after dinner sneeze

t says:  Right before our recent trip (i.e. those pics from Vienna), g and I realized that we had no food in the house.  Consequently, we just had to go out for dinner.  We decided to go to Bistrot La Minette, as we had never been before …

June 2011, Weekday Dinner, Party of 2.  g and I met the host, who showed us to our table.  Right before parting, he said, “and I hope you enjoy your meal”  – but he said it with such finality that g responded [to me, quietly], “I guess we’re not going to be seeing that guy again.”  Lo and behold … we didn’t.

We were seated right next to the bread-cutting-table.  Thankfully, we were not hit with any errant pieces of crusty bread.  The bread was actually quite delicious, with a nice crispy crust, but a soft, forgiving interior.  And they served it in a mini-bucket!

Bread bucket.

Easily some of the best baguette I’ve ever had in a restaurant.  I was psyched!

My next course was the escargot, which was presented in individual little “pots”.

9 individual snails, waiting to be eaten.

The escargots were pretty good.  Great texture and made in such a way to show off the flavors of the snails, themselves (and garlic …).  Personally, I prefer Bibou’s, which impart a bit more flavor due to the surrounding jus, but that’s just me.  Purists may prefer it this way.  So this was tasty, but not quite a home-run.

For our mains, I believe g had rabbit and pasta.  It was only “ok” for her, as the rabbit (which they serve a large portion of), while being cooked well, didn’t have a lot of flavor, which was sad (she said it was, “like chicken”).  And then the sauce, itself, didn’t really do much to help the situation in that it really didn’t complement the flavors/textures of rabbit – it was more like a thick, creamy, way-too-heavy sauce that made the dish seem far heartier than it should have.  I had the lamb “stew”, which was more like an entree of lamb cooked two ways (some of it was sous vide I believe) accompanied by some veggies.  Once again, the sous vide lamb, itself, was a beautiful texture, but there was no flavor that blew me away.  The veggies were fine (peas were a little too al dente for me – call me a pea wuss) but a bit underwhelming in flavor – but nonetheless served a purpose in that they broke the monotony of the lamb.  Actually, I almost feel like there needed to be either more accompaniment or less lamb so that I wouldn’t get too “tired” with the dish.

And for dessert, g and I ventured the strawberry cafloutie which was a pretty sad dessert.  The strawberry tasted weak, the dough bordered on rubbery/insipid, and the ice cream was forgettable (I actually forget what flavor it was).  Bummer.

So, in the end, Bistro La Minette didn’t quite do it for us.  Maybe it was because we were just coming off of a dinner at Bibou.  Maybe they were having a bad night (some sort of graduation party was going on the back).  Maybe it was because my primitive tastebuds can’t appreciate the subtleties in their cooking.  Unfortunately, this puts Bistro La Minette in the category of restaurants that we’ll be happy to go to with friends, but not likely returning on our own accord.  It’s a bummer because the chef, from what we gather, is a really nice guy.  Sorry chef.