Don't eat until you're full, eat until you are tired.

....my list of Lean Cuisines consumed this week, may deter some folks from ever coming back.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Chez Nous

Last weekend, we drove down to Houston to spend a weekend with friends. On Saturday night, we revisited an authentic French restaurant that we spent New Year's Eve at a year ago, Chez Nous.

Our last experience there was surprisingly good. Any time I am extremely excited about how a good a restaurant is the first time I go, there is this small, anxious feeling, deep inside me that says "You got lucky, and it probably won't impress you as much the next time." This is NOT one of those places.

The food was just as fantastic as the first time. I started with a fricassee of escargot, brussel sprouts and candied bacon...yep I said it...candied bacon. It was awesome. I asked the waitress how they made the bacon and she was more than happy to ask the chef for me. Apparently its a 6 hour process that involves slow cooking a large amount of bacon, collecting the fat, and then adding a few herbs and honey to it all. The rendered fat is added to the plate with some of the actual pieces of bacon and has almost the consistency of jam....but tastes like sweet bacon (I could use a spoon full of that right now actually).

The next course was beef tartar topped with creme fraiche and caviar. I had a bite of this on my first visit, and had to get an entire order this time around. It is by far the best beef tartar I've ever had. The consistency is perfect (which is important when eating raw meat) with just the right balance of citrus and salt. This is the one thing I will ALWAYS order when I go back time and time again.

For the 3rd and final course (because French food is rich) I had the steak with peppercorn and bearnaise. This was the only part of the meal I expected more on and it didn't deliver. Now don't get me wrong, the steak was great, but I ordered it rare and it was definitely mid-rare. Not something a restaurant of this quality usually gets wrong. I enjoyed my steak regardless.

Most of the table ordered dessert, but I just didn't push it after the pound and a half of butter I had consumed over the last 3 courses. Here is site if anyone is in the Houston area.http://cheznousfrenchrestaurant.com/

Cheers.

No comments:

Post a Comment