Editor’s note: This is the third installment of our Seat at the Bar series, in which the anonymous Seat at the Bar Diner visits local restaurants, takes a seat for one at the bar and reports honestly on the atmosphere and experience. 

This is unexpected. It’s 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, and all the seats at the bar at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn are full. I always try to be part of the early crowd to guarantee a seat, but that’s not happening tonight. 

As I gawk at the crowd inside, a woman in a floral dress asks me to move away from the door. I’m in her way, she says, but anywhere would be in the way in this busy, small restaurant. The hostess tells me to take a seat on chairs set up outside. I don’t mind because it’s a pleasantly mild night, and my view is of the majestic Auburn courthouse across the street, built in 1898 in the Romanesque Revival style.

This year, Josephine garnered national attention when the two married chefs and co-owners, Eric Alexander and Courtney McDonald, were both named as semifinalists for the James Beard chef award. The logo of the restaurant is inspired by the lettering on the immigration papers carried by Eric’s great-grandmother Josephine when she arrived at Ellis Island from Lithuania. (The couple’s daughter is named Josie.)

Alexander grew up in upstate New York and attended the Culinary Institute of America, where he met McDonald, an Auburn native who grew up on a family farm. The couple worked in restaurants around the U.S. before moving on to Carpe Vino restaurant in Old Town Auburn. They opened Restaurant Josephine in 2021 following a pandemic delay. 

I was looking for a French restaurant to try both for the food and to maybe resurrect my high-school French. After a short wait, I’m led inside to the bar with another couple who had also been sitting outside with me. I ask Josiah, the bartender, if it’s always this busy, and he explains it’s chicken sandwich Wednesday, when you can get a gourmet chicken sandwich for $20. I’m here for French food, so I study the menu instead. 

Meanwhile, Sophia, the other bartender who trained under Josiah, tells me all the spirits are infused in-house, and the syrups are house-made. I’m tempted to get the whiskey sour, which my late mother used to drink during the “Mad Men”-esque 1960s. As a sentimental gesture, I kept her colored whiskey sour glasses. 

But I’m drawn to a refreshing lemon drop after Sophia tells me the vodka is infused with fresh lemons from local farms, including the owners’ small Four Tines Farm, and the simple syrup is flavored with lemon zest. I pucker up at the intertwined tang of the lemon and sweetness of the syrup.

I typically order wine, but a new friend made a good point while we were dining out: You can drink wine at home. When you go out, you should treat yourself to a good, inventive craft cocktail.

Sophia tells me the Caesar salad and massive pork chop are the two most popular items on the menu. I’m craving something French, like the coq au vin, beef bourguignon or vol-au-vent aux fruits de mer that I used to get at a Manhattan Beach restaurant when I lived in Los Angeles. But they’re not on the menu. While some entrees are French, others are  Eastern European influenced, honoring the family heritage. 

After getting my lemon drop, I start chatting with Jeff and Julia, the couple on my right celebrating their anniversary. They come here often. The couple to the left of me are first-timers like me and order oysters for starters then the chicken sandwiches, which are plump and juicy on brioche buns. Stephanie, a single mother and foodie from Grass Valley on break from her twins while her mother watches them, slides into an empty seat next to me and orders a Cuba Libre and the steak tartare appetizer. Turns out Stephanie, Sophia and I all worked as bartenders at one point. We shared some of our experiences, including how bartending evolved from easy gin and tonics to complex craft cocktails. A colorful chalkboard spotlights Josephine’s craft cocktail menu, which changes with the seasons.

The moules frites, nicely salted and drizzled with truffle oil, arrive with the mussels swimming in the fragrant sauce. I take a wedge of fresh bread and dip it in the sauce to soak up the flavors. I’m surprised when I finish the entire dish.

As I say goodbye to the bartenders and new bar friends, I notice quite a few young couples — and why not? Restaurant Josephine is a perfect, cozy date-night spot both for couples young and old and for friends catching up at the bar.

– Your Seat at the Bar diner

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