| rev:text
| - Pleased, but not entirely as blown away as the Thomas Keller name implied my experience should be. It was worth the money, not as expensive as I expected, very high quality, but at the same time not as sublime as I was expecting. The meal had one defect (remedied by them), but again, not as spot-on as I had hoped.
Service was decent; our waitress was bubbly, though not entirely attentive. Our sommelier did a very good job of selecting a Rhone wine for about $100.
Our first course was salads, and probably the best part of the meal for me was the Salad au Frisee Lardons. I order this dish whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, and this is one of the best that I have ever had. The addition of fresh tarragon, which complemented the very subtle vinegar from the surface of the poached egg was,...okay, yes...sublime. I thought, "Okay! This is going to be awesome!"
Our next course was the Seared Fois Gras. It was good, just good. Served with a reduction and on a nice brioche-like round, it was a simple and classic presentation. Yet, it didn't really marry is a way that did the foie gras justice, or as well as I have had at less-prestegious restaurants. Almost ordered another one since I live in Fois Gras-starved CA, but I didn't think of doing that and canceling my main course (as I have done before when the Fois Gras course was worth a replay, like at Saddle Peak Lodge.)
The low point came when I ordered the Steak Bouchon. A thick cube of ribeye about 2.5 inches in each dimension, the dish has a challenge, I think, in that there are parts of a ribeye that are less tasty (the eye) than others (the rim and tail). I ordered medium rare, asking also what the chef would recommend -- waitress agreed. When the dish arrived, I could tell there was a problem when I tried to stab the steak with my fork. Tough. Overcooked.
With some effort, I cut a slice, noting that it was definitely medium, and it was entirely the "eye" of the ribeye. IMO this piece cooks faster and also is more prone to getting tough due to its lower fat content. This had both. I tried to eat it, but at $51 I had to send it back. When I asked the waitress if it looked medium rare to her, she shined a little flashlight on it and said, "Well, in the kitchen it probably looks more rare than it does out here." I'm not really sure what that meant, as I had ordered medium rare for ME not the kitchen, and since I was the first person cutting it open (and it certainly didn't "behave" MR when I first pressed on it with my fork), I have no idea how someone would think this steak was serve-able.
So they fired a new steak and it was a lot better. The Béarnaise sauce was spot-on, but all-in-all it was not a special dish, certainly not a $51 dish. The Steak Frites is about 60% of the cost and looked just as good.
We passed on dessert, had a coffee and polished off the wine.
Would I recommend it? Here's my thought: I like Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. It is pricey for the quality (as well), and I think these two restaurants are pretty equivalent -- you get a bit more "scene" and "scenery" at MAG, but the quieter feel and slightly better food at Bouchon offsets that. They are contrasts, and I'll probably be back to Bouchon with lowered expectations.
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