Cancan dancers in poufy white tutus, waitresses in red satin bustiers and butt-hugging short black skirts, a DJ station, two bars, a colorful wooden carousel horse suspended from the ceiling... Karim El Sherif is selling the grésiller along with the steak frites at his new Carousel Can Can Café, which debuted recently in West Palm's CityPlace with a couple of rounds of free food and booze. 

Nowadays there's nothing like the word free to get a place packed tighter than any of those slinky bustiers, so a sizable crowd showed up to scarf down nibbles (chicken cordon bleu croquettes, fried calamari, chicken "lollipops" among them) and swig down wine, champagne, and cocktails. (And, of course, there's always one Palm Beach asshole ragging on the overwhelmed staff because this is all about me, me, me.) 

The idea behind the place is a faux-bawdy re-creation of a Parisian

cabaret, which explains the bustiers, the dancers, the brightly lit

mannequins hung with naughty lingerie, each in its own wall-mounted

shrine. But a little Moulin Rouge goes a long ways in these parts,

where most diners' knowledge of and interest in French cuisine runs the

gamut from "fries" to "toast."  

So while the menu nods at the

mother of all cuisines with duck paté, ratatouille, grilled salmon

paillard, coq au vin, and the inevitable steak frites, it also includes caesar salad, onion rings, grilled mahi

with tropical fruit salad, pasta with pesto, and a roster of burgers

and pizzas from a wood-fired oven. (Though Charlie must admit to being

seduced by the rather absurd decadence of the "Three Truffle Burger," a

patty of ground Black Angus sirloin with truffle butter, truffle oil,

and truffle cheese, which he'll just have to sample and report back on

later, presumably with his head resembling a large, knobby black

tuber.) 

Sometimes you just can't resist the grésiller.

Carousel Can Can

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700 S. Rosemary Ave., Ste. 228, West Palm Beach. Call

561-833-6001, or visit

carouselfl.com.

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