Bouchon

Yountville, CA

Bouchon is Thomas Kellar's casual French Cafe in Yountville, CA. We had a late lunch during the taste of Yountville, a street food fair gathering of the local restaurants. It was nice to be seated outside in the small patio with Shaddy, people watch and enjoy some good food. Truth be told, we had been to Bouchon before after seeing Anthony Bourdain rave about the perfect French fries, but weren't blown away. Last time I had the Steak Frites (not bad, but nothing that special) and Chu-Toro had the Mussels, pretty good. We started with Kellar's exclusively made Blue Apron Ale and an iced tea which never reached empty, a pair of wonderful beverages on a warm afternoon. 


I'm not sure what possessed me to order the blood sausage given I've never thought blood sausage sounded appealing to me before, but the way it was presented as the special intrigued me. It was presented with a bed of potato puree and asian pears.

Blood Sausage

Texturally, the sausage was moist inside and flavorful, and other than the color of the sausage, you wouldn't know a core ingredient was blood. The sweet juicy pears and creamy potatoes blended well to offer a different consistency to the delicate sausage. The buttery, parsley topped sauce was a nice touch. This dish has not turned me into a blood sausage lover, but it definitely offered me a good change of pace and culinary experience.

Poulet

Where blood sausage is off the norm, Chu-Toro's dish was a boring as can be, the poulet with bok choy. I'm also not sure what possessed us to order this because we never, ever order chicken. But we certainly were glad we did, since it was one of the most tasty moist excellent chicken dishes we've ever had. Out of the top three chicken dishes ever, two are from Kellar establishments (TFL and Bouchon) the other was Bottega's. They know how to make it really juicy, sweet, and wonderful, a great dish.

Mac and Cheese and Fries

You would think these aren't the kind of sides you'd see at a Michelin starred restaurant, but these classics are staples here. 

Shadow under the table

It ended up being a very enjoyable meal, the staff was attentive, friendly to Shadow (bringing her a water bowl)  and the food well executed. The goal here is to offer high quality classic dishes and they've succeeded in this regard.

Rating 7.5/10

March 20, 2010

Shaddy Approved