Category Archives: French

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Posted on by

Foie gras amuse bouche

Salmon and caviar

Artichoke carpaccio and foie gras

Interior

Scallop

Lobster

Lobster

Black bass with lemon grass

Wagyu

Quail and foie gras

Sorbet with black currants

Chocolate

***** (5 stars)

l’Atelier is my favorite restaurant in London, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and now New York The consistency of experience is phenomenal, and this new location is the most beautiful yet.

Every course is a knock out, and the service, presentation, lighting and bon vivant spirit of the staff all combine to create an exceptional dining experience.

A special shout out to Sommelier John McKenna, who played the perfect host throughout our meal.

A truly great restaurant in a city of great restaurants.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
85 10th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 488-8885
https://www.yelp.com/biz/l-atelier-de-jo%C3%ABl-robuchon-new-york-5

Noe Restaurant and Bar

Posted on by

Popcorn chicken

Tuna tartare

**** (4 stars)

The bar here offers a delightful intimate atmosphere, with live piano music in the evenings, and a nice outside dining area with heaters. The menu is arranged from tinest to largest “small plates” with a wide variety of nibbles to something enough for a full dinner.

There is a small assortment of wines by the glass, and a lot of spirits.

Service was friendly and efficient.

Noe Restaurant and Bar
251 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 356-4100
https://www.yelp.com/biz/noe-restaurant-and-bar-los-angeles

Perch

Posted on by

Patio

Steak frites

Provencal plate

***** (5 stars)

This is a delightful spot to sit outside downtown, with no noise and a great view. There are heaters and a fireplace to keep warm in winter, and clear glass windbreaks all around.

The menu offers a nice combination of small plates and main dishes. We really liked both the tuna tartare and mussel starters, and my Provencal vegetable plate was excellent.

There is a medium sized list of wines, with about a fourth available by the glass. There is also an extensive spirits list.

Service is friendly and efficient, and pricing is reasonable.

Perch
448 S Hill St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 802-1770
https://www.yelp.com/biz/perch-los-angeles

Bouchon

Posted on by

Steak frites

Mussels

Interior

Pate

**** (4 stars)

There are three Bouchons at this location and Google maps, for one, is very confused about that. The Bouchon Bakery is a counter serve and Bar Bouchon offers downstairs patio seating on the park. But the real Bouchon is upstairs, and offers a brasserie-like atmosphere plus outdoor balcony seating.

The menu is similar to Las Vegas, but not to Santa Barbara. A bouchon is a cafe typical in Lyon that focuses on meat-based dishes, and that is the case here. The French classics are all exceptionally well prepared, from mussels to onion soup, pate to salade Lyonnaise.

As is typical in France, the meal begins with bread served on the paper table covering. Be sure to order something to use the wonderful pot of mustard on; there’s nothing like pate and genuine Dijon on fresh crusty French bread.

Service is professional yet friendly.

This is actually one of my favorite of Keller’s restaurants. I even like it better than Per Se. The only negative is that the room has no acoustic treatment at all, and even when half empty it is very loud.

Bouchon
235 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 271-9910
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bouchon-beverly-hills-4

Ladurée Beverly Hills

Posted on by

Breakfast

Interior

**** (4 stars)

I’ve never been a fan of macarons, so I was pleased to see that this Ladurée, which looks like a confectioner’s shop, serves the full range of authentic Ladurée croissants. I was also pleased to discover they are just as good as the ones in Paris. The plain is still the best, with the pain au chocolat and the rose coming in second and third.

What’s not as good as Paris is the coffee. It’s just typical American coffee. Perhaps a double espresso would be better, but I was hoping for authentic French coffee. No such luck.

If you’ve been to the Ladurée in Paris on the Champs Elysee, or the original one on the Place de la Madeleine, this one is a sort of cross between the two. It’s certainly much larger than the one at Harrod’s in London.

The service was fast and friendly, and with just enough of a French accent to whet the taste buds.

Ladurée serves hot items for breakfast, too, but of course the emphasis is on the baked goods. And the case of macarons.

Ladurée Beverly Hills
311 N Beverly Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 623-1100
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ladur%C3%A9e-beverly-hills-beverly-hills-2

Tetsuya’s

Posted on by

Chocolate cakr

Wagyu beef

Chicken

Bass grouper

Confit of trout

Kingfish

Scampi

Interior

***** (5 stars)

This is my favorite restaurant in Sydney. It’s far better than the other Michelin starred places, and is beautiful and sophisticated without being stuffy.

The tasting menu focuses on fish, but only one course is typically raw, so it’s not to be confused with a traditional Japanese omakase. They are doing their own thing here.

The signature dish, trout, is probably the best course, but everything I’ve had has been excellent.

The wine list is extensive, although there are no bargains.

Tetsuya’s
529 Kent St
Sydney, New South Wales 2000
+61 2 9267 2900
https://www.yelp.com/biz/tetsuyas-sydney

Pierre

Posted on by

Amuse bouche

Crab

Snails and mushrooms

Gambas

Grouse

Cheese

Grand dessert

** (2 stars)

Pierre offers a lovely room with a great ambiance and view. It’s the kind you’d expect to find in a top rated restaurant. Unfortunately, the view is about the only thing that is top rated about it.

