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Archive for Haute cuisine

Eating Paris – L’Ambroisie

Jan20

Restaurant: L’Ambroisie

Location: 9 Pl. des Vosges, 75004 Paris, France. +33 1 42 78 51 45

Date: June 29, 2022

Cuisine: 1980s Haute Cuisine French

Rating: Amazing

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This was supposed to be my fourth starred restaurant in Paris, but some complexities of the “2022 moment” led to us missing two of them. I also ended up going here by myself instead of with a big group, but c’est la vie.

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L’Ambroisie is a traditional French restaurant in Paris, France founded by Bernard Pacaud and now run by his son Mathieu that has maintained three Michelin stars for more than thirty years. The name “L’Ambroisie” (“Ambrosia” in English) comes from Greek mythology and means both “food for gods” and “source of immortality.”

The restaurant’s founder and head chef is Bernard Pacaud. He was abandoned by his parents at age 13 and raised in an orphanage in the mountains of Lyonnais. Pacaud started cooking at age 15, in 1962, as an apprentice at the famed Eugenie (Mére) Brazier’s restaurant Col de la Luère located 20 km from Lyon. Pacaud spent the next three years as commis at the Tante Alice restaurant in Lyon before becoming chef de partie at La Méditerranée in Paris. Pushed by Eugénie Brazier’s encouragements, he applied to work in 1976 with Claude Peyrot, the chef and owner of the Vivarois (a Michelin three star restaurant) on avenue Victor Hugo in Paris. In 1981, he opened his own restaurant quai de la Tournelle (at the crossing with rue de Bièvres) in Paris. In 1986, he opened L’Ambroisie at place des Vosges and obtained three Michelins stars in 1988 which he has kept since then. His refined and classical cooking style makes it one on the most esteemed French restaurants.

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The restaurant is in a period house on the southwestern corner of the Place des Vosges in Paris. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Place des Vosges was an upper-class and noble neighborhood.

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The interior was very 1980s “le Grande Restaurant.” I didn’t photo much of it because the Madame en Charge was giving me the evil eye and I didn’t want to get boxed out of using my camera. As it was I didn’t dare even put the flash on, I could just tell that wouldn’t fly.

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2015 Rapet Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92. This easily possesses the most complex nose in the range with its ripe yet cool array of green apple, citrus, petrol, soft wood and spice hints. There is impressive size, weight and concentration to the muscular big-bodied flavors that coat the mouth on the citrus and mineral-inflected finish. I would make the same observation here that while this could easily be enjoyed young, I would be inclined to give it at least a few years of bottle age first to develop more depth. (Drink starting 2022)
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The menu. This is pretty close to the style of menu I generally encountered at nice restaurants in the 1980s. Dishes are vaguely clustered into courses and the intent is that you order one from each. Lighter eaters could skip one.
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Special cornbread-like bread.
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Amuses. Fennel tart (front). Delicious. Red pepper mousse (back left) on a crisp. Leek with Caviar (back right). I always enjoy the rich and varied tastes of amuses — I could do an entire meal of amuses trivially.
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Sour dough bread and Normandy Butter. Sour dough seems a recent thing at high end French places.
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The bread itself.
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And le beurre.
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I started (with the amuses) trying to shoot these dishes with my F1.8 lens and a tiny tripod. About one picture in the eagle eye’d manager honed in on me and made me ditch the tripod. Why me sitting alone at my large table with a 6″ tripod was “distracting to the other guests” is anyone’s guess, but as I had to make due hand holding in dim light with no flash I was basically shooting with a couple mm of depth of field — hence I present several photos (pretty hard to focus stack without a tripod).

Feuillantine de langoustines aux graines de sésame, sauce au curry. Langoustine feuillantine with sesame seeds, curry sauce. Lanougstines (course 1). Very precise. Perfectly cooked and the buttery mildly curry sauce was delicious. This was an excellent dish.

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Interlude de homard aux pusses de legumes, nage a l’anis etoile. Lobster interlude with vegetable pusses, star anise broth. Lobster (course 2). Incredibly tender and another great beurre blanc. Basically you could think of it as perfectly cooked lobster in perfect beurre blanc — nothing wrong with that. The broth was so good that it made the vegetables awesome.
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2013 Domaine Poisot Pere & Fils Romanée St. Vivant. BH 92. There is a fine sense of freshness to the cool and overtly spicy aromas of various floral, plum and sandalwood hints. I very much like the purity of the energetic, sleek and attractively detailed medium-bodied flavors that possess a highly refined mouth feel thanks to the fine grain of the supporting tannins, all wrapped in a balanced, persistent and beautifully complex finish. This is quite good and should age effortlessly over the next 10 to 15 years. (Drink starting 2025)

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They noticed me squinting at the wine list and offered me reading glasses! Very helpful.

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Supremes de pigeon laques a la Montmorency, meli-melo de betteraves confites. Supremes of pigeon lacquered with Montmorency. Pigeon (course 3). Good, and perfectly cooked, but touch heavy.
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Candied beetroot medley. Beat side dish as part of duck. Kind of lovely.

