Eating Our Way Through Belgium (part 2)
Comme Chez Soi. Ask anyone with reason to know what the best restaurant in Brussels is, and they're likely to say Comme Chez Soi. They'll probably even say that if you ask for the best restaurant in Belgium. One local put it on par with the very best restaurants in France, and the Michelin Guide concurs. There are three three-star restaurants in Belgium, and Comme Chez Soi is one of them.We had debated about whether or not to eat there. After all, those stars don't come cheaply. Not for the chef. Certainly not for the customer. But as one of our travelling companions pointed out, we're not likely to be back in Brussels in the immediate future, and wouldn't it be a shame to not eat in the nicest restaurant the city and probably the country has to offer? If we didn't, we'd always wonder what dinner might have been like.
Fortunately, we were able to get reservations only two weeks in advance. With most of Europe, and certainly the EU's capital, essentially shut down during August, we were able to circumvent the normal month-long lead time for reservations. Needless to say, we were quite excited, despite the fact that the restaurant requires that men wear a jacket and tie.
Even before you start eating at Comme Chez Soi, the restaurant makes an impression. The decor is done with a distinct nod to Horta, the father of Art Nouveau. With graceful curves, flowing lines, and delicate ornamentation the pictures on the restaurant's Flash-heavy web site simply don't do it justice.
Next the menu. The only thing I didn't like about the restaurant is that the most expensive prix fixe, the best the chef has to offer, requires 4 people at your table to order it. Since it didn't have universal appeal at our table, we couldn't get it. The other two menus only require a minimum of two people, which was easily doable. Indeed, three of us immediately went for the second-best menu.
This menu did have an advantage, however; for a small supplement, you could change your opener to be truffled pate de foie gras d'oie. Of course, eating it made me fume with jealousy that the Europeans can eat this whenever they wish (while duck liver pate is common in the U.S., goose liver pate is illegal for import and production). Well, I only fumed between bites. During the bites I was too busy exulting. Melissa and I each got a glass of Sauternes to go with our foie gras, one of the gourmet world's most classic pairings. You can't fault any meal that starts out like that.
Our next course was a "duet" of pike and herring, two pieces of each fish lightly cooked with a nice light sauce. We opted for a Sancerre to go with this dish, and I think it worked relatively well. This was followed by roasted guinea fowl with a cherry sauce, a modern re-interpretation of a Flemish classic. To go with this, I opted for a Guigal Cote Rotie. Probably something a little less powerful would have been fine, but I love Northern Rhone wines, and not only is Guigal a great producer, his Cote Rotie is said to be among his very best. This wine smelled like walking into a really high-end leather shop, and felt wonderful in the mouth. Oh, right. The food was good too.
Dessert was a selection of three "intense" chocolate desserts. Basically, three different types of preparation, featuring different levels of chocolate and different flavorings. Even I, who normally doesn't like coffee, enjoyed the chocolate and coffee mousse. As is de rigueur in nice restaurants these days, the meal was bracketed on one end by amuses-bouches, small delicacies which excite the palate and get it ready for the meal to come, and on the other by a mignardise, the small confections which come after the dessert, giving the mouth an opportunity to come down slowly.
So dinner was pretty spectacular. I was impressed enough that I bought the restaurant's massive cookbook. Comme Chez Soi clearly earns its three stars, and it was worth the expense. But is it the best meal I've ever eaten? Well, no. It's probably second, but I'm beginning to realize that I have ruined myself for nice restaurants. Dinner at The French Laundry changes your perspective entirely, and I have a feeling that the only time I'm going to enjoy any meal more than the one I had at The French Laundry is some other meal there. Nonetheless, I have no problem looking for runners-up!
- Isa: Restaurant Review
Much as I complain about the Chronicle's Top 100 Restaurant list, I can't help but want to try every restaurant on the list, just to be sure. The Chronicle has been raving about Isa for years and chef Luke Sung was twice nominated as a rising...
- Chez Nous Restaurant Closed
If you are looking for a good way to celebrate with a small group, nothing beats sharing a meal and I really do mean sharing. Recently we ate dinner at Chez Nous on Fillmore street to celebrate Hande's birthday. While it's small and noisy, it's...
- Chez Spencer
Chez Spencer Originally uploaded by melissa nicole. Melissa and I eagerly arrived at Chez Spencer for a "date" a couple of weeks ago. The unabashedly French restaurant gets the nod from Patricia Unterman and the Chronicle, and the enclosed front...
- Acme Chophouse
The other night we had our first dinner as part of the Dine About Town festivities. Basically, a bunch of restaurants have offered 3-course, $30 prix fixe menus for dinners on what would otherwise be slow nights. For many of them, getting a single entrée...
-
An Update on Foie Gras So back in "Eating Our Way Through Belgium (part 2)", I mentioned that goose liver is illegal for import to the U.S. This seems to no longer be true. I found some at a company called Mackenzie Ltd., and The French Laundry Cookbook...