REVIEW: Bistro de Paris
SUMMARY: Did I just eat snails? Or ‘Lost in Translation’
A fantabulous review by Oybolshoi, a desire to try new things, and a 20% DDE discount converged to form
Le Perfect Storm, and drove us ashore to the Bistro this visit. Seriously though, we have had this place on our radar for a few years now, and with this being a short and unexpected trip, the new place got the nod.
PRELUDE:
Though I won’t go into the details now, since the story is being optioned by a well known Hollywood studio, Robert P (escorted by Mrs. P to digitally record the event for posterity sake, and bring me any bail money that may be required), attempted to accomplish his dream of drinking around the world (showcase). This plays into my review because while the skies were hazy that day, so was my memory. Thank goodness for the camera.
We arrived at France, in EPCOT, at 5:45 for our 6:00 p.m. ADR, with my Moosehead Light beer in hand (as Canada ran out of LaBlatt’s). We decided this was just too early to go into the restaurant, and certainly too early to rush through my beer, so we sat in the courtyard off to the right in France, and made some phone calls.
“Ah beer, the cause of and solution to, all of life’s problems”. At 5:55, all phone calls (and beer) were done, so we went inside. The beautiful parlor was nice, with a few chairs for sitting, and a gorgeous staircase leading up to the Bistro. I couldn’t decide if it was more
Moulin Rouge or
Gone With The Wind. Having never seen the movie
Moulin Rouge, I went with the latter (no pun intended there)..... We were told to have a seat, and someone would come for us in just a moment. We had enough time to look around, and take a few pictures, and exactly at 6:00 a charming young lady with a lovely French accent came down the stairs calling for our party of two. I half imagined she would say
“Butler, Rhett Butler, Party of Two”.
Up we went to the second floor, with no green drapes to be found, and were led into the dining room where we were the 4th party seated (all of us in opposite corners of the room, no less). Our table, in the Northeast corner, looked out right toward a tree, with a view of the boat dock underneath.
Our waiter took his time coming over to greet us, but Romain (pronounced more like Roman, less like the lettuce) was quite efficient. Not the chattiest waiter we’ve ever had, but polite and professional, and an excellent server all in all. After greeting us, he briefly covered the menu items, and went to get us water. He came back with our water, and quickly followed that with the amuse bouche, which was a devine tuna tartar, with a lentl puree garnish. Very nice, and a promising start to the evening.
After perusing the menus for a minute, we had pretty much decided to try the set menu, or should I say Menu Degustation, which would allow us to experience more dishes during the evening. The tuna tartar sealed the deal on that decision. We both chose the escargot to start, but we split our choices on the fish selection, with Mrs. P ordering the scallops, and I went with the red snapper. We both selected the beef tenderloin for the next course. I then bowed to my newfound cheese addiction, and added a cheese selection to my line-up. Then for dessert, the set menu had the dessert sampler. No arm twisting needed there.
About the escargot - I had made it 39 years without eating snails. Our starter choices were either a saffron and mussel soup, or the escargot. As this entire meal was uncharted territory, and because by the time we sat for dinner, I had been drinking, A WHOLE LOT, I figured what the hey, if I’m ever going to try snails, this is the time and place to do it. So, here we go…..
The escargot was prepared in a butter, garlic, parsley sauce. I was expecting more in the bowl, to be quite frank, but the serving size was perfect. The escargot tasted, to my naïve taste buds, like rich clams. The sauce was not overpowering with the garlic, but balanced well enough to hide any 'snaily' tastes from me. In the end, I ate all of the serving, and it was okay. Nothing I will order again anytime soon, snails just aren’t my thing, but my wife (the escargot pusher for the evening) declared them among the best she has ever tried.
After the course that I still refer to as ‘snail city’, and an appropriate amount of time had passed, Romain brought out the seafood portion of the meal.
The three scallops were, in my opinion, small, but were perfectly cooked, and the ham, sweet peas, pearl onions and cream sauce were amazing accompaniments. The dish was delicious, and all of the flavors worked well together, but still let the scallops stand out. The pea puree base (think hummus-like), and crispy flat treat were okay, but really served only as decoration. A great dish overall, as my wife only shared a few bites with me.
The red snapper was, in a word, perfection. Broiled in the oven, with crispy skin, flaky and light in the middle, and perfect flavor. The sauce was a cream sauce with a hint of curry, and was great just by itself. The other items on the plate were sliced boiled pumpkin, which had no spices added, which I believe was to keep from confusing any flavors with the delicate hint of curry in the sauce. The white things were, I think, parsnips. We lost something in translation with Romain on this one, and it’s either parsnips or turnips. There is an outside chance he said catnips, but that would just be silly.
On a side note, after my infrequent series of camera flashes, my wife was mortified that I was lighting up our table, taking pictures of the food. “I can’t believe you are taking pictures of each plate of food. Nobody does this”. No more than 5 seconds later after she said that, a table nearer the middle of the restaurant lit up brightly. It wasn’t a retaliation flash though, but an older gentleman, with a really really really nice digital camera, and he was taking pictures of
his entrée. He then proceeded to turn the plate a few degrees, move something that was causing a shadow, and took another two pictures. The smug look on my face when I turned back to my wife must have been too much, because all she said was “Don’t even say it”. The timing of the entire exchange was just too perfect.
End Part One: