SANCERRE Rive Gauche -- Restaurant Review

 

For contact, directions and to make reservations, click on this link Sancerre Rive Gauche

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+)

4.25 - Star.......................................€€€€........................................ 2 - Bell

Spending our last night together with besties from SF. First we went to Cafe D'Alma, which is a pretty well known café with incredible views of Tour Eiffel. At our friend's recommendation we went to Sancerre for dinner, conveniently located across the street from where they were staying. I've been there before for lunch, and recall it was excellent, but I'd never been there for dinner, so this was a nice treat. 

Sancerre is a small, cute, cozy restaurant. At the helm is Anne-Cécile Faye, she brought the restaurant to a new recognizable level. All the wait staff were beyond friendly and proficient. In fact, as an aside, I left my scarf and the waiter tracked me down across the street to return it to me.

Now onto the food. I will primarily review the dishes that I had, but mention some dishes others had that I tasted and combine what they thought of the dish as well as what I thought of it.  

ENTRÉE

Crab, avocado cream, fennel.  This was the entrée I ordered. It reminded me of a very Californian dish, especially with the avocado. I'm not a fennel fan so I shared the fennel with the others. The crab was good and the combination of the avocado was a good combination. And, as you dug in there were sprinklings of pomegranate seeds which gave it some texture. Although I don't eat fennel, the combination of smoothness, texture and citrus made it a well balanced appetizer.

Sea Bass carpaccio, lime ginger. JJ ordered this entrée. This was my overall-favorite dish of the night. The sea bass was fresh, and although it's similar to a ceviche, it wasn't as sour and the accompaniment of ginger and lime were just to enhance the fish.

A hit for me.

Vitello Tonnato. Our friend S, ordered this dish. It's a very classic Italian dish. A dish from Piedmont of cold, sliced veal covered with a creamy, mayonnaise-like sauce that has been flavored with tuna. It might sound like a weird combination, but the tuna is not overwhelming as it would be in a tuna fish sandwich. I thought it was very good, and this dish will definitely start showing up in my eating repertoire for the summer. 

PLATS 

Spaghetti with black truffles. D and I ordered this dish. The flavors were as described, but additionally cream and parmesan was added. You could taste the truffles but it was not overwhelming where it comes to a point where it tastes too earthy.

Only minor complaint about this dish is that the pasta could've been more al-dente. It's a very filling dish, I barely ate half and brought the rest home. It was a simple, good pasta dish. 

Half smoked salmon, traditional cabbage dish served with white butter sauce. JJ ordered this and it was magnificent.  He loves cabbage (and salmon too) and the butter sauce has bits of roe as did the topping on the cabbage.  A bit hit.

Young farm chicken served with asparagus. S. ordered the special of the night, Although I didn't not taste it, he did say it was really good. In fact, he said he loved it, especially with the morels and the morel sauce.

Chickens in France are so different than the chickens we get in US. In France they're farm raised and not mass produced. And, they're NEVER pumped with hormones or GMOs. The chickens tend to. be thinner and leaner, but also extremely flavorful. Whereas, in US they're enormous and have little to no flavor.

    DESSERT

By this time, we were all feeling pretty full, but we decided to share a cheese plate. As I've said before, you can never, ever go wrong with cheeses in France. I wish I could've remember all we had, but I can't. Net-net, great variety and great flavors. A hit for all of us.

WINES

"We can immediately feel freshness with great floral flavours

Tasting reveal notes of citrus fruits before white flowers. Pleasant and precise, this wine shows a mineral intensity which offers a beautiful finish.

This wine can be tasted with seafood, grilled fishes, white meat or with cheese from our mountain." ~ Lavantureux

As usual, JJ had a glass of red.

SUMMARY 

Dinner was just as good as I remember when I went for lunch a few years ago. The restaurant is small and cozy. And, don't be surprised if fit feels like you're sharing tables with your neighbor if you sit along the windows. But the French always respect your private space, especially at meal time. Service was beyond reproach.

Menus are perfect. They have a nice balance of meat and seafood dishes. Food is not fussy, and is simply plated, but in its simplicity a lot of the flavors shined. They know how to balance flavors to let the main dish speak for itself. Example, the seabass was not overwhelmed with lime, which is often the case. 

For 4-entrées, 4-plats, 1-Cheese plate, 2-bottles of white wine and 1-glass of red wine our bill came to €379 or €94.75 per person. 

Will we go back, ABSOLUTELY!