I hate to downgrade a local place, especially a place that has excellent Jazz weekly, but the food here is very hit or miss. Every time I go, and I've been about 6 times over the last year we seem to get something great and something bad. The place never fails to deliver something we don't enjoy. Recently I went for dinner and had the exact same experience. The foie gras appetizer was incredible. I thought it was well paired with the jam of apricot I believe, and the crispy toast. I'd go out of my way to check out some live jazz and order this appetizer, it was amazing! However the beef bourguignon was bad. It has zero sauce, over dry pasta. Really confused but that, I've never seen a beef bourguignon by this dry, it was as if it was not even cooked in red wine. This was a bad, boring, dish that makes me wonder why a chef would even serve it. They were also out of about 5 items on the menu, which is never good when you are busy. The ambiance is excellent, I love how they decorate the place and how low they keep the lights. Go for the jazz, drinks, and foie!
5/3/2010
I've eaten here 3 times recently with family and have had a very good meal every time, although not without a few issues. I think they may still be trying to work thru the kinks, for example the food can sometimes take a while to arrive, however I get the impression that's most if cooked to order (even I think the Beef Bourguignon) so a wait is somewhat expected.
I've had the Escargot a few times, probably my favorite dish here. Very tender, juicy snails in a rich butter sauce. The first time I had it the sauce was almost milky, which was different and tasty. Then the next 2 times I ordered this dish, it was mostly butter, which is nice, but not what arrived the first time. Perhaps the milk solids has started to separate on the first dish. Either way, not very consistent. The cheese plate is good, although not every cheese is French nor local (Manchego for example). The French onion soup is good, kinda standard, not particularly memorable, but they do use a good gruyere cheese on top which is always nice. The bread they serve with the meal is excellent, fresh, grainy, with a soft whipped butter that is always room temperature so you can spread it, which I always nice.
For entrée's I've had the lamb sandwich (decent lamb, oily sandwich, strange unrecognizable flavors, decent dish); the Pate sandwich (dry, boring); the Beef Bourguignon (excellent, highly recommended, great portion, wonderful flavor, tender, medium lean meat); the salmon w/Israeli couscous (eh, the salmon portion was very small, thin, and cut from the end of the salmon, so no matter how light they cooked it, it was overcooked in just a few minutes, the blood orange sauce was excellent but tasted nothing like blood orange and I honestly thought I tasted peanut butter or something nutty, the couscous I did not like at all, odd flavors, although it did go well with the rest of the dish); the lamb (perfectly cooked, nice size portion, not enough sauce, not enough flavor; the Soft Shell crab (last weekend it was served with I believe fava bean falafel, which is strange as it's a fried dish with a fried side, not a good idea; I had it this last weekend, very tasty, 2 large crabs).
The mac & cheese is waaaay to small a portion and was bland. Overall I've enjoyed the meals I have had here, although not much is very memorable. I do recommend this place as the service is great, atmosphere is nice, prices are decent for the quality of food and the food overall is very good. The music is too loud usually but they don't mind turning it down if you ask. I'll be back, great to have a place like this in the area.
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