Georges Blanc

[lizziee]

First dinner at Georges Blanc:

Georges Blanc is still a gourmet destination. The hotel is beautifully outfitted and very comfortable. The town of Vonnas is "Georges Blanc-ville." The Blancs, as an enterprise, dominate everything, but they are totally unpretentious and absolutely charming.

We had aperitifs (deux coupes de champagne) in the lounge. They present the menus here as well as the wine list. This is a great system. You order in the lounge. The sommelier helps you chose the wine. They seat you in the dining room when the kitchen and staff are ready. You arrive at your table; your white wine is chilling and your red is resting on your table with the label carefully positioned for your reading pleasure.

Note also--the sommelier smells and tastes, if necessary, every bottle of wine. It is rare that a really bad (corked or worse) bottle will get to the customer.

There is absolutely no pretentious handling of the wine. The sommelier never holds the bottle in his hands to open it, there is no shaking of bottles; it is opened on the side board (guerridon) and placed carefully in the appropriate spot for service. Nothing is designed to establish the superiority or greater knowledge of the sommelier--it is clear that he is there to be of service--he understands quality wine service.

Amuse are presented in the lounge with your champagne. There were 3--a deep fried frogs leg with a puree of parsley and garlic mousse, tartar of bar and an escargot in a parsley, butter sauce served in an egg cup--you know you are in BURGUNDY!

1st course--consommé glace au suc de tomate, huile vierge petits legumes croquants et crustaceís. This was 5 perfectly cooked shrimp served cold in a green olive oil, tomato nage with carrot slices, spring onions and celery--light and delicious.

2nd course--embrouillade de grenouilles au vert a l'epice et poudre d'ail--tiny pieces of boned frogs legs in a large bowl with a soupy sauce of lemon, parsley and garlic. The unusual component of this dish was shelled peas which added wonderful flavor and crunch.

3rd course--royal de foie blond au corail de homard et puree de morilles au vin Jaune.

With this course a major service error occurred. We had noticed that as we were in the middle of eating our second course, 2 dishes covered with silver cloches were wheeled close to a table near us where they sat for 10 minutes.

Just as soon as the 2nd course was removed the 3rd course [those same silver cloched dishes near the other table) was presented to us. Not only had we seconds before finishing our second course, but this course had sat for 10 minutes waiting for us. We pointed out the error and they willingly took it back. What surprised us is that this was an unusual service mistake - service at George Blanc has always been the hallmark of the restaurant.

The dish itself, when it arrived, remade and on time, about 10 minutes after we had finished the 2nd course, was excellent but very rich. It was a quenelle of lobster roe with morels and a sauce made from Jura wine.

4th course--I won't bother with the French description of the dish as it doesn't really describe it well. It was lobster poached in lemongrass sesame oil served with peapods and tomatoes. The Thai taste was over-powering - not a good dish.

5th course--lamb marinated in savory, then roasted. This was excellent, well-seasoned and served rose.

6th course--cheese from the cart

As usually happens around this time, note-taking was becoming tedious - wine plus notes don't mix very well.

We decided to take coffee and mignardises in the lounge and forgo the grand desserts of Vonnas. My husband found room for a cigar and armagnac and I forced myself to have Chartreuse Tarragon MEV- (I was reserving my favorite Chartreuse Tarragon for the second night.)

Wines:

99 Pernand-Vergelesses, Gabriel Muskovak--excellent, one of our favorite areas, much more reasonable than the neighboring Corton Charlemagne.

99 Volnay, Domaine Marquid d'Angerville--drinking perfectly - great with the lamb and the cheese.

Note to e-gulleters : Have any of you seen or used a sheet

of plastic that takes the labels off perfectly? If so, what do you think? Has any restaurant you go to used this?

Georges Blanc--2nd meal--lunch

With our champagne, even though other diners were getting the same amuse as we had last night, we were served different amuses on a rectangular smoked glass plate with 3 square indentations: a small slice of foie gras, a small bite of lobster with peas in a cream sauce and a bite of serrano ham with asparagus.

