Soirée Alsacienne

Last night was the annual Soirée Alsacienne at Le Crocodile, one of my favorite restaurants here in Vancouver.

The menu, a very reasonable $58 prix fixe, included the following:

Tarte à l'Oignon
Consommé de Volaille au Foie Gras
Salade Frisée aux Foie de Volailles
Choucroute Garnie au Riesling
Mirabelle Sorbet
Feuilleté a la Poire Glacée Vanille Chaud Caramel

The tart wasn’t actually on the menu, but was served as an amuse-bouche. Onion tart has to be one of my favorite dishes.

The soup was really splendid. A rich full body and the small pieces of foie gras floating amongst the brunoise vegetables were full of flavour.

The salad was a huge hit with me – three beautifully crisp yet tender chicken livers surrounded a mound of escarole with a perfectly poached egg on time, garnished with tomato compote and sauced and dressed to perfection.

The choucroute was a marvel too. We took more than half of it home, as there was more food on those plates than we could reasonably (or even unreasonably) eat. Six kinds of meat atop some of the most subtly flavored and delicate choucroute I’ve eaten, including a Straßbourg sausage, a knackwurst, a smoked pork chop, a portion of pork belly, a very thick slice of smoked bacon, and a piece of pork hock. Steamed potatoes rounded out the overflowing plate.

The Mirabelle sorbet was delicious and enhanced by a little Mirabelle eau de vie poured on top.

Dessert was also sublime and simple. Thin slices of pear over a puff pastry base in a caramel sauce that was subtle and delicate, topped with honey-vanilla ice cream.

All of the above was accompanied by a bottle of 2002 Zind Humbrecht Riesling (Turckheim), and ultimately followed with a Siggolsheim Poire Williams as a digestif.

Le Crocodile continues to be one of my favorite dining experiences here in Vancouver.