My great and good friend Randy Diaz, blogger sans frontieres, believes fervently that a restaurant meal is a total experience and I argue with him saying it's all about the food not the welcome, decor, nappery, wine, price, etc. But our meal at Pirouette today is bending me Randy's way. We came by and decided to sit outside, spring or summer finally having arrived and the welcome was incredible, the setting divine and the carte offerings all tempting.
We ordered up our firsts: our friend the historian turned international finance wizard turned home builder/restorer had the heirloom tomatoes with jelley, anchovies, fromage blanc and edible flowers; Colette the beets with ricotta and yellow lemon accompaniment; and I the girolles with (what ?) apricots and crisped country ham. But wait.
Suddenly like Victoria's messenger riding (just like in the Threepenny Opera) comes a helping of shaved oxtail, marinated beans and what was described as pickles but seemed to be daikon to me. "The chef would like you to try this." Wow.
For mains, our friend had the grilled seiche, which was the only thing all meal I found unexciting; Colette had the chicken with cold navets and girolles; and I had the sweetbreads with shaved fennel and confited tomatoes - fab. But wait......
Victoria's messenger appears at my elbow - "The chef hopes you like the daurade." And indeed with a perfectly crisped skin, we did indeed.
Finally, Colette being the only one who hadn't pigged herself out on all the ordered and offered dishes, had the rice pudding with beurre sale, quite nice.
Our bill with two bottles of wine, no bottled water, nice bread and three coffees was the equivalent of 120 E a couple. Great total experience Randy, Tomy Gousset, the brothers Frechet and Thomas Chaput.
