L'Espalier- Boston

As the first restaurant I visited for Restaurant Week- Winter 2011, I elected L'Espalier, located in Back Bay. Recently relocated to this building on Boylston Street, the new space is a bright, open room with plenty of light. The decor is simple, clean and effortlessly sophisticated. As with many, if not all, of the higher-end restaurants, service is expected to be superb. However, our waiter was a tad inexperienced and fumbled in explaining some of the components of our dishes.

The presentation of all of the plates was the most noteworthy aspect of the dining experience. They say, you feast first with your eyes. This expression certainly resonates with L'Espalier as each plate is beautifully composed and painted like works of art.

 

Isn't the butter so cute?

 

Goat Cheese Curd with Rhubarb

I'm not even going to pretend I know what's going on with this plate. These were the thoughts flying through my head: what are these little crumbly brown bits, do I eat the foam, what's this blob of sauce doing over here? Without a clue as to what I was doing and even less of a clue as to what I was eating, I delved into this starter, tasting a bit of everything and my, what an explosion of flavors lit up in my mouth. There were so many layers of complex flavors from creamy to sweet to sour. This first course definitely plays up both tastes and textures. I got the crunch from the rhubarb and the endive, while experiencing a velvety softness from the goat cheese, followed by a grainy bite from the gritty crumbs, finished off with the lightness from the foam.

 

Slow Braised Short Ribs

For my second course, the meat was extremely tender and easily pulled apart as I ate it. The sauce was extremely flavorful and not overly salty. The parsnip veloute (close to a puree) was delightfully thick and creamy.   

Trio of Cheeses- Gouda, Manchego, Hartwell (left to right)

The cheese guide that accompanied our third course describes Gouda cheese as "crunchy, with a sweet caramel flavor. Eat it like candy." I can hardly say I agree with that description. Sure, the cheese was "crunchy" or hard, if you will. But sweet?...that was hardly the case. I thought the Gouda was quite sharp.

My favorite cheese was the Hartwell, which was semi-soft and buttery. It was very similar to Brie.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Guava Cream Cheese Mousse Gateau
Finishing off the lunch on a fruity note, the guava shined in this dessert. Again, there was a variety of textures. As expected, the panna cotta was decadently smooth but too bad I didn't pick up much flavor from the lychee foam on top. Also, a big complaint of mine regards the execution of this plate. As you can see from the photo, there's a ring of dried foam on the plate. I understand it's restaurant week and the food that's served is usually not the best that the restaurant has to offer but there's just no excuse in serving up a pre-made plate with dried foam, not from a restaurant of L'Espalier's caliber anyways.
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What my lunch date ordered:

 

Mussels in Curry Emulsion

After the egg was thankfully removed and consumed, I sampled the mussels. The tabbouleh was packed with curry flavor and much more impressive than the little mussels themselves.

 

Herb-Crusted Arctic Char

I'm usually not a fan of under-cooking anything but the preparation of this fish was perfect. It was just slightly underdone and retained a buttery-soft texture, allowing the fish to melt away in my mouth. The skin of this fish was equally divine with a great herb rub and a tremendous crunch. The bed of pea risotto with a dash of lemon zest also spruces up the complexity of this dish. I also enjoyed feasting on the colors of this plate- the orange arctic char pitted against the vibrancy of the greens makes for a lively combination.

 

Dark Chocolate and Caramel Mousse Gateaux

It's a pity that neither desserts were as fresh as they could have been. The flavors were present, but not the freshness since the cake was a tad dry. The Chantilly cream was quite mild and not overly sweet, thank goodness!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/l-espalier-boston 

Petit Robert- Boston

Petit Robert is this cute little french restaurant located right in Kenmore Square, Boston. They were featured on buywithme.com several weeks back and I purchased a "$25 for $50 worth of food" coupon. The food is not super expensive and the portions are definitely generous. The ambiance is pretty casual and you don't need to break your bank eating french food.

Moules Marinieres
the sauce was great for dipping the piping hot but amazingly fresh baguette. (the bread was so hot that i burned my fingers while tearing a piece haha)

Roasted Rack of Lamb with Ratatouille
the plating is pretty messy here, which is obviously a big no no. but the food itself was really good. the ratatouille was super flavorful and the lamb was tender. the potatoes, however, felt a little underdone.

Gateau Robert au Chocolat
i'm not a fan of this cake. it wasn't moist enough and definitely felt dry. perhaps it was left over from the past day. it's suppose to be their specialty but there is honestly nothing special about this mediocre dessert.

Elephant Walk-Boston

so i will dedicate my first food post to The Elephant Walk located on Beacon St in Boston. their specialty is french and cambodian fusion although i could hardly detect any french influence in several of the plates beyond their french names.

Rouleaux
what a bad picture! all the little spring rolls are hiding. they were pretty standard and all that green is just unnecessary.

Nataing
i loved these crispy jasmine rice dippers and the nataing (ground pork simmered in coconut milk) was really good. the sauce was definitely on the sweeter side.

 Somlah Machou
 Similar if not identical to tom yum soup.

Napoleon de Tofu et Legumes au Curry
this tofu curry dish was delicious! the pan seared tofu blocks had just a little bit of a char..so yummy!

Loc Lac
this isn't a very pleasant picture of the beef tenderloin but it was really yummy. The sauce consisted of black pepper, garlic, mushroom in a soy sauce base. And the lime dipping sauce on the side added a perfect acidic contrast to the caramelized beef.

Le Peche au Chocolat
i wasn't in love with this cake, it was pretty average and the raspberry coulis didn't add much to the dessert besides maybe giving it a splash of color for plating.

Mousse aux Fruits de Passion
i really loved this tart passion fruit mousse served in an almond lace cup. however, the mousse was definitely a lot more spectacular than the stale cup.