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[ Dining Out>>Review ] La Coop executive chef Bobby Benjamin. Bistro Bona Fide >>By Stephen Hacker Photos by Jolea Brown While vacationing in France, our reviewer reflects on a recent meal at East Market Street's La Coop Bistro à Vins. [144] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 11.12 I 've visited France at least once a year for the past 10 years. I've been to bistros, bouchons, brasseries and just about every other kind of eating establishment France has to offer, including kebab trucks and Chinese buffets. (Despite what you may have heard, not everything in France is Michelin-starred.) Truth be told, I'm in France at the very mo- ment I'm writing this review, mere moments away from the homey, slow-cooked kind of places La Coop Bistro à Víns wants to be in the company of. So, a question: Is La Coop an authentic French bistro? I can't say whether the escargots I enjoyed at a table outside La Coop were veritable au- thentique, but I can tell you they were certain- ly better than some I've had here in France. Instead of rubbery, eraser-textured ickyness, the $9 La Coop snails, slowly steeped in chicken fat, garlic and thyme before plopping into pools of butter in a cast-iron serving dish, were tender and redolent with herbs, their garlicky bath lightened by a lovely touch of lemon zest. My wine, a red Côtes du Rhône, carried less markup than I've seen in many actual French bistros, and the Blue Dog baguette was certainly better than many of the loaves I've picked up from French bou- langeries. Bistros in France generally offer simple, hearty fare for lunch and dinner in a manner that fits somewhere between the structured formality of a restaurant (where you're ex- pected to have a multiple-course meal) and the looseness of a cafe (where it's not insult- ing to simply order a salad). But these days