Le CouCou

[Wilfrid]

After a pleasant lunch here not long ago I decided to give it another chance for dinner. I had not been back in a long time, partly because the awful execution of "Tout le Lapin" weighed on my memory.

This was a good meal, except that execution -- predictably, in retrospect -- failed in part at least in the main dish.

Warm oysters with Camembert cream and spinach, a Frenchification of Rockefeller.

A piece of foie gras poached in broth "spiked" with Sauternes, morels (plenty of them) and al dente baby turnips.

Duck breast (here goes) with apricots, other duck bits braised with chanterelles (in a pan on the side). The other bits were delicious, fortunately, because guess what? The duck breast was chewy. I thought I could trust this place. I left a few slices untouched, which is painful when a dish is priced at over $60.

Cheese. No, I can't remember which one; my server recited some options and I picked it.

Pleasantly funky Pierre Moncuit-Delos champagne; a Riesling with the foie; Côtes Catalanes with the duck; Armagnac and espresso.

I have finally come to terms that this kind of food plus the progression of wines BTG will cost $300.

 

[voyager]

Did you choose these courses or was this a menu?

[rozrapp]

@voyager Le Coucou’s menu is totally à la carte. (Pre-pandemic, we had many meals there both lunch and dinner.)

@Wilfrid Did you specify the degree to which you wanted the duck cooked? It looks very rare which would be way too rare for me. 

[MitchW]

20 minutes ago, rozrapp said:

@voyager Le Coucou’s menu is totally à la carte. (Pre-pandemic, we had many meals there both lunch and dinner.)

@Wilfrid Did you specify the degree to which you wanted the duck cooked? It looks very rare which would be way too rare for me. 

Don't order the duck!

[Wilfrid]

Don’t order the duck is right. But I wasn’t going to order the rabbit again. I try to trust the kitchen because I don’t care about raw or bloody meat, but again I got chewy meat. 

Yes it was a la carte and I could have ordered just two savory courses.