Me like eat good food
The Hot Date and I went to L'Etoile (used to be owned by Odessa Piper - if that name is unfamiliar to you, do yourself a favor and google it) for a rather belated Valentine's Day dinner recently. Tory Miller is now the chef, and by all measures is faithfully carrying on the Alice Waters/Odessa Piper mode of doing things.
It was really something.
If you're ever in Madison and looking for thoughtful, perfectly-made and -presented food, you have to try it. L'Etoile uses local, organic foods whenever possible - they even have special meals where they invite the farmers to come and talk with guests over special tasting menus featuring the farmers' products. We didn't attend one of those, but the menu was still great - varied enough, but without an overwhelming run-on list of options.
Our server brought us an amuse bouche of warm beet soup topped with raspberry-infused cream. For first course, I had a mixed green salad with toasted hazlenuts, stravecchio cheese, and a mild, yet elevated, lemon dressing. My entree was a 7 oz. tenderloin of locally-grown, grass-fed, Scottish highland beef. It was served with organic spinach, creamed potato, a stock and red wine reduction, and a heavenly nob of herb and bone marrow compound butter. The butter melted from the heat of the food and finished the sauce as I cut into my steak - a nice touch. I asked for the steak "just medium" and it was. Since it was a weeknight, I just had a glass of the house cab, which was just as you'd expect - perfect.
The Hot Date started with an impossibly refined heirloom tomato soup, poured at table service over a crouton topped with 10-year old cheddar cheese (this IS Wisconsin, afterall), onion and bacon - all ingredients organic and locally produced. Her entree was jumbo sea scallops with a crab cake, mache salad, and toasted pumpkin seeds. When I asked how it was, she had persistent difficulty verbalizing, so I figure it was pretty tasty.
Then there was dessert - fresh, homemade drop doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with melted chocolate dipping sauce. Even my decaf americano was perfectly prepared and expertly served with the cup handle at 4 o'clock. Which reminds me - the service was actual, real live professional service. The waiter knew his shit. He took our used silverware and brought us new stuff. He crumbed the table. He understood the preparation of all the menu items. He got a $25 tip on a $120 tab.
A perfect meal.
It was really something.
If you're ever in Madison and looking for thoughtful, perfectly-made and -presented food, you have to try it. L'Etoile uses local, organic foods whenever possible - they even have special meals where they invite the farmers to come and talk with guests over special tasting menus featuring the farmers' products. We didn't attend one of those, but the menu was still great - varied enough, but without an overwhelming run-on list of options.
Our server brought us an amuse bouche of warm beet soup topped with raspberry-infused cream. For first course, I had a mixed green salad with toasted hazlenuts, stravecchio cheese, and a mild, yet elevated, lemon dressing. My entree was a 7 oz. tenderloin of locally-grown, grass-fed, Scottish highland beef. It was served with organic spinach, creamed potato, a stock and red wine reduction, and a heavenly nob of herb and bone marrow compound butter. The butter melted from the heat of the food and finished the sauce as I cut into my steak - a nice touch. I asked for the steak "just medium" and it was. Since it was a weeknight, I just had a glass of the house cab, which was just as you'd expect - perfect.
The Hot Date started with an impossibly refined heirloom tomato soup, poured at table service over a crouton topped with 10-year old cheddar cheese (this IS Wisconsin, afterall), onion and bacon - all ingredients organic and locally produced. Her entree was jumbo sea scallops with a crab cake, mache salad, and toasted pumpkin seeds. When I asked how it was, she had persistent difficulty verbalizing, so I figure it was pretty tasty.
Then there was dessert - fresh, homemade drop doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with melted chocolate dipping sauce. Even my decaf americano was perfectly prepared and expertly served with the cup handle at 4 o'clock. Which reminds me - the service was actual, real live professional service. The waiter knew his shit. He took our used silverware and brought us new stuff. He crumbed the table. He understood the preparation of all the menu items. He got a $25 tip on a $120 tab.
A perfect meal.
posted by Me at 18:41
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