brunch | Yummy Ventures

Overall taste: 9/10 | 2017 | 774 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

+++ = highly recommend | – – – = do not recommend

We really like L’Espalier and would probably go more often if it’s cheaper. We got their 3-course brunch for $65pp (served on Saturdays and Sundays). On Wednesday to Friday, they serve their 5-course lunch for $68pp and you also have the option of ordering from their a la carte menu. If you ever go, remember to take their 20% off coupon on your way out for your next visit.

We find a lot of food (especially in the U.S.) to be either too salty or sweet to the extent that we can’t appreciate the taste of the dish. This is one of the rare places where we find food seasoned to our liking, which is why we gave it such a high rating. We generally liked all their dishes except one of the desserts (see below).

Brunch:
Amuse Bouche, Chef Jacob’s smoothe, First, Main, Dessert ($65pp. some selections require a $10 supplement)

img_20170304_145231_126 — **Flavoured butter** (amuse-bouche) *[The flavour was extremely subtle and it tasted like regular butter.]*

img_20170304_145550_606 — **Cranberry muffin & thyme scone** (amuse-bouche) *[We liked both their muffin and scone. Jeff prefers the muffin while Lynn prefers the scone. We weren’t sure if the butter (above) was meant for these since they were already quite buttery.]*

img_20170304_145354_604 — **Chef Jacob’s smoothie –** banana, pineapple & clementine *[Jeff found it a little weird while Lynn liked it. We are not sure what they put in it but Lynn tasted a cheesy flavour while Jeff tasted some sort of herb.]*

afterfocus_1488655878613 — **+++ Lobster bisque –** maine lobster / melted leeks *[It was on the sour side, but it tasted really good. Jeff’s only complaint is that there was too little lobster meat.]*

img_20170304_145732_545 — **+++ Roasted hudson valley foie gras –** bitter almond pancake / roasted pear ($10 supplement) *[We are both big foie gras fans and we really liked everything about this dish. The pancake and pear were not overly sweet or strong and they complemented the perfectly seared foie gras really well.]*

img_20170304_150217_528 — **+++ Roasted loch etive trout** – spring peas / fried capers / asparagus *[If you’ve never had trout, it tastes and look very similar to salmon. The trout was cooked to our preference where the middle was a little rare. It also went extremely well with their sauce.]*

img_20170304_150542_042 — **+++ Ribeye –** truffled eggs / sunchoke / roasted salsify ($10 supplement) [Our favourite part of ribeye is actually the ribeye cap, but this ribeye didn’t have a cap.. Apart from that, everything tasted really good. It almost seemed like the chef made sure every single ingredient was there for a reason, and at the perfect proportion.]

img_20170304_150836_863 — **– – – Jelly donut –** filled cranberry-orange jam / ricotta ice-cream [The ricotta icecream was good, but their donut was a huge disappointment. It tasted like donut that was fried and left out on the table for 2 days. The exterior was not crispy and the dough was hard. We noticed several people who also did not finish their donuts.]

img_20170304_151327_701 — **Chocolate pot de creme** – shortbread cookie / vanilla ice cream [We requested to have their chai spice icecream substituted with something else. We forgot to confirm what they substitute it with but we think it’s vanilla. We have to say this is a very unique chocolate pot de creme. It was more savoury than sweet. Jeff liked it but Lynn prefers her chocolate sweet.]

Overall taste: 7/10 | 2016 | 120 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02116

We were invited to Brasserie Jo for a complementary meal, but we try to stay as objective as possible. There were some dishes we loved, and some, not so much.

+++ = highly recommend | – – – = do not recommend

+++ Mussels Riesling Mariniere – pommes frites – mussels in white wine with fries ($25.95) [This is my favourite dish in the restaurant! I would rate its taste to be 9/10. The mussels were fresh, plump and cooked perfectly. The wine sauce was not over-powering and goes really well with the mussels.

Steak hash with quail egg – this item is not on their menu. Extremely cute presentation, but I found it to be too salty.

Sea scallops provencal – peas, rice ($26.95) [the scallops were overcooked. I wasn’t a fan of the peas and rice underneath as well]

Escargotsen cocotte – garlic butter ($14.95) [I generally like food with less salt, so I do find a lot of food to be on the salty side. However, this dish is extremely salty.]

– – – Steak tartare – pommes frites, mustard butter, bearnaise ($19.95) [Steak tartare is a dish I will never fail to order if it’s in the restaurant menu. The ones I’ve had are usually chopped, which is the way I like it. This beef here was finely grounded; its almost as if it was blended]

+++ Eggs with lobster and creme fraiche – this item is not on their menu. [This would be my second favourite dish after their mussels! It’s lightly salted and there were at least 5 – 6 big chunks of succulent lobster meat in there.]