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September 06, 2003
Chez Francois and Chinese Tigers in Africa
Yesterday's dinner was quite the feast. I went to L'Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls. This restaurant was rated one of the top restaurants in this area by the Washingtonian magazine, and even won a Blue Ribbon Award this year. So, it was with high expectations that I went to this restaurant. Exactly what kind of expectations, I do not know. This is because I've never been to an Alsatian French restaurant before. I guess I just expected to be gastronomically wowed. First thing I noticed is that this restaurant has separate allowed seating times. The reason for this did not become apparent until I realized how preparation intensive most of the cooking is. Having separate seating times allows the kitchen to move from one mode to another, for example, migrating from preparing entrees to preparing desserts. Also, the separate seating times prevent long waits for a table from the patron's perspective.
We started with two baskets of breads, raisin and garlic-herb. Both were good. I especially liked the chive butter that came with the garlic bread. Then, we were pleasantly surprised with a small portion of a savory, light, and custardy quiche composed of gruyere cheese, spinach, tomato, ham, and bacon. By the way, before we proceed any further, it might be worth mentioning that the menu is pseudo prix fixe, which is why we got the quiche. The prix fixe format made for room to be surprised with in-between dishes that we were not expecting.
For my appetizer, I ordered a bouillabaisse, which I ususally find to be very salty. I figured I'd try it at a more authentic French restaurant, and it was still very salty. So, I concluded that all bouillabaisse is supposed to be this salty. Personally, if I were to make this highly seasoned soup consisting of fish and shellfish, I would probably add a lot less salt. The tomato based broth, minus much of the salt, would provide the essence of the flavoring.
Following the bouillabaisse, I ordered a salad consisting of succulent lobster, various greens, Belgian endive, what tasted like Kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, tender asparagus, and an edible orchid. The latter fact was told to me by our waiter. The entire salad concoction was dressed with a passion fruit vinaigrette, which I thought must surely have been the best salad dressing I have ever tasted in my life. I wished they sold the dressing by the bottle at the restaurant. As you can probably tell by now, this is not the kind of restaurant that would serve "ranch or thousand island". Not that I have anything against people who like ranch or thousand island, but you know what I'm saying. In case you were wondering, eating the orchid was strange. If it wasn't for the passion fruit vinaigrette, which I eagerly sopped up with the orchid petals, the orchid would have been completely tasteless. For now, I think I just want to grow orchids, not eat them.
Next, we were presented with a palate cleansing lemon sorbet with candied violet. This was tasty, and was without a doubt homemade. I have never had a lemon sorbet that didn't taste completely sugary and somewhat artificial before this. At this point in the meal, I started to feel like I was too full to eat the entree. My entree, which was Dover sole sauteed with lobster, asparagus, wild forest mushrooms, capers, and brown butter (what is that anyways?), was paired with a pinot blanc wine (Kientzler Pinot Blanc d'Alsace 2000 for you wine connoisseurs). In case you were wondering, I am definitively not a wine connoisseur. I just asked our waiter to make a recommendation, and he did a great job. The sole was very good, but I really went for the mushrooms. There is a world of difference between grocery store mushrooms, and wild mushrooms. I wanted another whole plate of these mushrooms. The creamed spinach that accompanied the entree was somewhat bland. I prefer spinach stir-fried with garlic over creamed anyway. The pinot blanc is drier than I'm used to (I love grape juice, and am not ashamed to say so), but I did enjoy it with the fish.
Anyhow, meanwhile, I'm feeling completely stuffed, and thinking about how I'm possibly going to find room for dessert, which I had ordered at the beginning of the meal, since I wanted souffle, and that takes a while to cook. But, I have never had Grand Marnier souffle before, and it's supposed to be a classic French dessert, so I felt obliged to try it. It was with a grand flourish that the souffle was brought out to the table. What impressed me was that it was timed so perfectly that the souffle went straight out of the oven to our table. We Americans can say what we will about the French, but their attention to detail is impeccable. So, now I have this hot, hot souffle in front of me that I get to pour the Grand Marnier souce into. This is getting dangerous. Any reservations I had about being too full to eat dessert flew out of the window at once. I found that I liked Grand Marnier. Before I could register it, the entire side of Grand Marnier went into the souffle ramekin. Absolutely heavenly, and the perfect ending to a rich meal.
Or so I thought. Afterwards, along with the check, our waiter brought a plate of cocoa dusted chocolate truffles and butter cookies. The truffles were so sweet and chocolately that I nearly choked on it, and had to gulp a lot of water down. These truffles were much better than Godiva's truffles, needless to say. All together, my portion of the dinner came in under $100, but not much under that. This includes tip and the glass of wine. I only put the total here because some of my co-workers who read my reviews requested it. Expensive? Yes. Worth the price? Yes, I'd say so. I was thinking about how many ingredients must have gone into my dinner. I was also thinking about how it's a good thing I don't live in Alsace, or I'd probably be a chubby doll.
On a completely non-related note, a friend passed me this link, which I had a good laugh over. Apparently, some poor impalas and warthogs in Africa will soon have to deal with tigers. Tigers in Africa? Yep, Chinese tigers. The Chinese tiger population has dwindled so alarmingly that there are only about 30 tigers left in the wild. In an effort to help their numbers grow, two tiger cubs are being sent to an African wildlife reserve, where they will be the first in a line of tigers to be taught how to hunt. This is disturbing, since Chinese tigers are supposed to be fierce hunters, and at one time, they were. After all, Chinese monks originally developed Shaolin kung fu in order to defend against these tigers, among other things.
Posted by Kathy at September 6, 2003 04:40 PM