Überprüfung: Le Pommier

Eating and critiquing French cuisine is like when I was in Honors British Literature with Shakespeare: I knew his stuff was coming, but I was not looking forward to it.

Running a semi-legitimate blog about food and NOT talking about French cuisine really is wrong; we would not have modern Western cuisine if it wasn't for the French. Through their egos, their 36-hour work week, and tendencies to lose wars, the French created something that really is a work of art in itself, the stuff they ate.

But there's a dark-side to French food as well. More often than not, it's hard to cook. Take for instance the quintessential staple of a French breakfast, the croissant. Doing a simple search, I found a recipe that spanned 3 FULL PAGES, just to make a basic croissant, minus any delicious filling that one requires (chocolate, please.) To further my point, the recipe makes a list of common mistakes with the recipe. If you have the symptoms of any of the dozen problems, the answer is simple: stop, throw dough away, start again. Yippee.

And for the record, Le Pommier isn't even the first French restaurant I reviewed. But I didn't necessarily review Legume because it was a French restaurant. I didn't go into Legume thinking to myself "let me get the 'The Art of French Cooking' so I know what I'm actually eating. I went because it was new and in my backyard. Le Pommier is different. It's an institution. It's older than me (slight exaggeration).

Nevertheless, I went in with the urging of the hosts/payers of every review (my loving parents) and order a full course meal. Being a fan of pate (thanks Legume), I ordered the special duck pate, an anchovies salad, and for the first time, quail.

Almost immediately after ordering, the pate arrived. While I'm still working on my expertise of the dish, the pate was very good. The balance between meat, seasoning, and fat was nearly perfect.

Then came the wait. We Americans are horrible at waiting. Maybe a result of German immigrants, we have this desire to finish things ON TIME (Another American pastime: Drinking? The Irish.) While of course in some respects this is a great thing (Have you seen our GDP recently? Have you seen France's? Bingo.), it also has the tendency to leave no prisoners behind. Traditional hours-long events like family dinners have mostly fallen to the wayside in favor of quick and efficient caloric-intake (family attendance optional). But for a select countries/cultures, they are the exception to the rule.

France would be one of those select few. In America, we work dinners, lunch meetings, and meal breaks around other things. In France, food is priority #1. In any event, the meal would span 2.5 hours. Pater familiae nearly fell asleep (9 is pushing the bed time). But again, there's a point to the madness of long meals; it makes you savor the meals. It gives you time to socialize, enjoy the environment you're in. Why spend $50 per person just to finish in an hour?

Back to Le Pommier. After an enjoyable salad, the entrees arrived. For me, that would be farm-fresh roasted quail served in a mustard sauce and a side of potato au-gratin. As with most pheasants, the fear with cooking quail is trying to remove the gamey flavor of the meat. Simply over-seasoning the bird doesn't solve the problem. That is, in the words of the immortal Judge Judy, like "spitting on my cupcake and telling me it's frosting." But in this case, Le Pommier served me a proper piece of meat, cooked until tender. The sauce was not only great with the quail, but with the potatoes and carrots that came with the lamb (of) matri familiae. The dish was simply spectacular.

But what is truly amazing about the meal is that at no point was I really overwhelmed by the food in front of me. Sophisticated? Absolutely. But this wasn't over-my-head complex food in front of me. In fact, it was quite honest, to the point if-you-will. Where was the fancy sauce? Or the vegetable medley served in a mold? Where was the French I see Hiroyuki Sakai dropping in Kitchen Stadium?

In any event, Le Pommier proves that French food can genuinely be down to earth, nothing superfluous about the plate presented. I may actually just try to make something in "The Art of French Cooking" without shaking in my boots. Just not a croissant. At least not yet.