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Centerpiece on the table.
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Pre-dessert. Very light.
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Blanc-manger meringue aux agrumes, sorbet cerises a la Kriek. Blancmange meringue with citrus fruits, cherry sorbet with Kriek. Super fresh and great cherries and cream thing.
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Petite fours.
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Mini strawberry tart.
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Perfect cannel.
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Pastry with Chantilly cream and a caramelized top. It’s sort of related to a Saint-Honoré pastry and includes a slate of elements I love.
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An immense amount of cocoa almonds.
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Overall, this is a great kitchen and in summary a great way to experience the 1980s/early 90s style of high end French Cusiine, but I’ll break down the elements:

Food. Dated, without the heavy Asian or modernist influence that’s common these days, but extremely precise and and well cooked. This makes the cuisine more “French” than most other 3 stars. It also floats everything along with butter and creme instead of using some of the lighter newer “solvents.” The format also features a more or less 3 savory style which I found less exciting than a newer style with many more, smaller, savory courses. Being by myself, I didn’t get to sample that many things.

Wine. The by-the-glass wine list was surprisingly poor compared to my meal the previous night at Le Grand Restaurant – Jean-François Piège. I had to pick from the kind of “off vintage, off producer, a bit too young” Burgundies I won’t even buy anymore.

Atmosphere. The room is pretty, but formal in the classic way. I’m certainly fine with that. Tables were very spaced out and things were quiet. For me, being along, and in combination with the relatively small number of courses and the slow pacing and my inability to use a tripod or flash (which would occupy me a bit longer with my photography) the whole experience was kind of slightly uncomfortable and a bit dull. I was a little too far from the other diners to easily listen to their conversations. haha. The staff, particularly the manager, seemed more stern and disapproving, if always flawlessly polite, than the friendliness I experienced the previous night.

For more French dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Eating Paris – Bistro V
  2. Eating Paris – Les Antiquaires
  3. Eating Paris – Jean-François Piège
  4. Eating Chantilly – O Bistrot Chic
  5. Eating England – The Square
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Eating France, Eating Paris, France, French Cuisine, Haute cuisine, L'Ambroisie, Michelin, Michelin 3 Star, Paris, Wine

Quick Eats: La Cachette Bistro

Nov14

Restaurant: La Cachette Bistro [1, 2]

Location: 1733 Ocean AveSanta Monica, CA 90401(310) 434-9509

Date: Nov 13, 2010

Cuisine: (Cal) French

Rating: Great food, good value for what you get.

 

We’ve been going to La Cachette in Century City for over 10 years. Last year, it closed and reopened in Santa Monica with a new format — and it’s a winner. The old restaurant had great food, but it was a little stuffy and very “gray hair.” The one is more casual, cheaper, closer (to us), and just all around more approachable. But the food is great. Less haute cuisine, more Bistro, but very good.

Again I forgot the medium sized camera so it was iPhone 4 to the rescue, I apologize for the mediocre photo quality as a result.

My dining partners wanted white. So for French, and white. In my cellar, there is is always Chablis. Parker gives this a 94-96, “From this cru’s steep, riverside slopes, the Fevre 2006 Chablis Bougros Cote de Bouguerots reveals its oak in lanolin, toasted almond, and spice aromas, along with notes of chalk dust, sweet lime, and heady, lily-like floral perfume. With enveloping richness, luscious juiciness, and flattering creaminess, yet underlain by a vivid sense of crushed stone, this saturates the palate so completely and intensely and with such a palpable sense of extract, that the finishing stain seems almost severe. This remarkably concentrated and polished wine should be worth following for 15 or more years. The 2005, too, is superb.”

Bread of course.

The menu top half. click to zoom.

And bottom. click to zoom.

“Organic Beet Tower with Feta Cheese, Avocado, Heirloom Tomato, Crispy Goat Cheese Ravioini and Cumin dressing.”
“Lightly Creamed Lobster Bisque, served with Rouille.” This bisque is a good compromise. While it might not be 100% as tasty as the fully creamed sort, it’s like 98%, and it doesn’t hit the gut so hard.
“Wild mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil, Parmesan Cheese and Mushroom Sauce.”
“House smoked whitefish with potato salad, shallots and olive oil.” This vanished quickly off my wife’s plate. She declared: “I’d order it again.”
“Lamb stew with Merguez Sausage, Coucous, Root Vegetables and Harissa Broth.” This was very tasty. Tender lamb, yummy Moroccan sausage, a complementary broth.
They have really great traditional French deserts (and some newer types as well), but we were too full.
I highly recommend La Cachette Bistro. It’s modern French, done really well.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  2. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  3. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  4. Food as Art: Bistro LQ
  5. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bistro, Cooking, Cumin, Food, French Cuisine, Haute cuisine, Los Angeles, Restaurant, reviews, Rouille, Salad, Santa Monica, Santa Monica California
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