Monday, March 23, 2015

Chez Nous 1 Year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Chez Nous!  What a wonderful year it has been for this quaint restaurant.  The menu continues to change every single day and the food continues to amaze me.  


We chose a seat outside at the community table.


The menu for their anniversary evening included the owner's favorite dishes.  What a menu, one not to be missed.



We started with this amazing marinated quail salad...



...we sopped up every last drop with our bread.




My entree of choice was the egg yolk ravioli with mushrooms...


Mark had the ham in endive over a béchamel sauce...









There was no sauce left behind from Mark's dish, I can vouch for that.




The dessert for the evening, gateau basque, had some with incorporated monopoly pieces.  If you found a monopoly boot or hat in your dessert, it meant you won a $100 gift card to Chez Nous.  There were 5 total prizes and at this point in the evening only 2 possible winnings were left.  

Did our cake have the monopoly winner? ... see that hump in the middle?




That hump was just an extra delicious bit of cake, we didn't win.  So we started researching a way to quickly grab ourselves a monopoly piece of our own to play a trick on our friends.

Then, our neighbor at the community table started cheering with great happiness.  They won, they found the hat!  We started talking with them and forgot all about our shenanigans.
















There it is, the winning monopoly hat.  Isn't she pretty...




What an incredibly talented and hard working group of people.  Happy 1 year and congratulations!






Monday, February 16, 2015

Tristan Valentine's Date

     I don't mean to tease you with this amazing Valentine's dinner from last year but only to entice you for what is to come. 

     Even though Tristan closed it's doors last April, despite having just received Four Stars from Forbes, Tristan's chef Nate Whiting has a new focus.  The new upcoming Four Ninety Two Restaurant on upper King Street should open this month (February 2015).  The restaurant has "fine dining quality without the pretentiousness," says chef Whiting to Eater.com.  

     Well, if 492 is anything like what we experienced on Valentine's day last year, we are all in for a treat!  







We started with an aperitif, champagne caviar, and continued with the selected 5 course menu with wine pairing.   Each glass of wine complemented it's dish as if it were one of the key ingredients.  Incredible!



Smokey oyster & bacon stew and sunchoke panna cotta.





Mezzi rigatoni pasta...



Beet poached golden tilefish...




Beef bavette...



...along with a whole lotta love.





Keeping up with the wine pairing shouldn't have been so difficult.  Before we knew it, the wine started piling up on our table.  






Cheese and flatbread for dessert along with an incredible piece of artwork on a plate.  The dessert included fruit, beautiful edible flowers, panna cotta, and a vanilla macaron.






















Thank you Tristan for the perfect Valentine's date.  We are looking forward to the upcoming restaurant 492.  Follow the progress of the restaurant's new space on Eater.



Dress from Banana Republic
Earrings J.Crew