The Alain Ducasse-owned Aux Lyonnais was a wildly uneven experience. While some of our dishes were fantastic, most walked the line between sufficient and bad. It goes without saying that we could have been there on a bad day, or our tastes are different, but that’s how the experience lingers with me. The desserts were the strongest part of the meal, so if you do go, keep that in mind. What I liked most consistently were the cast iron vessels that a lot of the dishes were served in. Homey and pretty and functional - everything stayed hot so well. The restaurant itself was also beautiful, full of a warm fin-de-siecle elegance.

We had an extremely jovial and helpful waiter, who was by no means overbearing. After he asked us if we had any questions about the menu, he probably sensed that there were many, so he offered to go over the entire menu for us. And he did. It seemed like a lot of tourists frequent Aux Lyonnais, so I guess it’s nice that they take care of them without making them feel bad for being tourists.

Coincidentally, my pictures are hit or miss for this meal, so bear that in mind, too.

Cervelle de Canut. Garlic and herb fromage blanc spread. We ate this while looking over the menu, and I couldn’t get enough of of its silky goodness.

I also liked this bag of Bread.

Cocette of Vegetables. Poor Chad. Like just about every other restaurant we went to in Paris, there was no AC, and it was so hot. And because he was sitting at the end of the table, with no leg room because of the table’s legs, he had to sit far away and slouch in to meet the table. Unfortunately, he also met this steaming casserole of vegetables, acting as his own personal steam machine.

But how did they taste? Like cooked vegetables.

Marinated Eel Salad with Beans. I ordered this to be brave, but I didn’t realize the feat it would involve to eat. The eel was so tough that I felt like I would never stop chewing, and the flavor of the marinade (which tasted like a citrus-y vinegar to me) combined with the masticated eel made me nauseous, and ugh, the thought of it still does. The beans (fava, I believe) were starchy. The lettuce good and fresh, though.

Pike Quenelles and Crayfish. I was really looking forward to this, as it’s something of a signature dish. I’ve read others compare it very favorably to a fluffy omelet, but mine were kind of dry and spongy… it had a steamed kind of texture and undertone of flavor. To be sure, it also tasted very fishy, and the creamy crayfish sauce brought it to an even deeper fishiness. But even that felt one-note. It was such a large serving of the same fishy, spongy thing in almost every bite.  The crayfish were moist and tasty, but didn’t help for variety’s sake.

Breast of Veal. These were striated with layers of fat and meat, and yet somehow, the meat was extremely dry, to the eternal mystification of Chad. When asked about it, or spied chewing for extended periods of time, he’d alternate between exclaiming, “It’s like eating bread!” and “It’s like eating turkey!” But… at least it retained the flavor of veal. And the crisp croutons in the sauce and meltingly tender potatoes were excellent.

Duck was also eaten, which was described as great and almost robustly beefy.

Liver was also eaten and was described as the best the eater had ever had, akin, as it was, to butter.

The Turbot was described as very good.

Ah, desserts…

Cherry Souffle with Cherry Ice Cream. This had kirsch, and the eater enthusiastically compared it to a cloud.

Ile Flottante aux Pralines Roses et Tartes aux Pralines - This was completely wonderful, and one of the best ile flottante that I’ve seen and tasted.  The tart had a wonderful caramel-forward flavor, almost like a pecan pie. The secret to it all were pink pralines, which are sugar-coated almonds with pink coloring, which add crunch and chew and flavor. It was all very sweet, but the anglaise cut that nicely.  I found a recipe for the dish here.

Peche Melba a Notre Facon - Wonderfully soft and flavorful peach with raspberry jam and creme chantilly dotted vanilla bean seeds. The very creamy vanilla ice cream on the side felt superfluous, given the perfection in the jar.

Strawberries Beaujolais with Cookies. Described as refreshing.

One day in June, we wanted to go to the girl & the fig for lunch, but I didn’t feel like driving to Sonoma. So, I searched for an equivalent restaurant in the Napa Valley. The French bistros in Napa — like Bouchon and Bistro Jeanty — seemed to be a bit pricier and have heavier food, so I chose Gordon’s based on what I’d read online about it being casual, popular for breakfast and lunch, and having a good wine list.

So, we drove there, and walked in… and realized that it’s nothing like the girl & the fig. So, I threw out my pre-conceptions, and settled into an American country cafe, with French and Mexican touches. It reminded me of Literati Cafe in LA. The menu is written on chalkboards above the counter, and it consists of mostly salads and sandwiches, ranging from BLT’s to Croque Madame’s to burgers. They seemed to be made with fresh, often creative ingredients. You order at the counter, which is covered with baked treats, and then wait at a table for your food to be brought to you. The decor is country-style cozy, with lots of light wood, and it’s neat and welcoming. There’s also a communal table and outdoor seating. Gordon’s seems like a good place to get decent food when you don’t want to deal with too much of a sit down experience, or want something for takeaway.

I got the BLT, which was crunchy and juicy, and scraped around my mouth like a good BLT should.

Chad got this hulking Burger, which had bacon and cheddar. He loved it for it’s smoky tang, juicy meat, and substantial bun. To this day, if you mention it to him, he’ll likely bow his head a little and whisper, “That’s a good burger.”

