BigKids
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
- Messages
- 159
We've been making our way around the DDP restaurants this week and stopped at Le Chef's de France last night. We've been here many times before and have always had an acceptable meal. Last night they crossed the line to really bad. Now I understand it is a mass-quantity park restaurant, but here are my observations. First, I consider myself an accomplished home cook/chef in my own right and would be more than happy to cook against anyone so perhaps I am biased. However, I am looking for depth of flavors indicative of proper seasoning for a given dish type. For example, I would expect roasted lamb shank to have deep rich flavors from many hours of low and slow in a richly seasoned liquid while looking to a grilled meat to have proper external seasoning leading to a nice crust of caramelized flavor and proper grill marks indicative of someone who knows what they are doing.
Ok, we started with a 2009 Bordeaux which was sold as being ready to drink, but in reality at $49 was not worth the price of two-buck chuck. Our meal started with the escargots and selection of pate / meat / pickle. The pate selection was the most enjoyable part of the meal, but the escargots fell flat on their faces. The snails were loaded with what appeared to be a parsley garlic butter sauce. However, it had absolutely little flavor. My wife immediately looked at me and said "your snails are so much better than these!". You'd think a restaurant claiming french food could get snails right. My suggestion is if you've never tried snails and are feeling adventurous, go ahead and try them here, but if you like escargot, skip them.
DW ordered the Duck breast and it appeared adequate (I did not try) and she did not offer any comments about it. I ordered the grilled beef tenderloin (medium-r) which came grilled to its death and no sign of internal pink anywhere. The "peppercorn" sauce that accompanied the beef obviously sat for a long time under the dreaded heat lamp because it was clearly physically burnt around the edges of the serving plate making it extremely bitter and inedible. In fact, the bitter/burnt flavor permeated the entire sauce making the dish inedible. To follow the pattern, the potato gratin that accompanied the beef was burnt (black) to a crisp on top (not kidding) and virtually inedible as well. The only saving grace of the dish were the few green beans which appeared to be blanched properly and were crisp. I don't return food as I believe a restaurant should send it out right the first time or lose my future business. Needless to say, it sat mostly untouched.
We concluded the meal with Creme Brule. While acceptable, I am always looking for a deep rich yellow/white color from the custard and lots of vanilla bean specks. The custard was a limp white color with virtually no evidence of vanilla. There was a hint of vanilla flavor, but anyone who's had my creme would push this one away in an instant.
Bottom line observation is that le Chef's de France was a major loser last night. Dine at your own risk. It will be a long time before we consider this place again. Good luck out there.
Ok, we started with a 2009 Bordeaux which was sold as being ready to drink, but in reality at $49 was not worth the price of two-buck chuck. Our meal started with the escargots and selection of pate / meat / pickle. The pate selection was the most enjoyable part of the meal, but the escargots fell flat on their faces. The snails were loaded with what appeared to be a parsley garlic butter sauce. However, it had absolutely little flavor. My wife immediately looked at me and said "your snails are so much better than these!". You'd think a restaurant claiming french food could get snails right. My suggestion is if you've never tried snails and are feeling adventurous, go ahead and try them here, but if you like escargot, skip them.
DW ordered the Duck breast and it appeared adequate (I did not try) and she did not offer any comments about it. I ordered the grilled beef tenderloin (medium-r) which came grilled to its death and no sign of internal pink anywhere. The "peppercorn" sauce that accompanied the beef obviously sat for a long time under the dreaded heat lamp because it was clearly physically burnt around the edges of the serving plate making it extremely bitter and inedible. In fact, the bitter/burnt flavor permeated the entire sauce making the dish inedible. To follow the pattern, the potato gratin that accompanied the beef was burnt (black) to a crisp on top (not kidding) and virtually inedible as well. The only saving grace of the dish were the few green beans which appeared to be blanched properly and were crisp. I don't return food as I believe a restaurant should send it out right the first time or lose my future business. Needless to say, it sat mostly untouched.
We concluded the meal with Creme Brule. While acceptable, I am always looking for a deep rich yellow/white color from the custard and lots of vanilla bean specks. The custard was a limp white color with virtually no evidence of vanilla. There was a hint of vanilla flavor, but anyone who's had my creme would push this one away in an instant.
Bottom line observation is that le Chef's de France was a major loser last night. Dine at your own risk. It will be a long time before we consider this place again. Good luck out there.
