Saturday, February 11, 2017

A Foodie Blog

February 11, 2017

A word of warning:  this entire blog post will be about the amazing meal we had last night.  If you have no interest in food check back later this weekend for a more all encompassing post about our time in Paris.

Tim had long fantasized about celebrating his birthday at a Michelin star restaurant in Paris. Michelin is a French tire company that began publishing a guide for travelers identifying locations of gas stations, hotels and restaurants.  The restaurant part of the guide became so popular that in 1920 Michelin expanded into an international guide. In 1926, the star system of rating restaurants was introduced.  Restaurants are rated one, two or three star with three stars being the best. A Michelin star has become the most coveted rating a chef/restaurant can receive.  As we were planning this trip Tim finally voiced his fantasy to Lynda so last night, on Tim's 70th birthday, we went to L'atelier de Joel Robuchon, Saint-Germain, a one star restaurant. This restaurant was picked out after much internet research because of its 12 course tasting menu.  What follows is a description of that meal.

We arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 and were shown to seats at the end of a L shaped bar. We were a bit taken back until we realized we had ringside seats looking into the kitchen. Our server gave us only a brief time to peruse the menu and immediately took our wine order and then the fun began.  As each course arrived it was ceremoniously placed in front of us and then described in much detail. Obviously this was a tasting menu so each portion was very small. The first course was what the French call an amusement. It was gravelax, raw salmon, with celeriac and a wasabi sauce.  Our taste buds were definitely amused.  The second course was a cold soup.  The bottom of the small soup bowl contained King Crab with vichyssoise poured on top of it. A tiny, thin slice of potato floated on top with a dollop of caviar on top of the potato. Vichyssoise is a cold soup made with potatoes and leeks. This was very thick - probably set with agar or some other modern science.

First course

Second Course

 Course three was also a cold soup; chestnut cream with bits of chestnut, duck liver and bacon. The cream was infused with celery. The liver was very mild and the bacon incredible.  The fourth course was an egg cocotte, a steamed egg in cream with pink onion and bacon with a thin slice of black truffle on top. It was warm and the menu referred to it as a carbonara. Course five was foie gras, a small portion of pan fried duck liver with a very thin slice of pineapple rolled up and placed on top of the liver. The sauce was infused with hibiscus to give it a beautiful scarlet color. Again, the liver was very mild.  We both commented that it was nothing like the liver and onions we remember our parents having. Up to this point the taste profiles had been somewhat similar.

Third Course

Fourth Course

Fifth Course

The sixth course was a change of pace.  It was two small Japanese raviolis, stuffed with chicken and leek in a red wine sauce flavored with ginger and mint. The ravioli was a much thinner pastry then a typical Italian ravioli. Course seven was the restaurant's take on Scallops St. Jacques. The pan-fried scallop sat on top of a bed of Sardinian pasta, very couscous in appearance. We had to move the slice of black truffle to find the scallop.
Sixth Course

Seventh Course

The eighth course was the main course. This was the only decision we had to make at the beginning of the meal.  Our choices were lamb chops, veal sweetbreads, or quail. Lynda choose the lamb chops, Tim the quail. Each was served with mash potatoes with a slice of black truffle on top. Had the potatoes not been identified as such we probably would not have known that that was what we were eating. We asked our server how the potatoes were prepared.  We were told the potatoes were a special variety from a region of northern France that have just a bit of milk added and then are whipped by hand. At that point we realized we had been watching one of the chefs whisking the potatoes. He whisked them very vigorously and for some time. Again portions were tiny but delicious.

Tim's Quail

Lynda's Lamb Chops

The main course was of course followed by dessert. In this case two desserts. The first dessert, course nine if you are counting, was little slices of pink grapefruit with a white meringue on top. The meringue was cover with hibiscus sorbet infused with hibiscus to again give it a vivid red color. The combination of the tart citrus flavor of the grapefruit with the sweet meringue was amazing. L'atelier de Joel Robuchon must have known Tim was coming because the final dessert was chocolate temptation. A small bowl of chocolate ganache covered with a chocolate glaze with a chocolate truffle sitting on top was place over a larger bowl that contained ground up oreo cookies. One spooned a bit of the ground up oreo over the rest of the dessert. It was incredible.  Lynda is not a chocolate lover like Tim and could not finish her chocolate dessert. So as not to offend the chef, Tim finished it for her. What a guy! The last course was madelines and caramels. The madelines were sweet pastry made into a lovely shape and deep fried. They were light and yummy, a nice compliment to the decadent chocolate we had just consumed.  The caramels, in the form of a soft candy were fabulous. Tim is not a big fan of caramels so after one bite to confirm how delicious they were he let Lynda eat the rest of his.

Ninth Course - La Meringue

Tenth Course - Le Chocolat

Madelines and Caramel

There was about 10-15 minutes from the time a course was delivered to the delivery of the next course. This gave us time to observe the kitchen at work. At one station there was a large pot of boiling water with several little baskets hanging on the edge of the pot where individual portions of pasta were cooked. Canisters containing emulsions that were required to be hot were also stored in this pot. All of the pasta dishes were finished in a saute pan. At this same station was a smaller pot where something, probably broth, was kept warm. Chefs were ladling whatever was in the pot onto dishes they were preparing. We also watched a chef slice long, paper thin slices of salmon from a beautiful fillet. There never seemed to be any tension in the kitchen nor was it particularly noisy. We did observe several instances of an apprentice chef being mentored by one of the chefs.

The entire meal took almost three hours but because it was 11 courses and we had the show of the kitchen in front of us, the time flew by. The wait staff was friendly and efficient. It was really a wonderful meal that we are both glad we experienced.

Happy Birthday Tim!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great time! Cole smiled when I told him about the scallops;)

Bev and George said...

What an amazing way to spend your 70th birthday🍷
The way you described every course made me feel like I was there.
Great job and now where is my Carmel please?