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Passionne in Montclair


paul jaouen

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I have eaten here three times and have enjoyed each visit. Food, service, ambience are all fine. It is BYO and they have decent stemware so no need to bring your own. Some of the highlights are a special of lobster risotto (had twice) and the venison. Venison was cooked exactly as I ordered. Not gamey but loads of flavor. Chocolate souffle for dessert with a Barolo Chinato is killer.

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I have eaten at Passionne many times and have never had a bad meal there. Scarlet, I am also a fan of Orbis and Culinariane, but if you have not eaten at Passionne many times, maybe you should try it again. I think the chef just keeps getting better and better. They have just made some renovations which makes the place seem somewhat cozier than it was before.

Susan

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Funny, I just met the chef/owner (Michael Carrino) last night at a program at the Adult School of Montclair. I had the chance to taste his amuse of salmon over onion marmalade with a Pernod sauce and a dab of (iirc) paddle fish caviar; it was delicious, well-balanced, and very tasty. My first thought was that I need to get over to this restaurant and that I'm surprised I don't hear/read more about it!

"I'm not eating it...my tongue is just looking at it!" --My then-3.5 year-old niece, who was NOT eating a piece of gum

"Wow--this is a fancy restaurant! They keep bringing us more water and we didn't even ask for it!" --My 5.75 year-old niece, about Bread Bar

"He's jumped the flounder, as you might say."

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I love CulinAriane. Harder to get into on weekends because it is a smaller place. We're doing a wine dinner there later this month during the week. While CulinAriane remains steady I think Passionne has consistently improved. If you haven't been in a while it's worth another visit.

I was a big fan of Orbis until they changed their menu to small/large plates. Seems to me they were not sure what they wanted to be which I think hurt the overall experience. Some of the small plates were actually quite huge. I haven't been in a while so granted they may have gotten a more confident handle on their restaurant's style or what they want the style to be.

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  • 2 months later...

Had an absolutely delicious dinner at Passionne tonight. My husband and I tried a few things off the new summer menu. We shared 3 different appetizers and all were outstanding. There was a nice refreshing cold peach gazpacho with tiny bits of apple in it (and other flavors I can't remember). The rabbit spring roll had some pickled vegetables in it (again can't remember exactly which vegetables). I'm not big on pickled, but I did not detect a real pickled flavor at all. Delicious! The last appetizer was a foie gras with cherries jublilee over a thin toasted bread. Loved it!! For dinner we both decided to try the monkfish. It comes wrapped in bacon and was the most tender and delicious monkfish I've ever eaten. The chef makes his own bacon so it is not too salty and does not overpower the dish at all. Sorry that I can't remember all of the exact ingredients. I feel I'm doing the dishes a disservice, but just believe me - they were excellent!! I have eaten at Passione many times, but it just keeps getting better and better.

Susan

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Not to hijack this thread..

I prefer Orbis and Culinariane in the same area.

I googled this and found no hits, are those two names the name of the restaurant?

Like i.e. Olive Garden, or Macaroni Grill.

Or two separate entities? Got one hit on a "Obris Bistro" and another as "Culinariane".

Back on related, how would you rate this against say, Blu in Montclair?

My experience at Blu was mediocre, though may go visit next door this weekend for dinner.

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Not to hijack this thread..
I prefer Orbis and Culinariane in the same area.

I googled this and found no hits, are those two names the name of the restaurant?

Like i.e. Olive Garden, or Macaroni Grill.

Or two separate entities? Got one hit on a "Obris Bistro" and another as "Culinariane".

Back on related, how would you rate this against say, Blu in Montclair?

My experience at Blu was mediocre, though may go visit next door this weekend for dinner.

Two separate joints.

"All humans are out of their f*cking minds -- every single one of them."

-- Albert Ellis

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