Quote:
Originally Posted by Culverin
Heya,
I need to ask.
What do you feel (in the food department) is making them stand above other Michelin restaurants?
I mean, the menu you listed out looks good.
imho, any decent chef should be able to assemble a good looking menu on paper.
But what part of that execution do you feel elevated it for you?
The sides? The sauces? Presentation?
Hoping you might be able to illuminate what takes pasta + braised meat to Michelin levels.
Or say the lobster tempura?
Any insight you have would be most appreciated.
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I've only been to three michelin star places, and none were three stars (kinda funny to say "only" but w/e lol)
been to:
L'atelier de Joel Roubechon Vegas
Antoine - Paris
La Tour d'Argent - Paris
All of them were definitely unique experiences, and in each one, mostly due to the $$$ we went with the tasting menus (which.. may be why i enjoyed Le Croc so much) I found many of the dishes i ate in these places to be non-memorable.. delicious at the time, but for the most part i was more Wowed with the presentation and setting than the food itself.
The most memorable dining experience I've ever had, and probably will ever have unless i can step up into the great 3 star places was at Tour D'Argent.. i find it hard to believe there are many more places in the world with better service, literally being waited on hand and foot. And the servers, Som, matridee (sp) couldn't have been nicer or more personable. By the time we were seated we were probably served by 5-6 different people.
at tour d'argent i had the traditional duck served in the gravy made from the bones and innards pressed through the silver "duck press" one of the oldest and most traditional dishes around. The taste was something i had never had before or since.. completely unique and a dish that really had me thinking and searching my pallet for the flavors. Outside of the duck the other dishes were unfortunately largely forgettable if it wasn't for pictures. a Cold cucumber salad with vegetable gelatin, again, very unique but i wouldn't say it blew my socks off. Followed by the pan seared thighs, a sort of confit in a vinaigrette. Great presentation, but flavor was kinda meh..
I know a lots of people have never experienced fine dining, and i even know some people who would argue the difference between a West, Hawks, Croc, etc and a Cactus club is negligible.
I'm a fairly easy person to please and believe i have a decent all around palate so when i see a menu like La Croc's i get pretty excited off the hop because almost everything there, im into. Love french cuisine, it's probably among, if not my favorite so it's already up there in my head as well.
So when i start digging into dishes like the Tartar, and it's fucking bang on then i get a little deeper into the taste with the sauce surrounding it and super thinly sliced cucumbers below, those small additions i really notice change the taste big time and give me that extra little wow factor as to how much i'm enjoying it
most of french food could be considered comfort food as well, so when i'm stuffing down bone marrow and a nice peice of foie, i'm almost just thinking like fuck.. are you kidding me? so decadent and rich lol
i think at the end of the day i've seen presentation good and bad but flavor never lies, and if you get me with that flavor i'm sold. A lot of the michelin places are so concerned with presentation that its almost like ohhhhh ahhhh looks so nice! but then the flavour presented is like X
just trying to get to and show off that one flavor they are looking to show if that makes any sense.. there are a few places on my list to go to which are obviously trying to reinvent the wheel and go completely outside the box like le bernardin etc. and are breaking things down so far that you are experiencing something completely different
And yea, in response to the last part of your post there, the Lobster tempura, and pasta dishes obviously arent really up to that Michelin star standard, any good chef i'm sure can pull out some amazing pasta dishes.. but looking at the meal as a whole, the mains were almost an after thought to top off the amazing dishes we were already into.
I'd sum up the meal as a whole to be fantastic, where as the Michelin meals i've had had some ups and downs, Croc had me start to finish, even with the somewhat disappointing Braised lamb as i said.
Sorry for dat run on mumblings