Verjus Review: Delicious food at Verjus in Paris
The previous post about Paris left off with a prix fixe lunch at Cafe Constant. We had gone back to the hotel to rest and to complain to priceline about how they were kind of duplicitous with their ads, and I worked myself into an appetite. It’s a good thing Steph planned our dinner already because I had already stressed her out with my incredibly agitating tone with the front desk. We set off for Verjus. It’s a well-reviewed restaurant in the 2nd arrondissement near the Palais Royale. The restaurant is owned by a pair of Americans and the secrete has been out for a while. The dining room was practically like eating in New York. You basically only overheard English.
For dinner the only option was the tasting menu, which was a bit of a sticker shock for me initially. However as the meal progressed, it was easy to see that the eight course tasting menu was actually a steal for the excellent cooking and the amount of food that we got for dinner. While it was odd to kind of feel like dining in a hot spot in Brooklyn while in Paris, neither Steph nor I left the restaurant with anything except a smile on our faces.
The second course was some sort of crudo that was bright and refreshing. But at this point in my life I’ve resigned to believe that I will never enjoy raw fish the way some other people enjoy raw fish. It’s like physics. It’s never going to come to me. The dinner really started to pique my interest around the third course, when we got some buffalo milk ricotta gnocci. These were super soft and just a delight. I keep hearing on this season’s top chef that there’s Parisian gnocci. I feel like that’s some bullshit. Are Parisian gnocci different than good gnocci elsewhere?
That hit was followed up with another – trout with caramelized mushrooms, guanciale, and roasted corn soup. One thing that Verjus did well throughout the night was all the dishes were super pretty. It was also around this time of the dinner that I realized we were really in capable hands and that it was exciting to anticipate the next dish.
After the fish dish, we were presented with a duck breast that came with caraway seeds, sauerkraut, red cabbage, and smoked celeriac. I don’t know why I’ve always thought of duck as a protein that’s more French than American. But in a restaurant in Paris where the chef was American, it didn’t really matter either way because it was just good and delicious food.
Grilled beef with baby vegetables, potatoes, horseradish, wild salad. This was the last savory dish of the night and it was a hit as well. The portions at Verjus were set properly so it didn’t feel like a crazy amount of food, but it was just enough to really satisfy. We finished off with two sweet courses. Lemon polenta cake with wild blueberries, Greek yogurt sorbet, and lavender honey. The last dessert was Panna cotta with espresso and some cherries.
Verjus was packed when we arrived and packed when we left. I was really happy with the meal and thought it was a great deal for a good amount of food. I want to say the menu was around 60 euros. So $80 dollars for eight dishes that were all superbly executed and tasted delicious. I would say the desserts were the least exciting, but they were still more than serviceable. With an average of $10 per dish and all the variety Verjus offered… I just thought it was stunning. It got me a bit that we traveled to France only to dine in a restaurant where it was mostly Americans, but good food is good food. Maybe in the future we’ll find restaurants that’s more of a neighborhood joint, but you cannot go wrong securing a reservation at Verjus if you find yourself in Paris any time soon.
Verjus47 rue Montpensier.Paris, FR 75001+33 1 42 97 54 40
Posted by Danny on January 7, 2014 at 3:24 pm
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