La Chaumiere in Troinex, near Geneva

[lizziee]

La Chaumiere in Troinex

Troinex is right across the border in Switzerland, not too far from Geneva. We had our passports and documents for the car at the ready. Ready for what? There was no guard, no nothing.

When we were at Georges Blanc, we were told our favorite Maitre d', Patrice Pechereau had just left two weeks ago. We asked for his number and tracked him down at his new job at La Chaumiere.

La Chaumiere's chef, Richard Cressac, was the chef at Beau Rivage Hotel in Geneva until 6 months ago. The restaurant is a cooperative venture of the city of Troinex with the Chef and outside investors. It opened as a bistro about 6 months ago. Then, on September 17 they opened a fine dining, gastronomic restaurant along side the bistro. We arrived on the 3rd day of business.

The room is generic French restaurant, well-spaced tables with starched white linen tablecloths; large picture windows overlook a small meadow.

With our aperitif, we had an amuse of rillette of salmon--light, fresh, simple.

1st course--cold foie gras terrine interspersed with a layer of cepes. The foie gras was presented in a triangular shape with a small salad of mixed greens, crusty baguette and tiny dots of balsamic vinegar reduction vinaigrette.

2nd course--a omble chevalier served bone-in with a classic butter sauce. The omble chevalier had been caught yesterday and tasted as fresh as it sounds. It was served with a squash blossom filled with ratatouille.

3rd course--a rack of lamb coated with herbs with a sauce of jus de rosemary. On the plate was a small portion of crispy potatoes anna and a red pepper from Spain filled with a mushroom duxelle.

Patrice did table side service for both the fish (de-boning) and the lamb (carving and serving).

It was hard to believe that the restaurant was only 3 days old - wonderful, professional service with good food at reasonable prices.