For dinner last night, we went to La Provence in nearby Big Branch, LA. The father of a friend of Mark’s told me about it a couple of years ago when he was working there as a sous-chef, and my friends Angie and Doug ate there once when they lived here and liked it very much. The restaurant is owned by John Besh, the James Beard Award winner for best chef in the Southeast in 2006. The restaurant grows many of its own vegetables and herbs and makes its own goat cheeses. According to the web site, La Provence “honors the time-consuming rustic techniques of southern France.”
The food was amazing.
For a starter, we were given a basket of crispy toast rounds with chicken liver pate. It was very tasty, smooth and creamy with a hint of chicken and garlic flavors.
For an appetizer, I had chevre cheese dumplings with heirloom tomatoes. It has a name, I don’t remember all the ingredients, and I’m not doing it justice with this description. It was absolutely delicious. Calvin had a pissaladiere, a thin crispy flatbread topped with caramelized onions, anchovies, olives and fresh basil. We got a loaf of crispy french bread with the appetizers, and I used a piece to soak up the liquid from my appetizer. We each shared a bit. Both were delicious. Calvin’s appetizer had a more intense flavor than mine, but mine was more interesting.
For the main course, Calvin had a chicken cacciatore with mushrooms and parsnips. I had a bit, and it was very good. I had a beef tenderloin, cooked medium rare, with dauphine potatoes and porcini mushrooms in marrow. The beef was the best steak I have ever had, bar none. It was four inches thick, flavorful, and the meat melted in my mouth. The potatoes were meticulously designed. A potato is trimmed to a cylinder, then another cylinder is trimmed out of the middle, leaving a 1/4″ tube of potato as the case. The inner cylinder was sliced and placed back in the potato case, layered with cream. The whole thing was then seasoned lightly and baked. The mushrooms and marrow were served on a half a bone. (My vegetarian friends are probably dying here. On the up side, nothing of this dead animal was wasted - not even the bone marrow.) I shared some of my steak with Calvin.
For dessert, I had creme brulee, with a side of berries stewed in red wine and a lavender shortbread cookie. The creme brulee was rich and creamy and perfectly browned. The berries were bursting with taste and a hint of wine savor, and tasted delicious on a piece of the cookie. Calvin had grilled fruit (pineapple, melon, and something else) and a fresh blueberry sorbet. Once again, we shared a bit and I loved the sorbet. It was probably way, way healthier than the creme brulee, but I don’t feel guilty about enjoying mine more.
The manager stopped by when we were done, asked how everything was, and where we were from. He encouraged us to come back often, but this is going to have to be a special event restaurant - it was VERY expensive, and we didn’t even drink.
Atmosphere: Calvin wore a black shirt and black pants, so the hostess came back after seating us and replaced his white napkin with a black one. The art on the walls is original art by local artists, some of which was just astounding. There was a hammered copper piece over the fireplace in our dining room, lacquered in some places, polished bright in others, covered with a wash in others, and left to oxidize in others. It evoked sun setting over a bayou. The manager told us about and showed us some of the other pieces when we were leaving. It was beautiful. There is a courtyard outside with a lovely fountain. It was a bit loud where we were, but the music was nice and the company was (as usual) excellent. It was a memorable celebration for our “donut” anniversary.
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