Text 33535, 115 rader
Skriven 2015-11-23 22:19:36 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Le Saint-Jacques 534
============================
First gala restaurant meal, Le Saint-Jacques in Argentat, which
Ian opines has two-star-worthy food but falls short a bit on
correctness of service; I would not rate the food quite so high
nor fault the service as much. Michelin gives it two fork-and-
spoons.

At this meal, our two main servers were one of the regulars
who was going on that next week to bigger and better things
(I believe because he was setting up house with his girlfriend
in some distant city), a young man who had learned his trade
pretty well, and his replacement, a pleasant but too deferential
lad with a slight speech impediment but deft enough technique.

Patrick the chef sent out a number of amuses - he does this for
everyone, but I am given to understand Ian and Jacquie get
somewhat more attention. I don't generally care for these,
especially as on several visits they have all been dairy heavy.

A so-called Napoleon of prosciutto and mozzarella was ham and 
cheese pressed together and cut into rectangles - the ingredients
were fine, but I could see no purpose to the dish other than to
fill you up and not notice the modest size of the courses, but
on the other hand I get the impression that when Ian's around
the portion sizes get kicked a little. Oh, there was a garnish
of one cherry tomato per person, which were - as with most of the
tomatoes I had in France - sweet and flavorful.

Cherry tomatoes stuffed with fresh goat cheese I didn't bother
with.

A gazpacho with lobster was okay, but the lobster didn't add,
making a general impression of cold Manhattan chowder. On the
whole my impression of the restaurant was not enhanced by these
freebies.

The first real course:

Lilli had foie gras terrine with red wine jelly, well-flavored
and smooth pate whose jelly topping I found a little on the
sweet side, otherwise a lovely dish;

three of us got mi-cuit foie gras in a potato timbale, a crisp
outside and mashed-potato inner shell (intriguing but I thought
uncharacteristic, almost taro-like texture) which when you cut
into it oozed a somewhat generous amount of foie gras just this
side of raw, some of the fat liquefying into a yellow ?sauce
that I lapped up eagerly; I don't know what others did with it;
this came with little portions of two contrasting salads and a
foie gras hamburger, a tiny brioche bun split and filled with
a slice of torchon, creating just the tiniest bit of overkill;

Ian had langoustine and baby squid with avocado, of which I
tasted the elements, which were fine, but I didn't have enough
to understand the combination.

A bit of kerfuffle about the wine to go with - Ian had suggested
a dry white, whereas I wanted something sweet for the foie gras;
when the dust cleared, we had Monbazillac La Truffiere 09, a
moderately rich and sweet botrytized Sauternes-style blend that
went I thought decently with everything.

Mains

Veal loin, medium rare, with a bit of sweetbread and a
vegetable cannelloni which turned out to be a poached leek
leaf stuffed with chopped veggies that I didn't try.

Tournedos with foie gras - great beef, done as ordered, which
meant rare, rare, and medium-rare, and a couple ounce slice of
sauteed foie gras, a small quantity of a rich demiglace, plus
a mini timbale of the same composition as the appetizer.

There was a special of tournedos of chicken stuffed with 
mushrooms and greens in a morel cream; Ian had this; I had
a tiny taste of the chicken (white meat, but brined a bit and
so reasonably tender and juicy), in a sauce that was a little
light on the mushrooms, sided with that same foie gras timbale.
I guess it was kind of a slow night and they had leftover foie
gras timbales.

On the side of all plates were various iterations of braised 
winter vegetables.

Meursault rouge 10 (Louis Latour) was a little unpunchy and
over the hill, better with the chicken I understand than with
the bovine dishes. A slight liveriness seemed as if it might
go with the abundance of liver at table, but instead what was
accented was a bitterness in the wine. I suppose a slightly
overage Bordeaux would have gone better, but it's hard to
justify the price of such things.

Cheeses I didn't have, but Ian and Jacquie at least did and
found them of decent quality if a bit young and the selection
uninspiring though adequate.

Sweets

Three of us got this arrangement - chocolate thing, not rich
enough to be a shortbread but of that general family on top,
meringue in the middle, and fresh pineapple on the bottom.
Pretty good.

A financier stuffed with apricot cream came with a garnish
of thin slices of apple on top and strawberry on the bottom.
It was as with many of the dishes here more than adequate
and in fact very satisfying but without that extra spark
that gets stars and such accolades.

I don't know what Swisher got, some white chocolate thing
with strawberries.

Rather big and abundant mignardises, which I didn't bother
with, having had enough sweets.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)