Central Michel Richard--WOW!!

I had dinner Saturday night with my friends Ted, Addisu, and Shoshanna, all of whom I went to college with.  We were celebrating Ted's 30th birthday and my going away.  We decided to do it up at Central, the French bistro style offering from Michel Richard, owner of Citronelle,  a French fine dining restaurant.

We started out at the bar, and the first order was the cheese puffs (gougeres).  Puffy, cheesy and delicate, these are a must order.  We ate three orders of them.  We also got the frog legs, which were very good.  It was my first time having frog legs.  They tasted like chewy chicken with a slight flavor of the sea.  That might not sound good but they were.  The sauce they were cooked in and the accompanying frisee made the dish.

At the table we all order separately.  I ordered the brussel sprouts with bacon,  chopped salad, and country pate.  The brussel sprouts were delicious as you would expect, buttery and bacony.  They were also cooked slightly softer than you see at most restaurants, which I actually like.  They were also very small, which is a change from the medium sized ones you normally see in the prime of their season.  The chopped salad was superb.  A good salad is hard to find.  This salad had all the components I look for, small cut lettuce, tasty bits, and a simple clean dressing.  Every bite had good solid coating of dressing, bits of salami and cheese, and crisp lettuce.  Garbanzo beans were also in the salad, and while they are not my favorite, there were not enough of them to overtake the dish.  The country pate was outstanding.  The texture was coarse enough to maintain a good bite, but the pate was still moist, which is always appreciated.  I have had country pate that was too dry, which affects the flavor.

Ted had the bacon and onion tart.  It was good, but was more like a flatbread.  Delicious, but I expected something more in the rounded puff pastry vain.  Ted also had the lamb shank, which looked well braised and smelled exceptionally good.  Shoshanna had the tartare of filet mignon.  It came with cheese tuille crackers.  The presentation was outstanding, perfectly molded round and sprinkled with crispy bits that I could not identify.   Abu had the frisee aux lardon with poached egg salad, one of my very favorite salads.  For all those who have not had this before, it is a simple salad of frisee greens tossed in a simple red or white wine vinaigrette, with crispy bacon and croutons.   The crown jewel is the poached egg on top.  When the yolk is broken and tossed with the salad,  it creates a creamy, fatty dressing perfect to cut through some of the bitterness of the lettuce.

This was one of the better meals I've had.  Everything was cooked, dressed, presented perfectly.  Simple clean dishes stayed true to their roots, and longer, slower, more complicated offerings were given great attention to detail.  Central Michel Richard is a must visit.