Day 3.3: A Gourmet Feast

On Wednesday night, we had dinner at La Table d'Eugène.  I mentioned in my earlier post that it is in an unprepossessing neighborhood, but the cognitive dissonance between the neighborhood (rundown and gritty) and the restaurant (upscale and elegant) is really startling.

There is no menu -- you can choose a 4-course, 7-course, or 10-course dégustation, optionally with wine.  Of course we had the 10-course menu, with wine for me.  I won't try to explain the dishes too much -- words don't really do them justice -- but every single bite was absolutely delicious.  (The wine accompaniments were all very good, but the only one I remember was the Cuvée Marie for obvious reasons -- also because it was incredibly good, a dry, buttery Jurançon sec.)

This dinner took us four hours from start to finish.

(1) Foie gras with cucumbers

(2) Fresh tomatoes with tomato sorbet and tomato jus (for those of you who know me well, you will know that it is startling that I actually really enjoyed this dish -- yes, with raw tomatoes!)

 (3) Tuna tartare with compressed watermelon and radishes

(4) Grilled scallions with balsamic, Parmesan, and quail egg

 (4) Monkfish with artichoke chips, artichoke hearts, and herbal sorbet

(5) Veal with various vegetables

(6) Squab with mushrooms, puree of something delicious, vanilla foam, and chocolate glaze

(7) Cheese course, with grapes and guava gélée

Entremet: Basil sorbet and meringue stick

(8) Figs in cassis with almond cake and herb sorbet (maybe lemon verbena)

(9) White chocolate, choux creme, and raspberries, with another herbal sorbet

(10) Chocolate bombe, melted with chocolat chaud -- I wish I had a video.  When they put the bombe down, it was smooth and perfectly round, then they poured the chocolat over it and it just -- dissolved into this succulent, perfectly chocolatey dessert with just the right amount of crackly texture.  Possibly the most amazing chocolate dessert I have ever had.