Bonjour under a big sun
Much of the French-style food served up, with élan, in America and Vegas in particular is in fancy dining rooms like Andre's downtown. Eating it is an affair -- usually best done (if not required) in evening attire, a jacket for men at the least. 
A jacket? It's like 105+ degrees outside, mon frere. And on July 14, France's national celebration, Bastille Day, it hit something like 115. I wanted something Gallic but was in shorts and t-shirt mode. Trekking to a fine dining establishment in suit was not an option. Delicate sauces on a plate? No problem. Me melting in my own sauces in long sleeves, no thanks.
So I headed out to Death Valley for French food at something closer to 120+ degrees for my Bastille Day French fix. How ironic.
Arrêtez! Stop for bottled water, find espresso and baguette
On Bastille Day morning I headed west toward Shoshone, California to make my first visit to Café C'est Si Bon, a little Gallic place in a Death Valley border town.
Out on Flamingo, I pulled into a Sunshine Market to buy some big bottles of bottled water. I planned to grab a quick bagel after for morning munch -- there's an Einstein's in the same block. Then I scanned across the strip mall and saw the sign for Bonjour Euro Bakers, a new find for me. I headed in, grabbed a demi-baguette (with a little butter, a rare thing for me) and a macchiato. It was in a little china demitasse, with little spoon to the side. The owner is from Provence, one of the clocks on the wall showed St. Tropez time. It was true.
Ooh la la in Shoshone, CA
What a funky find -- Café C'est Si Bon. Shoshone is not much more than 75 miles from Las Vegas, a little road-wrapping town on the high ground above the Death Valley dive into Badwater basin and the national park's immense and colorful riot. There's a gas station, a diner, a surprisingly comprehensive if compact museum. And a French restaurant.
David Washum, a former Las Vegas native, has forged a fusion-oriented French bistro in one of the most unlikely of hot spots. On my arrival, I ordered a crêpe with spinach and cheese, all sprinkled with dried cranberries. Other crepe selections with fruit carry a hint of rose water. Tres exotique!
This cool place is indeed exotic. Sitar music plays. The décor is Sub-continental East meets Lonely Planet West.
A traveling French family, parents and two kids, were wrapping up their luncheon in the middle of nowhere. The father asked if they could swim at Lake Mead. "Sure," I said. But it was 1:30 p.m. and there's 1.5 hours drive to Vegas, and then traversing metro traffic and making it out to the lake, I warned. It would be a late late afternoon dip at best, not even accounting for finding a hotel. I'll never know where they headed out to from Shoshone.
I chatted with Washum and his very affable, curious and frenetic son Olivier. It's funny how a digital camera, a crepe and a blueberry soda can spark some conversation.
It's far from boring in the old borax mining districts of Death Valley, even on Bastille Day when the heat can french fry you in your boots.
Almost finis
I would be remiss not to mention the most fantastic local's place for hot weather French food dining and vinous imbibing -- the patio at Marche Bacchus.
Now beef Bourguignon is a hearty stew and that has a wintry tone to its name. But pile some on a split baguette and serve alongside a chilled melon and chili soup. Add chilled rose wine, an artificial waterfall and lake, some deck misters and a few crumb-catching birds -- it's like a Mojave Marsielle here in Vegas.
Plus
Go chill a bottle of the crisp and fruity Lucien Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace Rose Brut for an Alsatian aid against hot house ambient air … it's not even August yet. Sante!