Paul B.
Yelp
Not much I can say about this experience that isn't evident in the photos.
This restaurant was everything I'd heard about for years, and more.
The hostess and host were friendly and inviting, even the young man taking our coats was kind, gentle, and eager to please.
We were sat early and really spent our time enjoying drinks first and then appetizers, then entrees and dessert over a three hour period.
It's possible our waiter wasn't thrilled with this, and he sometimes seemed to be in a bad mood.
We chalked that up to his being French and "passionate" about his
Profession--perhaps taking himself too serious.
All the dishes were meticulously cooked and presented.
The mussels were perfectly steamed, buttery, lemony, herbaceous and most importantly--clean.
Generous amounts of crispy fresh bread accompanied the dish and plenty to go around for everyone to taste the sauce.
The Icelandic Cod dish was a seared filet on a bed of leeks, artichokes barigoule, chickpea crisps, and a sumptuous mousseline, clams, watercress sauce and
an outrageous caviar crème.
One of the dishes was on the specials menu and may not be there, when you visit.
The Chicken and Morels Vol Au Vent was a tender roasted chicken breast with a delicious seared tarragon boudin blanc, Oregon morels, asparagus, in a creamy mushroom sauce,
topped with a puff pastry--a triumph!
The ravioli was incredibly decadent and difficult to eat slowly--a medley of alpine French cheese ravioli, parsnip purée, Swiss chard, seacoast farm mushroom, topped with freshly shaved black winter truffle in a creamy potato emulsion.
This is a top ten dinning experience and highly recommended for a special dinner.
While our server could have been more personal, and not messed up so many times, at least he apologized.
The difference between a server with a bad attitude, and a server who is too hard on themselves, is, at least part of the service can be attributed to over-achieving, versus someone who doesn't care at all. So, we forgave this server and hope he lightens up a little.
The food was just too good to let that taint our experience.
But an adjustment may need to be made there.
***Be aware that this restaurant charges a 4% "Kitchen Appreciation Fee" on food only, which reward the kitchen staff for their hard work, creating an incentivized work environment that ultimately
encourages creativity, loyalty and a better experience for all of us diners.
If you're going out to a restaurant if this caliber, you just can't count dollars.
You have to accept that you will pay handsomely for this level of quality.