Ortolan
02/09/2010
I came here for dinner for my cousin's birthday and whenever she has a reason to celebrate, she goes big. She's the same cousin I went to Cut with back in December. See, I told you she goes big (that's what she said).
Not wanting to make a similar mistake like we did at Cut, my cousin made our reservations for 8 PM so we wouldn't be battling rush hour traffic as much. We made it just before 8 with the rest of our party having already arrived and been seated. I asked one of the servers to chill the bottle of Pouilly Fuisse I had brought and to hold onto the Cabernet Sauvignon for when we had our entrees.
The restaurant is simply decorated and isn't lavished with crazy expensive chandeliers. We were actually in a "private" area right in front of the kitchen, or maybe it was the server's area, but it made our experience seem more intimate, almost like we had the entire restaurant to ourselves.
Speaking of having the restaurant to ourselves, I had read in a couple of other reviews that even at 8 PM, the place can seem empty. That was the case while we were there, which I was a little surprised, because even in this recession, you would think a restaurant would be a little bit busier on a Friday night. Seriously, in the 2 1/2-3 hours we were there, there was probably no more than 10 other diners in the restaurant the entire night.
Service was very good and there was never a moment where we were waiting too long for anything. Our server, Tony, was very patient and took time to describe anything or answer any questions we had about the food. Our waters were never empty and never was there a moment where we felt abandoned.
We actually had quite a bit of food so to hopefully save character space, I'm going to tell you about the food list style, in order of how things came out.
**Pre-meal**
Bread - choice of Italian ciabatta, raisin walnut, lavash, and whole wheat. I tried everything but the wheat and I liked it all. I liked the raisin walnut, but the ciabatta was my favorite.
Soups in test tubes - Compliments of Chef Émé, tests tubes of carrot soup and the other being a baby white asparagus with some kind of foam (I forgot). Well seasoned and flavorful. I liked the carrot one better.
Eggplant puree with pesto - Compliments of Chef Émé as well, it was very good and actually went very well with ciabatta bread.
**Appetizers**
Crispy Langoustines - a tempera style langoustine tail with a shot of Minestrone soup. The langoustine was nothing to rave about but the minestrone was actually pretty good and well seasoned. It was served in those tall shot glasses and I had 2.
Foie gras terrine - served with apricot and apple chutneys. I love foie, but this didn't do a whole lot of me. The chutneys were kind of meh.
Seared Scallops wrapped in bacon - done paella style with chorizo and clams. You'd think something with bacon and chorizo would be awesome, but this failed to blow me away as well. I still liked it though.
Yuzu Marinated Salmon - with a ginger and lemongrass sorbet, served as strips of sashimi. Very flavorful, the fish was very fresh and the flavors went so well together. My favorite appetizer of the night. I'm sad we only got one order of this for the entire table.
**Entrees**
Lobster Spaghetti - served with morel mushrooms, fava beans (
http://www.youtub...) and beef jus. I didn't order this but I was given a bite. The lobster was obviously claw meat, the spaghetti wasn't too bad, but the beef jus was a bit overpowering and the morels were salty. I mean, why pair seafood with a land animal sauce? I'm sure the chef has his reasons which as a chef myself would probably understand if explained to me, but until then, I wonder.
Braised short rib - with Spring vegetables with pommes soufflé. Had one of the pommes soufflé which resembled a small, square, puffed up potato chip. I did not order this but had a bite and it was pretty tender and very flavorful.
Roast Rack of Lamb - my entrée. Served with spinach ricotta gnocchi, tomato confit, baby artichokes, dried apricots and crispy mozzarella. I order my lamb medium rare and it was cooked perfectly and was well seasoned and not gamey. There was this flaky crust on the lamb which I have now forgotten what it was, but it was very good and went very well with the lamb. All of the side items went very well with my dish and I am very pleased with my choice.
Intermezzo - compliments of the chef, assortment of herbal sorbets, served in what were obviously glass candle holders, globes about the size of a softball. There was mint, thyme, rosemary, basil, and... I think that's it. I got a mint and it had a nice mint flavor but I think was a little too sweet.
**Dessert**
Chocolate Souffle - served with vanilla whipped cream and chocolate sorbet. The soufflé was good. Not knock your socks off good, but good. The sorbet was more like a pudding and according to one person in our party, the whipped cream was piped in a shape that resembled poop. Not my words.
Chocolate Ganache - served with coffee ice cream and chocolate meringue. Kind of whatever. The coffee ice cream was good and the chocolate ganache was good, but the dessert overall seemed kind of... uninspiring?
Vanilla Panna Cotta - served with Strawberry "caviar". The caviar was made using a molecular gastronomic procedure described to us by Chef Émé which, despite his heavy accent, made out to involve sodium alginate and calcium chloride, which are chemicals that allows the strawberry juice to sort of gelatinize. Very interesting, despite his accent. The panna cotta however was a little too sweet and had the consistency that resembled pudding. It was served in a tin can that resembled a caviar tin, with the panna cotta on the bottom and the strawberry "caviar" on top, so points on presentation. Our server Tony was nice enough to bring this out as my cousin's birthday dessert after covertly confirming with me that it was her birthday when he took our dessert order. My cousin was like "who told him it was my birthday?"
Finally, the chef sent out some complimentary petit fours. The 2 plates consisted of macarons, caneles, homemade flavored marshmallows, and... some sort of gooey caramel-like thing? I forgot exactly what it was. I had a mint marshmallow and that was good. I also had one of the citrus(?) macarons and that was good too.
Because it was such a slow night, I asked for the chef and he came out to say hello and say happy birthday and take a picture with my cousin. She said she was star struck. He was very nice and answered all of our questions, such as how the strawberry caviar was made (which I initially thought he would say that it was a secret), as well as answered questions we had about certain dishes and flavors. He was very nice and very courteous.
Overall it was a very good meal and I appreciate all of the complimentary dishes Chef Émé sent out, but I will have to say it didn't knock my socks off. Still very solid.
Our bill after splitting it came down to about how much I was expecting it to be, but I probably wouldn't come back here unless it was with someone who promised me certain "things" at the end of the night, if you know what I'm saying ;)
Parking is either valet or if you're patient enough, you can find a spot somewhere on the street. I didn't go to the restroom so I can't comment on that. Service (if I didn't mention it before) was really good, as everybody (including the chef) was courteous and attentive.
