Bistro Bleu

Saturday, August 8, 2015

For our August "wine activity" Margie found a nice, little French restaurant, Bistro Bleu in Anaheim, www.bistrobleudining.com. . The chef/owner, who used to be with The Cellar in Fullerton, set a Prix Fixe menu for us to choose from. Everything on the menu was picked by someone at the table. So we got good feedback as to quality and flavor.

There were 12 of us tonight and at Margie's request we all brought French wine except one person who brought a Bordeaux blend from Temecula.. 15 wines on the table.

The choices for starters were a duck liver pate, onion soup and beet salad. Portions were good size. No complaints from anyone of these selections.

Entree selection was steak with peppercorn cream sauce, Coq au Vin and duck breast with orange sauce. The steak people said their steaks were good and cooked correctly. Coq au Vin got good reviews.  The duck breast was good, people seemed to like it except for the overly sweet orange sauce. I had ordered the duck breast and was expecting  to get a duck breast with a crispy skin. This was sliced. Good flavor but I wish they would have added the word "sliced" to the description. I also like my duck just a bit more rare than what was served.  But that is my personal preference.

Dessert was a choice of Dark Belgium Chocolate Mocha Parfait with fresh berries or a Creme Brulee. I opted for the creme brulee which was very good. But after seeing the parfait I wished I had ordered that. I wanted something light after the meal and from the description I thought the creme brulee would be the lightest. But that parfait looked very light and decadent.

I was happy with this small restaurant, so much so that Terry and I are planning on going back within the next two weeks and order the rabbit and probably the Lobster Bisque.  He and I have some high end French wines and this will be a good opportunity to open them

Most of the wines were good tonight. Both Champagnes, a Montaudon Brut and a De Margeuie A Bouzy, Grand Cru were hits. A 2000 Reignac, Bordeaux was excellent and it was compared to the 2005 Reginac which was good but not the caliber of the 2000. I brought a 2008 Domaine de Montille, 1st Cru, Les Sizes, Beaune, Burgundy. It was drinking very well. Well balanced, soft mouth feel. One of the first bottles to be emptied. I also had brought a half bottle of Sauterne which went well with creme brulee.

So another sucessful dinner for Margie. This place is a keeper.