My Fabulous Birthday Dinner At Pantagruel

As I saw the sun rising over the rooftops, I greeted my birthday with much gratitude.  Another year to behold that would offer seeds of hope and joys to be gathered and shared.

Birthdays are more of a challenge to me since I lost my son and with this year, I felt additional rays of sorrow for all of those who were deprived of another year by COVID and the grief I know too well for the families left behind.

Life has always been uncertain, but now this global virus casts a greater shadow around our fragility.

I must confess I wanted a rather subdued birthday celebration in light of it all.  However I am for celebrating birthdays in big ways, this year just wouldn’t seem right, given the global tragedy.

I brought up some Champagne from my little cave. It was from the vintner I “participated” in harvesting a few baskets two years ago that I was saving for special days.

I did plan on eating out at a restaurant I had wanted to go to before COVID hit.  Pantagruel had only opened in December of 2019 to be abruptly closed in March till late June.

I had heard good things about the young chef, Jason Gouzy, and was intrigued by his very ambitious menu.  It was definitely inspired by Rabelais’s fictional character, Pantagruel!

He has already drawn waves of acclaim here, and I enjoy experiencing new chefs before they start lining up stars.

After a glass of Champagne before departing, we arrived a bit early to find the restaurant already filled. I was glad to have been seated with a kitchen view as I love watching the chefs in action and getting an occasional wave from Chef Gouzy.

I was also happy to learn that he had studied at Ferrandi, the fabulous culinary school called the Harvard of chefs here in Paris where my son attended too.

Those were happier times for me with wonderful memories of being invited for lunches my son helped prepare at Ferrandi!

It was a tough job to settle on which wine to choose that could decently accompany over 8 different courses, each with several variations!  Pantagruel did offer a glass per course selection, but I felt it would be too much for me, besides adding to the overall cost.

I wanted a well-bodied and perfumed wine.   I felt the white Cote du Rhone Saint Peray was a good choice in my price range, made from the Roussanne and Marsanne grapes.

It is a fleshy wine with a lovely perfume of pears and honeysuckle.  Fortunately, it held forth throughout the dinner, often complimenting the dishes and never detracting from them either.

I must admit, I wasn’t prepared for such a gargantuan feast that was to follow!!

Rabelais and his character Pantagruel would have been as impressed as we were!

The whole dinner was a banquet of tremendously creative dishes that offered a delicious culinary voyage of titillating smells, tastes, contrasting textures, and a kaleidoscope of captivating colourful foods that were a feast for the eyes!

As a passionate cook, I was well aware that each dish presented involved a multitude of intensive precise work.  I found it astonishing that it was carried out by only three in the kitchen and a firecracker dishwasher!

There is Chef Gouzy, Youré his second, Odile, the pastry chef and Mamadou, the dishwasher, who washes over 300 plates a night!

The little amuses bouches are for awakening your tastebuds and often foretell what is to follow.  These set the stage for an unforgettable evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the Parmesan gougères hiding a coulis of kalamata olives.  Sablés topped with fennel cream and little mussels made for an interesting contrast.

Then out came the intriguing poached leeks wrapped in sheets of nori nestled over confit egg sauce with Shiso, presented on small beach galets(pebbles).  A lovely combination of tastes!

Very noteworthy was the delicious bread made with yeast over 130 years old by an Italian baker here in Paris(Pain Vivo), and a composite butter of fennel.

The first course presented was marinated cucumber with a slightly sweet cucumber granita served with a bit of salicorn and tzatziki with a dab of gin surrounded by trout caviar and a sauce of algae.  A very interesting triple contrast of sour, sweet, and umami sea saltiness from the algae and salicorn.

Salicorn, by the way, is a delicious plant that grows wild along the French coasts that tastes of the sea, that I love to serve with fish.

Then came a smoked eggplant slice, its caviar topped with smoked herring, and eggplant chips garnished with shaved Bonita.

The crustacean course was a melt on your tongue Langoustine tail served on a delicate flan of corn milk, a winning combination.  Variations were the pincher served with mayonnaise with macadamia nut shavings.

Next came the succulent codfish in three variations.  A tender slice is garnished with red orache in a lovely lovage sauce.  Here it is raw topped with peaches and feta.

 

 

 

Afterwards,  juicy portions of chicken with jus; one served with red tomato, then the other on a green zebra.  Another version was served on a concassé of red tomatoes with a vegetable chip.

Pre dessert?  Yes, of course to prime your tastebuds for some sweets on this Pantagrulic menu!

Little sugar cones filled with strawberry sherbet with mascarpone and blueberries were delightfully refreshing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert was three variations of red plums.    Cheesecake domes dusted with hibiscus on top of a plum tart was delectable. A coulis of plums under a dollop of thick yoghurt and special Greek olive oil was unusual and surprisingly good.  A nage of plums with lemon sauce was lovely also.

Just in case you might not be already completely stuffed to the gills; out comes several mignardises!

 

These are small sweet treats to go with a café, which are traditional in grand French restaurants.

Tiny scrumptious tarts of cassis(black currents), pistachio Madeleines with lemon mascarpone, and bites of chocolate cake topped with salted butter caramel and hazelnut cream were all succulent!

Afterwards, we got a chance to talk with Chef Gouzy, and thank him and his brigade for this immensely exquisite feast!  He explained that his menu reflects some obvious Japanese overtures from his travels there and is what he would want to eat!

Bravo to him, Youré,  Odile, Mamadou and the wonderful waitstaff!   

We ended up the last to leave, departing very pleasantly stuffed, but not in an overly heavy way.

Here is Aimée with her kind beau Laurent, who with much generosity,  both treated me to this fabulous feast!

Thank you, Aimée and Laurent, for a night I will not forget!

 

And last but not least!  Voici my own birthday cake creation I made the following day!  A Biscuit Noisette, Crostillant chocolate gingembre et citron, et Mousse au Chocolate Dulcey.

The bottom layer was a soft hazelnut cake, topped with crunchy dark chocolate flavoured with a confit of ginger and lemon and my own pralin,  topped with a meltingly delicious mousse of Dulcey chocolate and decorated with caramelized hazelnuts and meringue drops.

It was absolutely luscious and a fitting finale to a wonderful birthday weekend!