Café Boulud

 

Chef Daniel Boulud

 In celebration of my sixteenth birthday (got my drivers license), I asked to go to a restaurant, but not just any restaurant. Café Boulud is owned by a chef that I really admire, his name is Daniel Boulud. Chef Boulud is a world-renowned chef who is known for his modern cuisine with a French flair. You may recognize him from a show called “After Hours” in which he cooked meals at various restaurants with different well known chefs. He has restaurants in New York City, Beijing, London, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Florida! Of course my family and I didn’t travel to Beijing or New York  (although that would have been fun). We went to his restaurant, Café Boulud located here in Palm Beach, Florida, which is run by Executive Chef Zach Bell. The restaurant is located in the Brazilian Court Hotel, which is quite small but very nice. The atmosphere of the restaurant is casual yet elegant, with colorful paintings of the French countryside. When you are seated the hostess says “ Bon Appetit” which is the French way of saying enjoy your meal.

 Café Boulud interior

When they offer drinks I said “water” but our waiter made me specify which type of water I wanted (flat, iced or sparkling), who knew there were three different kinds of water! First they served a complementary Lemon Arancicni (fried risotto balls), which was a refreshing way to start the meal. The menu is divided into four sections, La Tradition (Classic and Country cooking), La Saison (The Rhythm of the Seasons), Le Plus Simple (Simply Prepared), and Le Voyage (Cuisines Du Monde). Each menu offers appetizers, salads, and entrees (and they’re all so hard to choose from). It would take me 10 different blog’s to tell you just some of the dishes, so I’ll tell you what my family and I decided upon. My mom had the Risotto Primavera, which consisted of young spring vegetables, pea shoots, Red Cow Parmigiano Reggiano and a saffron emulsion (simple and so delicious).

Risotto Primavera

 

My dad had the Sautéed Veal Rib Chop, which had a mushroom stuffed artichoke with bacon, balsamic glazed onion, and a gremolata (mixed herbs) pan sauce (mouthwatering, literally).

 Sautéed Veal Rib Chop

I couldn’t decide but I settled on the Pistachio Crusted Jergowitz Duck, which had baby beets, roasted shallots, fennel panisse and an endive salad (it was very earthy and fragrant due to the fennel).

Pistachio Crusted Jergowitz Duck

All of the ingredients were very fresh and the entrees were exceptional. The sizes of the portions were just enough. Each dish is placed down in front of each person at the same time. I thought this was genius and it showed fantastic manners because its rude to have your dish before any one else’s. Now for dessert, which blew my mind. Again it was a tough call as my parents told me it was up to me to decide!!!! The waiter suggested a new menu item that was originally a special but it became so popular they had to add it to the menu. It was called Foret Noire, which is a liquid caramel chiboust tart, sweet and sour cherries served with a majari chocolate sorbet. My family and I died and went to sweet heaven! It was tangy and sweet and served beautifully.

Foret Noire

We also had the Tarte Aux Frambioses which is a lemon cream topped with toasted meringue (whipped egg whites) and raspberry puree.

 

Tarte Aux Frambioses

What an incredible meal!  Our waiter made every effort to make sure our experience was enjoyable. My parents and I walked out of there with huge smiles and full stomachs. I’d like to one day have the opportunity to cook with Chef Boulud (maybe for a Cookisode), but in the meantime if anyone wants to take me out for dinner, I've got Café Boulud on speed dial. Keep on cooking!!!