bubbles, wine and shots of vodka.

The menu also features a bump of caviar and a shot of vodka, labeled a “Bump + Shot,” for $15. The term “bump” refers to a way in which caviar can be eaten, spooned onto the back of the hand between the index finger and thumb. It was the traditional way in which roe buyers sampled caviar before they purchased it — and is becoming an emerging dining trend among caviar connoisseurs at restaurants across the county.

Welsh’s idea was to make the back deck experience something that makes caviar approachable, fun and young — just like the team has managed to do with French food.

Welsh is also looking into creating some sort of space on the 10,000 sq. ft. of land they own that sits along East Bouldin Creek. She’s envisioning a private outdoor event space for weddings, showers and wellness retreats, but is also open to it becoming somewhere that people can come hang out, drink a beer and be by the water — a refreshing option, as we all know, in Austin’s heat.

At the end of her very long days — Welsh is at the restaurant almost every day — she’s proud of all the work that’s been accomplished and what they’ve been building and piecing together over the years. When they started two years ago, she and her partner had never owned a restaurant before and had no name recognition. Now they’re seating upwards of 250 covers a night in a place where everyone walks in and starts talking about the ambiance, the atmosphere and the vibes.

“That’s the cool stuff,” she says. “When I get those texts from friends that say, ‘People can’t stop talking about the Monday steak-frites nights, or the oysters, or the vibe.’ The story is: we’ve got a cool story. I’m really proud of what we’ve built.”

To learn more, visit 1417frenchbistro.com.

Claire Cella has been working for Edible Austin, in some capacity, for over 10 years—since first interning as an undergraduate at St. Edward’s University. Although she works remotely, she’s always looking for the next reason to visit Austin again—especially for the food.