Le Chateaubriand

Paris, FR

When Chu-Toro told me that Le chateaubriand was on our list as our last meal in Paris, I didn't think much of it. Then she told me how infamous this place was, a gastronomic foodie mover that ranked number 9 overall on San pellingrino's top 50 restaurants in the world, but
carried exactly zero Michelin stars, and I was intrigued. We couldn't get a reservation, but they tell walk ins to arrive at 9:45. We arrived at 10, and were surprised to see 8 groups waiting ahead of us.

Waiting last in line and outside, we feared we would not receive a table but after 35 minutes of patiently waiting, we finally were seated.The chef comes to every table and explains the entire menu, which we thought was pretty cool.

We were started with a cheese puff covered in poppy seeds. Basically the same kind you receive at a Brazilian steakhouse and TFL. There were fine but nothing special.

Next was a conceptually unique bite, a chiviche with a piece of raw chicken and small flowers atop, consumed as a shot. We've had raw chicken before, but never in this format. The flavor of the liquid was tart and refreshing, but the chicken itself was too large of a chunk and not tender. An interesting shot nonetheless.

The next dish was tossed onto the table without any explanation, but later heard by another waiter that it was small bits of squid and radishes, cooked in it's own ink. Chu-Toro and I associate squid ink with heavy Italian pasta and generally cringe away from ordering it, but the sauce itself was fairly light and complex, encapsulating the ink in a different way.

We were starting to see a theme in the food; challenging, non classical tastes that forced us to converse on whether we liked the flavor profiles or not. I like being introduced to these types of dishes, especially the next bite, a geoduck and sea bean with flavored ice. Everything was delicious in this course.

Next was a bouillabaisse, but we argued about what the components were. Chu-Toro tasted coco nibs, where as I felt it had a Japanese miso broth flavor. This was another example of having out pallet challenged, a unique broth with elder flowers, sesame and Lima beans.

Our first substantial plate consisted of quickly seared bonito chunks with radishes, carrots, turnips all covered in jus of Jambon. The fish was cooked well, like a simple seared tuna, and there was a tartness and bitterness crunch by each crisp vegetable.This was a dish that has zero classical flavors and we spent the entire time trying to figure out if we liked it or not. In the end, Chu-Toro decided the more she ate it, the more she liked it.

The fillet of pollack with white asparagus, fresh almonds, pine needles and fish mayo was the next offering. Alone, the fish was quite boring in its prep and flavor. However the fish mayo was unbelievable and really tied all the components together. The fourth offering of
asparagus we had in as many days (it's in season) was the best, crunchy, crisp and tasty. The soft, fresh almonds added an interesting flavor and textural component. Overall, it was a delicious course.

Our last savory course was young lamb with sweetbreads covered by leaves (apparently apart of the spinach family) raspberries and onions. This was another one of those challenging, did I really like the flavors, course. The sweetbreads were well prepared and Chu-Toro really liked the raspberry component of the dish, but out of all the proteins course I had in France, this was one of my least favorites.

For dessert, I opted for the cheese course while Chu-Toro went the sweet path. I was given a selection of three cheeses, one blue, one goat and one hard, all of which were good.

Chu-Toro's first dessert was a combination of fresh strawberries, fresh mint, powered sugar and peas. The peas were there for texture, but just kind of worked. The freshness of each item made the bite work well.

The second sweet bite were cherries and olives covered in a sweet cream. This one was kinda weird, as many of the flavor profiles were throughout the meal. Not sure I was crazy about it, but Chu-Toro enjoyed it.

We finished with a subpar espresso and the bill, which was 55 euro per person, pretty cheap for dinner. And the verdict? Challenging, unique, different, those are the key takeaways. I always appreciate coming across a meal like this to remind me there's always something new to try and appreciate in the culinary genius of tomorrow's chefs. With that being said, during my next trip to Paris, I wouldn't be back, and would opt for another meal at Le Cinq instead. One other minor note, the metro shut down while we were transferring and were forced to wait in line for a cab at 1:30 for nearly an hour which was additional pain and cost because of the meal. Overall, an experience and memory that added to our journey to Le Chateaubriand. 

Overall 7/10 

June 2, 2011