When Chef Bruno Chemel shuttered his Bistronomie by Baume in Palo Alto in August 2023 after less than a year, he thought about retiring.

Who could blame him? After all, before transforming that California Avenue space into a more casual establishment, he had spent the previous 13 years overseeing it in its original incarnation as the cutting-edge, fine-dining Baume restaurant known for its eye-popping molecular gastronomy.

It garnered him one Michelin star for three years before it was elevated to two stars, a distinction it held for a long nine years even in its later stage when it was only Chemel and his wife Christie running the entire restaurant alone.

If anyone deserved a rest after all of that, surely he did.

Of course, that lasted all of a heartbeat. Only a month later, he was scouring locations for a new restaurant.

Last summer, he opened Le Parc Bistrobar in the Galleria Park Hotel with his wife by his side, designing the cocktails and running the dining room. This time, though, they do have the help of other employees.

When he told his friends that he was planning a restaurant in downtown San Francisco, which has seen its struggles and continues on a slow rebound following the pandemic, they were incredulous.

“They thought I was crazy,” Chemel said. “But then, they also thought that when I opened on California Avenue in Palo Alto.”

This two-story restaurant was formerly the home of Gaspar Brasserie, which had been closed for years. Its dark wood and brass Parisian decor fit the French bistro fare that Chemel already had in mind. All that modernist cooking, with the laborious techniques it required, had left him drained. Coming to San Francisco, he said, gave him a fresh start to cook classics he grew up with in France — but with his own understated improvisational tinkering.

Last week, I was invited in as his guest to check out his menu. On a weeknight, the first floor was quiet, but up on the second floor where the main dining room is located, several tables were occupied with regulars who know the couple from their Palo Alto restaurant days. Christie Chemel flitted between tables, greeting everyone like old friends, as she took their drink orders.

The cocktail menu is quite large, leaning into the classics, as well as specialty ones focused on a specific liqueur such as lillet and chartreuse.

I oped for the Pink Elephant ($19), a blend of vodka, limoncello, and raspberry liqueur that was citrusy with a berry sweetness.

Escargots Baume ($19) are not the usual in-shell rendition drowning in garlic butter. Instead, the tender mollusks were hidden under a thin, crisp, golden pastry cap and garnished with crunchy vivid green croutons for a much more refined version.

The tarte tatin a l’oignon ($18), Christie Chemel explained, is her husband’s interpretation of French onion soup but done in pastry form. The flaky pastry shell is topped with onions that have been caramelized to deep sweetness plus a scoop of whipped, tangy goat cheese. There’s no beef broth in this version, just buttery pastry, rich cheese, and fragrant onions that get pushed to the forefront more.

My husband’s steak frites ($48) spotlighted an 8-ounce sirloin flap steak that sported a rosy medium-rare interior as requested. It comes with Bearnaise sauce on the side to use on the beef or on the accompanying skinny fries. And what fries they are — crisp all over and seasoned with the perfect amount of salt. You’ll eat every one of them, too, because it would be a crime to let any go to waste.

The “Sole Meuniere Camouflage” ($48) is a huge seared petrale sole, which has been deboned and covered in baby dandelion greens and a zingy lemon-butter-shallot sauce. It is so moist, flaky, buttery, and just cooked beautifully through and through. The portion is so sizeable that I ended up taking half of it home for a nice lunch the next day.

For sides, we went with the roasted heirloom carrots ($12) served on a bed of creamy, mild allium dip.

If you can’t make up your mind about one dessert, go for the trio sampler ($29). It includes a fluffy, rich chocolate mousse decorated with a fancy chocolate tuille; a vacherin pistache, a sundae-like stack of pistachio ice cream, raspberry ice cream, strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and meringue discs; and floating islands with bouncy marshmallow-like cubes rather than the classic cloud-like forms in a pool of custard sauce and fresh fruit.

For whatever the reason, French bistros have become an endangered species in San Francisco. Back in the day, they abounded. But now, you really have to look long and hard to find one. And that’s a crying shame, because as Le Parc Bistrobar demonstrates, they embody the casual-yet-elegant style of food and ambience that really hits the spot these days.