how to fan girl at restaurant l'arpege in paris

L'Arpege.

Chef Alain Passard is one of the most famous people in the culinary world. His restaurant, L'Arpege, consistently gets three Michelin stars and is a fixture on the World's 50 Best Restaurants List. He focuses on vegetarian cuisine although he does offer meat and fish as well.

I first heard of Chef Passard when a friend served me an "Arpege egg" one time at a dinner party. My friend's version was creamy scrambled egg topped with caviar served in an egg shell. Since then, I've been wanting to try the real thing.

When Mr. Sazy Rock and I recently visited Paris, he wanted to go back to Arpege to get himself up to date on the city's dining scene. I was more than happy to tag along. I was very excited to finally eat the famous Arpege egg.

The Scene

The diners were both food tourists and French people alike. We arrived fairly early and the place was mostly empty. But, by 9 pm, when most people ate, the place was full and buzzy. Men wore jackets and women dressed smart. I should note, however, that I saw a French speaking couple wear jeans.

The Service

What excited me was Chef Passard working the room and greeting every single diner. In fact, when he first started greeting diners, I thought he knew them personally. He was that friendly. Instead, those folks were just regular diners like me and Mr. SR. When he finally came by our table, he joked with us and noted how much Mr. SR seemed to enjoy eating their bread. After saying hi, he went back to the kitchen.

brown's vs. markey's: the battle for the best lobster rolls

Sunset behind Brown's Lobster Pound.

In a small town located in New Hampshire's tiny coastal stretch are two fairly famous lobster restaurants. On a recent road trip of New England, Mr. Sazy Rock and I decided to wade in on the local argument as to which Lobster Pound was better: Brown's or Markey's.

The drama could not be better. These establishments are literally (not figuratively) across the street from each other. Only a somewhat busy highway separates them.

We decided not to get a whole lobster because we only had so much stomach and so little meals between us. After all, this was an impromptu stop on our way to dinner in Portland, ME. But, to make it fair, we decided to get lobster rolls from both.

restaurant review: dinner by heston blumenthal

On my last trip to London, I had the pleasure of dining at Dinner for lunch. Did that make sense? 

Dinner.

Yes, the restaurant is called Dinner, and I dined for lunch (apparently, the dinner and lunch menu were the same). What most attracted me to this restaurant was that Heston Blumenthal spent some time going through the archives to research British food from centuries ago, and then made it his own. British food had a good reputation before World War II, which was when rationing and food scarcity earned British food a bad reputation. So, I found it interesting to see what British food was like back in the day.

To be honest, Mr. Sazy Rock and I tried dining here before on another visit but they canceled our reservation because of some norovirus outbreak. But, I figured, that after such a publicized issue, Dinner would be the cleanest restaurant ever.

The Scene

View of the kitchen.

Located in the posh Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the space was bright with a great view of Hyde Park on one side and the glass-walled kitchen on the other. By virtue of its location and reputation (the restaurant has three Michelin stars and is on the 50 Best Restaurants in the World list), it was inevitable that there were lots of food tourists. But, it also looked like there were locals of the rich variety in the dining room.

View of Hyde Park.

I found it odd, however, that for a fine dining joint, there were no tablecloths. 

The Food 

• The tasty bread made by the Fat Duck Group was very chewy and doughy, and the crust was crunchy. 
• I found it interesting that there was no amuse bouche. 
• The Roast Bone Marrow had snails and pickles. It was served lukewarm and a tad underseasoned but it was still good. 

Bone Marrow and Meat Fruit.

• The Meat Fruit was amazing. It was basically shaped like a mandarin but was really chicken liver parfait enclosed in a fruit jelly that was supposed to be the outer layer "fruit rind." It was a fantastic parfait with a hint of mandarin. 

Meat Fruit.

• The Iberico Pork Chop was cooked sous vide. It was so juicy and rich with a bit of sweetness (perhaps a teriyaki -ish sauce?). The spelt with ham hock was rich and textured with pork rind. 

Iberico pork chop.

Look at that perfectly cooked Iberico Pork Chop.

• The Hereford Ribeye was perfectly cooked (sous vide) medium rare. It showed signs of aging, which was good. It was topped with rich bone marrow. 

Hereford Ribeye.

• The Triple Cooked Fries were so good. Each square area was crunchy, and the inside of each fry was a bit fluffy. 

Triple Cooked Fries.

• The Tipsy Cake was very rich and sweet. It was basted with white wine and butter. The pineapple was spit roasted for four hours. 

Tipsy Cake.

• The Chocolate Ganache, and Orange Blossom and Caraway Biscuits for our Petit Fours was very nice. It just had a tiny taste of orange. They used dark chocolate so it was not so sweet.

Chocolate and Biscuit.

The Service 

The service was great. Upon our arrival, I was provided a purse holder. I believe that service is all about the little things.

Our server, Michael, was friendly and informative but was not familiar (which I find typical of "hip" restaurants). All the other staff were similarly amiable.

I should also note that the servers were definitely paying us attention when they gave us fresh toast for the meat fruit when we finished all the bread. 

The menu had information about the year the dish was likely served, and the napkin was tied together by a paper that had some other snippet of food trivia. It was fun.

The menu.

Trivia with the napkins.

The Price 

Our meal was not cheap. But, with wines and tip, compared to some fancy restaurants in the US, it was competitive at under $300.


The Verdict 

I definitely recommend eating at Dinner it at least once.


What do you think of British food?

restaurant review: azurmendi

I can't say I'm a food critic, because I'm not.  But, I like to eat... a lot.

On a recent trip to Bilbao, Spain, the hubster's friend suggested that we check out a restaurant called, Azurmendi, just 30 minutes outside the city in a town called Larrabetzu. It has three stars from the Michelin Guide. About a month or so after we dined there, the 2014 San Pellegrino's 50 Best Restaurants in the World list came out and identified it as the 26th best restaurant.  Now, I don't know whether that's true but this is what I know: Chef Eneko Atxa knows what he's doing.

The scene

The Azurmendi Greenhouse
where we tasted pumpkin seeds.

Azurmendi has two restaurant buildings: one perched on a hill and one below. They use the bottom restaurant for special events and casual dining, and the top restaurant for fine dining. The top restaurant is very modern with floor to ceiling windows so you can view verdant hills... and a freeway. Multi-lingual staff members immediately greeted us when we entered the restaurant. The waiting area (or garden) has a high ceiling with a lot of plants, a tree and a fountain.  We could see the kitchen from there.  We were told that if the restaurant was not busy, they regularly took diners on a tour of the greenhouse above the restaurant where they grew a lot of their produce.