Coffee Cake. This was huge, and quite nice.
A few weeks later, I got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Salad for takeaway, which turned out to be a bit gummy when I got to it, with a very thin creamy dressing.

We had a four day long class about contemporary wedding cakes, so we played with rolled fondant, gum paste, and the like. A guest Instructor, who owns a pastry shop and wedding cake business in the area, came in to teach us for two of those days.

Here are some things that we learned:

• You need to crumb coat your cake before applying the rolled fondant to it. The crumb coat should be perfectly smooth and even, with no shadows from the cake showing (or else it’ll show through the fondant). Since you need to chill the crumb coat so that it firms up a little, you can also smooth it out more precisely once out of the fridge since you’ll have more control over the firm icing.
• You can make your own rolled fondant (especially if you want it taste good), but many wedding cake makers buy it. We were advised to stay away from fondants with ingredients that end in “-ice” (such as regalice, satinice, pettinice, etc) and patisfrance because they are gritty and taste bad; they generally can be rolled very thin, but their ensuing transparency isn’t desirable either). Instead, she recommended Massa Grischuna and Massa Ticino. Wilton is okay, too.
• Fondant is hydroscopic (it attracts moisture), so air and moisture will affect it.
• Modeling Chocolate can also be used to cover a cake, and it often tastes better than fondant. It’s firmer, though, so you have to sheathe the top and sides of the cakes separately, and then close the seam smoothly with your fingers. You have to keep in mind that white chocolate has a yellow color when you add coloring to it; for instance, adding pink will get you peach.
• French buttercream should only be used to fill a cake — it’s too soft to put on the outside. Italian buttercream can be used for either.
• As a wedding cake maker, you can always re-invent yourself… because there’s rarely repeat business.
• If you can get an exclusive deal to make all wedding cakes for a hotel or retail store, that’s good.
• Gum paste flowers usually take at least a day to dry. Gum paste is desirable for this b/c it can be rolled very thin.

We were to decorate one real cake and one styrofoam cake during this block. I was sick one day, so I only decorated one real cake. I just wanted to get a feel for how the fondant acted, so this was a start…

It’s no secret that I loathe making pure decor stuff, so my cake was the wedding cake for people who don’t like wedding cakes. The only thing that I really wanted to get right was to have a perfectly smooth layer of white fondant… no tears, or scratches, or bumps. And I did it. I attribute some of that to my enthusiasm for rolling tart dough. Anyway, what you do is roll out the fondant on a mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar (you can make a little tied baggy from cheesecloth), and then go over it with a fondant smoother. If there are little air bubbles, gently prick them with a toothpick and smooth over them; the air bubbles usually found by running your hand over the fondant than by sight. Once you put the fondant over the cake, you smooth it again and make sure that it’s snug against the cake. To trim it, you run a pizza cutter around it, at an angle so that it doesn’t scrape against the fondant. You need to put something around the border to cover the seam.
To color fondant (and marzipan), you color a small batch, and then use pieces of that as seeds for coloring other batches of fondant.

For the rope, you just twist together two strands of fondant, and then roll them so that they flatten out. I think it looks much better like that than unrolled.

For the Flowers That Do Not Exist In Nature, you roll a rectangle of fondant, fold it in half, and then roll it up, slightly spiralled, and then pull apart the edges a little. I made a whole bunch more, but I also wanted some degree of proportion on this modest cake, so only three of them were needed. They were secured to the cake with toothpicks. The leaves were made with molds.

I’ve been to Cindy’s a few times since I last wrote about it, and it’s become my standby for a good meal — and good drinks — in the Napa valley. When I think about how the dishes are so full of fresh ingredients that are combined in interesting ways and priced in a reasonable fashion… and how they’re served in such a casually elegant and friendly setting… and how the attention to detail that pervades the restaurant is comforting rather than stifling… I wonder why we ever do go anywhere else.

Most of these pictures are from a couple weeks ago, but I have a few pictures from a visit in May. I don’t see the harm in including them, too.

By the way, Cindy Pawlcyn has recently come out with a new book called Big Small Plates, which I can’t wait to get my hands on, especially since that’s the kind of food that I most like to eat.

Rabbit Tostada with Red Chile Salsa, Black Beans, and Feta. It’s relatively hard to find rabbit on menus, and it’s even harder to find good rabbit on plates. But CBK has a way with rabbit, and especially for a first visit, I’d recommend getting this as an indicator of just what CBK is all about. The ingredients tie together so well, and although the serving is large, it’s the juicy, sweet yet earthy rabbit that retains the spotlight, while so many textures and flavors come in and out of focus around it. Some people might think that rabbit tastes like chicken, but it shouldn’t. CBK brings out the rabbit in rabbit.

Chilled Grape and Almond Gazpacho. This was thickened with cream cheese and yogurt.

Laura Chenel Goat Cheese Ravioli, Scallions, Gaeta Olive Sauce, & Parmesan. *from May* This could be a little neater, proportion-wise. That’s a lot of olive to get through to get at everything else, but if you love olives, great.

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