At a price equal to or above the nearby Amber and l’Atelier, it’s hard to imagine anyone returning to Pierre for a second visit. The six-course tasting meal we had was, frankly, poor. There wasn’t a single stand-out course, and no one in our party had more than a taste of the grouse entree, which had a very unpleasant bitter taste. Mine even still had a piece of lead birdshot in it.

They’ve tried to make up in quantity what they lack in quality, with a half dozen small plates bearing amuse bouche at the start, and another half dozen plates of dessert at the end. But not one of them was truly good. It’s as if they’re firing scattershot, to see if they can hit anything.

Service was also hit or miss, with the wine list not even offered until the food began showing up, and empty water glasses sitting for long stretches of time.

At about $10,000HKD for our party of three’s food alone, this must be one of the worst buys in the city. And the wine prices are just as unreasonable.

Pierre
25/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central
干諾道中5號香港文華東方酒店25樓
+852 2825 4001
https://www.yelp.com/biz/pierre-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-2

Mon Ami Gabi

Posted on by

Entry

Interior

Seafood platter

Artichoke

Smoked Salmon

Mousse Pate

Mussels

Trout

NY Strip

**** (4 stars)

Lettuce Entertain You always does a good job with their concepts, and Mon Ami Gabi is no exception. Although it is one of the oldest concepts in the portfolio, it is showing no sign of age. This is probably due to its classic French Brasserie theming, which is perfect.

As others have mentioned, the French bread served at the start of the meal is 100% authentic.

We started by sharing the chilled seafood platter, which was a good deal considering all that it included, and was a perfect starter for a table of three.

The artichoke appetizer is served chilled, which isn’t my favorite, and I prefer a mayonnaise based sauce, but my companions like it. I liked my mousse pate, and it was even better with the brioche that accompanied the smoked salmon, which was also excellent.

The mussels were also good, another classic preparation.

Trout was just okay, a bit on the dry side, but my Prime New York strip was a top notch steak. As others have mentioned, the accompanying frites are unusually thin, more like ribbons than traditional pomme frites.

We finished with chocolate mousse that was light and fluffy.

The wine list is the weak spot of the restaurant. Somewhat logically it is all French. But except for some nice Champagnes there are no great wines on the list. They’ve obviously made an effort to keep prices below $200, but since the markup is about three times retail, there aren’t really any wines on the list that manage a rating above 90 points.

Service was professional and attentive.

Mon Ami Gabi
2300 N Lincoln Park W
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 348-8886
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mon-ami-gabi-chicago

Chez Moi

Posted on by

Exterior

Chicken

Skate Wing

Interior

Mussels

Mushroom soup

Escargot in pastry!

Gateau Breton Salidou

***** (5 stars)

What a delightful experience we had here on a Monday night. The reason that detail is important is that on Monday wine bottles are half price! That made the bottles of Puligny Montrachet and Chateau Segla excellent deals, and they were both superb.

The menu is typical French bistro food, and is well executed.

We started with the mussels, which were good, and it was nice that the appetizer portion came with the same side of frites as an entree would have.

We followed with the mushroom soup and the escargot in pastry. Both were good, but needed a bit of extra salt, which we added.

The roast chicken was just okay, but my special, the skate wing, was wonderful–perfectly seasoned and complex.

But the real reason for my five-star review is the dessert. Twenty-five years ago I had the best dessert of my life at a restaurant that is long since closed. It perfectly combined the six magical elements: hot and cold, sweet and bitter, crunchy and chewy. For twenty-five years I’ve been searching for a dessert as good, and I finally found it at Chez Moi. If you have nothing else, be sure to order the Gateau Breton Salidou. It’s like a crumb cake, served in a pool of bitter caramel, topped with vanilla ice cream and a sprig of rosemary. You will spend a long time looking for another dessert this good.

Service was friendly, and the chef/owner was a marvelous host. Highly recommended.

Chez Moi
2100 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 871-2100
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chez-moi-chicago

Mexique

Posted on by

Exterior

Interior

Ceviche

Corn chowder with chorizo

Caper guacamole beef tartare

Black bean risotto and skate wing

Corn

Pork belly mole

Duck

Poached pear and ice cream

***** (5 stars)

I’ve had lots of Asian-inspired Mexican food, and Lots of French-inspired Asian food, but this is the first time I’ve had French-inspired Mexican food, and boy, was it good!

The food is nothing short of spectacular, and defies all your expectations for either Mexican or French cuisine. It’s Mexican-influenced modern dining.

The essential thing is to get the tasting menu. It offers six of the menu’s highlights in small portions that give you an idea of the vast range of the kitchen’s skills. On off-nights, or if you go early enough, you can ask for an eight-course tasting menu that is even better.

The people around us were ordering two courses each, and the servings were huge, and ended up costing almost as much as what we paid to taste our way through much of the menu.

The wine list is quite short, but the selections are reasonably priced and perfectly chosen to accompany the food. Our server was extremely knowledgeable about the wines, and did our wine pairings herself. Each wine perfectly matched the accompanying course. I can’t remember such a consistently excellent set of pairings. And yes, there were eight wines to match the eight courses, with about a two-ounce pour of each.

At $80 for the six-course ($100 for the 8-course) tasting menu, it’s a great deal. And the $40 wine pairing ($50 for 8) is a no-brainer.

The sleek space seats at least fifty, and the quietest tables are toward the front.

Mexique
1529 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 850-0288
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mexique-chicago