Fabrice, our friend/sommelier consulted on our choice of Raveneau, Chablis Primeier Cru 1995, Butteaux. Raveneau is one of our favorites. Fabrice told us that Georges Blanc has 130,000 bottles in their wine cellar. Fabrice said he has 2 computers for the inventory, but really prefers a pencil and paper. The Raveneau was nice but not

as good as what we've been enjoying from our cellar where we have the 95 and 97.

1st course--we split a minute de bar nappee d'une mariniere d'aromates--this was a thin slice of bass in a richly seasoned, aromatic sauce, enriched with butter.

2nd course: This is where we go our separate ways because each of us has an absolute Georges Blanc favorite.

My husband--Crepe Parmentiere au salmon et caviar. This is one of the signature dishes. A crepe made from potatoes envelopes a thin slice of salmon with caviar embedded in the crepe.

Me - Frogs legs in the traditional garlic, parsley, butter sauce. The dish is served in two portions to keep the frogs legs hot.

Second Dinner

With our coupe de champagne in the lounge, we were presented 3 new amuse on the glass plate--small Vonnas pancake with a slice of carrot and a slice of tomato, marinated salmon--similar to gravlax, and one deep fried escargot with parsley cream sauce--a nice start.

1st course--foie gras de canard en ecorce d'epices. The foie gras was served with an apricot conficture, plum quenelle, pistachio tuile, toasted bread and a small salad - a very nicely prepared and presented dish--3 star all the way.

2nd course- I had pre-ordered the specialty de maison--the Poularde de Bresse cuitre en croute de gros sel "Selon Alexandre." This dish must be ordered at least 24 hours in advance.

There is no way that words do this dish justice. This is when both smell-o-vision and taste-a-vision is essential. Imagine the best, moistest, most delicious roast chicken you have ever eaten and then imagine it 100%+ better than that.

The chicken is brought to a table set with cutting boards and a large boning knife.

The chicken is encased in an intricately decorated pastry shell. The captain cuts around the bottom of the shell and carefully lifts off the top in one piece. Picking up the chicken with his knife, he empties the rich golden juice from the chicken - it just oozes out. Deftly the chicken is carved table-side.

It is served in two servings--first breast and wing alone and then thigh and leg with a salad.

The color of the chicken is golden, the meat so moist and tender, the juice rich, the preparation simple and perfect!

George Blanc happened to walk by our table as we had begun eating. He smiled at this wonderful dish, said, "the best way to eat chicken" and then suggested sprinkling a little sel de mare on the chicken. Perfect.

3rd course--cheese from the cheese cart

We adjourned to the lounge for digestifs, coffee, small pastries and my husband's cigar. I couldn't resist and had the 1973 (a full order) and the 1956 Chartreuse (just a small taste) Jeune Taraggon.

Wines:

97 Trimbach, Gewerztraminer Vendages Tardives - a glass with the foie gras

88 Chambolle -Musigny 1er Cru--Les Charmes, Domaine Des Chezeaux

Both wines were excellent. The Alsatian matched up wonderfully with the foie gras--sweet enough but not too sweet.

The Chambolle-Musigny was excellent--a special treat because Fabrice went to some trouble to select it for us--it was deliciously full bodied, showing a little age so not too forward, but delicious with a hint of raspberry and a very very smooth polished finish.

Over-all impression of Georges Blanc-- if you order carefully and don't get sucked into the G-7 Chicken dish, the food is done with care and precision. Presently, the front of the house (their GM, Patrice just left a week ago) is not as strong - there doesn't seem to be that one person with the "watchful" eye and the "deadly" stare that keeps all the staff in line.

Georges Blanc is still 3 Star--one service mistake our first night did not destroy that. It is nice, familiar, comfortable and convenient. However, they should leave the Thai spices alone and stick to what they do best. Sure there should be change and innovation--but, for me, Georges Blanc should be wary of introducing too many "international notes" to his cuisine.

[hollywood]

Wow, lizziee, terrific stuff. More please.

[Lesley C]

Great report.

My Parisian brother-in-law gave me a set of those wine label lifter plastic sheets. They are truly amazing, the smoothest and fastest way to remove a wine label cleanly. They're called COLLECTIQUETTE and are made in Japan. If you're interested, I could find out where to buy them in Paris.

[lizziee]

Lesley,

I am very interested. Do you know how much they cost? Is there a source in the US?

I really appreciate your help.