Little Slice of France on the First Coast
(Jacksonville Magazine)

”In the main dining room at Le Clos in Fernandina Beach, corks are popping and diners are laughing. In the smaller room, conversation bubbles like the sparkling wine being poured at one table. Combine classical French Provencal cookery and the seaside quaintness of Amelia Island, and you have the magic of Le Clos ("The Enclosure").
Owner/Chef Katherine Ewing's cozy restaurant is located in a restored bungalow near the city's yacht basin. Ewing holds degrees in pastry and cuisine from Cordon Bleu and the Ritz-Escofier in Paris, ensuring that the quality of the food equals the charm of the atmosphere.
From the pork and chicken liver pate finished with cream, cognac, and parsley to the chocolate gâteau with crème Anglaise, the offerings are uncompromisingly French. With each entree, Ewing's menu suggests appropriate accompanying wines (with lamb shanks, perhaps a hearty Burgundy; with the sea scallops, a sauvignon blanc).
Le Clos is petite and cozy. Diners are seated in either a smaller side room with four tables or the larger room with more than a dozen tables. Both rooms are tasteful and understated, with salmon walls and white trim matching the snowy table linens. Candlelit tables add a dash of amoré, while background music includes scatterings of pop and jazz (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Tyrell). Each dish here is prepared in exquisite fashion and presentation is emphasized. Every offering, from entrée to dessert, looks ready for a magazine cover. Indeed the food is almost too pretty to eat, but we managed to clean our plates anyway.”
*****

Southern Living
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Best Place for Dinner: Le Clos
"Chef Katherine Ewing earned degrees in pastry and cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu and trained at the Ritz in Paris before opening her restaurant in a small cottage near the Fernandina Harbor in 1997. Each item on the menu brings a taste of France to Fernandina. Order the seared Hudson Valley duck breast with mushrooms, a crème brûlée, and a cup of espresso, and you may find yourself humming La Marseillaise."

*****
Fairbanks House - Amelia Island
Theresa the Innkeeper

"I've always been a sucker for beautiful flower baskets but the ones outside of Le Clos this summer have me absolutely drooling with envy. The gorgeous red geraniums with a backdrop of ivy and creeping fig can just set the heart aflutter. The meals inside these walls do nothing to stop the palpitations as many of our guests will tell you. In fact, most of our guests know that if they'd like the sea bass in lemon buerre blanc, and warm chocolate cake for dessert, they just need to order the "Theresa Special". They'll ask if you want it "with or without escargot" because I don't like to be predictable."

*****
Off The BeatenTrack - Amelia Island
(Wall Street Journal, Travel Editor Andrea Peterson)

"For terrific French fare, head to the intimate dining room at Le Clos. The menu features fresh fish dishes, a stellar steak au poivre and knock-out chocolate cake."
*****

Dining with Tolf
(Florida Trend Magazine)

"In between my never-ending searches for restaurants to put on the best lists, I look for simpler, smaller spots that are doing something special, maybe even unique, to brighten up our dining-out whirl. Here is one of my latest discoveries: Le Clos - 20 s 2nd St., Amelia Island - 904-261-8100
Whenever I want to tickle my French memory bank, I head for a delightful 1906 cottage a few feet from Fernandina Beach's famous shrimp docks. That's where Le Cordon Bleu graduate and Ritz of Paris alum Katherine Ewing holds forth, blending a peerless liver pate, creating classically inspired escargot bourguignonne, serving seared diver scallops with herbs, shallots and tomato on a bed of linguine, fish of the day delivered fresh daily, shrimp steeped in garlic-chive cream with feta and red-yellow pepper confetti bedded down with seared spinach, and marinated hanger steak sporting roasted shallots and gorgonzola. The coup de grace is the French chocolate cake with creme anglaise. Dinner entrees range from $18 to $25 and are served Monday through Saturday. Prices at Le Clos reflect the level of cuisine. With beverage, tax, and tip, count on about $50 per person.
The wine list at Le Clos is highlighted by champagnes and sparkling wines, choices in Ports, Sherries, and other Aperitifs are available."
***

The Best Romantic Escapes in Florida

"Step into this charming little yellow and white cottage for a truly delightful romantic dinner. Candles grace the tables in this dimly lit, intimate room that is painted deep red with white trim. The framed menu hangs on the back wall and nightly specials are inscribed on a blackboard. Cuisine here is pure Provencale. Come for the escargot, the pate, the coquelles St. Jacques, the tender seared duck, and the braised lamb shank. French wine lovers will find the inspired list a true pleasure. Dinner Mon.- Sat. 20 S. 2nd St., 904.261.8100"
*****

JacksonvilleMag.com
Cari Sànchez-Potter

… Le Clos (20 South 2nd St., 261-8100) a French restaurant housed in a petite restored cottage on Second Street. A white picket fence and flowering vines creeping up to the rooftop set the stage outside. Inside, warm salmon-hued walls, flickering candlelight, and soft jazz tunes provide the backdrop for a poetic meal oozing with romance. The two small dining rooms buzz with happy conversation enhanced by a wine list highlighted by champagnes, and other sparkling wines. Patrons lean forward the older, well-heeled set but unpretentious attentive service makes any amorous couple feel at home. Tables are snugly spaced but the hearty buzz of diners and clicking of glasses makes it so the diners at the table next to yours cannot listen in on your conversation.
The menu at Le Clos is focused on classically-inspired Provencal fare. This is French comfort food at its best, expertly crafted by the restaurant’s French-trained chef and owner Katherine Ewing. Each delicious morsel of escargot arrives at the table swimming in its own bubbling pool of garlicky parsley butter that deserves to be sopped up with warm slices of chewy baguette. The succulent Colorado braised lamb shank is falling-off-the-bone tender and its savory broth surrounds a creamy pile of au gratin potatoes. Daily fish specials are local. If the flickering candlelight and impassioned dishes aren’t enough to incite l ‘amour, seal the deal with the gâteau au chocolate cake swimming in a pool of delicate crème Anglaise.  It doesn’t get any sexier than that.

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(904) 261-8100