L'Aube -- Restaurant Review

 

For menu, directions and general information:  https://www.laube-paris.com/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor 

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4.8 - Star........................................€€€................................... 2 - Bells

NOTE: Lower cost by € since we skewed total expenses by ordering champagne

The restaurant is located very, very close to the Palais Royale, some of you may recognize the building and/or location. It's the old Zebulon restaurant of years past.  Zebulon rose fast in the ranks to become a very popular Parisian restaurant. As fast as it rose, it lost favor and many of us stopped going because the quality of the food and service really degraded, but that's another story all onto itself.

Now onto what sits there now, which by-the-way has only been open for 6-months. 

There is vast improvement in the interior. They spent months and I assume lots of money to renovate it. It's much classier and a more "fine dining" establishment when compared to what was there before. 

The Chef de cuisine is managed by Thibault Nizard, a native of Marseilles. At the young age of 30, he cooks beyond his years. His style of cooking is innovative, stylish and more importantly, delicious. 

For lunch there are 2 prix-fixe menus, a 3 course (49€) and 5 course (95€), but we all ordered the 3 course prix-fixe lunch and for 20€ more on the 3 course, a wine pairing . For us in Paris, this is a great deal, especially with this caliber of restaurant. 

AMUSE BOUCHE.

Cheese boule. We had some tiny boules,  almost like an individual  Croquembouche or Chouquette filled with creamy cheese. It was beyond delicious. We were told the chef selected the cheeses to make it into a cream. 

Tomato "cake" with espelette. It was a tomato savory cake with espelette. Equally delicious.  

If this was the amuse bouche, then we're off to a very good start. It definitely tickled my taste buds, I wanted for more.

ENTREE.

Tomatoes with cream.  We misunderstood the wait staff when they said they were serving us a
tomato liqueur along with our tomato entrée. We drank it with our amuse bouche. I guess you can't take us out anymore. It would've been a great pairing. The tomato liqueur was actually quite good. It tasted like a smooth, not too sweet sauterne, but with a hint of tomato. 

Regardless, the tomato entrée was quite delicious without the liqueur. There was one large red tomato topped with a smaller green tomato that was soaked in its natural juices. Sitting atop it was a cool cream. The cream tasted like it was folded with a light cheese, probably a concoction of the chef. And, there were hints of basil and mint. We all loved it. Very refreshing. 

PLATS:

Cabillaud. Three of us got this dish. The picture does not do it justice since brown is a hard color to photograph. There was a cabillaud that was wrapped around a local sausage. The sausage was akin to a mortadela. The sauce was very rich made with chicken stock and wine that was reduced to a wonderful demi-glace. There were pieces of pork, potatoes and mushrooms. And, we got an additional bowl of more of the sides surrounding the dish. Very strong, rich flavors on this dish. The wine flavors came out. It was an excellent dish.  

Beef Cheeks. One person ordered this plat, which was one of the other choices for the prix-fixe menu. As I mentioned brown food is hard to photograph. It was delicious, but was very rich and the very strong reduced wine flavors, made it a tad bitter. I liked it, but I much preferred the cabillaud.

As for the side, it was a mushroom stuffed ravioli with a cream sauce. I thought it was very good on its own. In other words, it could've been a whole meal. 

If I'm being honest, it was a very strange combination. You have a very, very rich meat dish accompanied with a creamy pasta dish. Rich-on-rich. Granted, separately, they were EXCELLENT. 

DESSERTS

Dessert drink of gin, pear and St. Germain Liqueur. 

I normally do not like gin. But I have to say this drink along with the dessert was so good. So refreshing and not cloyingly sweet. This was a concoction made by the chef.

Cheese fondant. I went off menu and got this dessert. It was absolutely delicious. The cheese was a combination of the Chef's likes and whipped into almost like a mousse. It was savory with a savory ring of savory bread sticks formed into a circle. 

As you dug in, there was a surprise confiture of fruit that added a little sweetness that brought the cheese dish to the next level. It was an EXCELLENT dessert. I would have this again in a nano-second. 

Candied plumb with lavender and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a bed of crispy crumbles.

I'm not a sweets person but I have to say I really liked the plumb. And, with the ice cream and crumble it gave an extra layer of dimension and texture. It all came together as a cohesive excellent dessert. 

Coupe-de-Champagne. To close off our lunch, we got champagne later followed by "mignardise."

We ordered 3 glasses, JJ doesn't drink champagne. What can I say about it, but you can't go wrong with champagne in France. We had the brut. 

Mignardise. They looked so inviting, I broke my rule of no sugar and had some. The large boules were filled with a pastry cream. And, the smaller boues were filled with a "semi-solid" ganache. And, both were sitting on a bed of chipped chocolate crumbs. How can you go wrong with this as a parting gift. 

SUMMARY

What can I say, all-in-all this was an excellent restaurant. The service was beyond reproach. We had 3-servers to us. But perfect service, not overbearing as in the U.S. The tables were spread out nicely that you actually don't feel crowded. You were provided with little stools for your purses/bags.  I can imagine it being quite a romantic restaurant in the evenings. They do have a private dining room enough for 12 downstairs. The ambiance and service is what you would typically find in a Michelin starred restaurant. The chef is not only creative in the kitchen, he has a fine eye for design, which is reflected in the aesthetics of the restaurant, which he helped design. 

It was near perfect. The only minor complaint/observation, the beef cheeks and ravioli combo confused me. Two very heavy rich dishes side-by-side. Each by themselves would've been delicious. I would've served some greens to lighten the richness. Speaking of greens, they really should incorporate some as an accompaniment. 

For 4-prix-fixe meals and added wine tasting pairing consisting of 4-glasses of wine, 8-glasses of liqueur, 3-bottles of water, 3-glasses of champagne, 1-tea and, 1-off pre-fixe of a cheese fondant, our bill came to €368 or a total of €92 per person.

I would highly recommend you go before it becomes known, I foresee this restaurant becoming very popular. 

Would we go back? in a heartbeat. Sadly, it'll have to wait our return from our winter hajj to US. 

Note: If you are "purely" pescatarian and/or don't eat alcohol in your food, let them know.