📍Claudine - French restaurant by 3 Michelin chef

A neighborhood French restaurant at Dempsey Hill by @chef_julien @lobeholdgroup. @claudinerestaurant took over the old chapel building which used to house the White Rabbit restaurant. Visited Claudine twice in November and December of last year. I love how they offer only an a la carte menu. My post will be broken down into three parts: starters, main course, and desserts.

For starters, we had the 𝑯𝒐𝒌𝒌𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒐 𝑼𝒏𝒊 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂($58) - cold angel hair, kombu, smoked egg yolk, and fine herbs. We also had the 𝑳𝒆 𝑷𝒖𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒅 ($22) - crispy pork trotter, mustard pickles, and aged sherry vinegar. Lastly, we had the 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 & 𝑷𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒅 ($22) frisée, shallot, and mustard. As much as I wanted to love the starters, none of the starters stood out to me.

For mains, we had the 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒊($98) which is one of the four plats à partager which is designed generously for sharing around the table. The Chou Farci is by far my favorite main course I tried at Claudine. It is a stuffed cabbage filled with chopped cabbage, carrots, Gascon bacon, foie gras and prune. I love the crunchy croutons which gives a crunchy element and reduction which brings to the whole dish together. A hearty dish that warms the soul. The must try dish for me at Claudine.

Next we had the 𝑽𝒐𝒍-𝑨𝒖-𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒕 ($58) which is a puff pastry filled with sweetbread, morels, cockscomb and quenelle. I love the creamy velvety port wine mushroom jus reduced with cream and Cognac. We also had the 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝑷𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒏 ($68)- confit leg, grilled maitake, gnocchi and grape. I’ve always enjoyed the pigeon at Odette and this was the same. Lastly, we had the 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒓 𝑫𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆 ($78) which is a pork chop, fondant potato and sauce charcutière. I did not try this dish.

For desserts, we had the ‘𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆’ which is actually two of the Chef’s Julian favorite desserts - Profiterole and Paris Brest. It comes in a ring of five crispy pecan praliné. The middle of the choux is filled with vanilla cream and warm dark chocolate sauce is poured over at the table. A must try dessert at Claudine. Next, we had the î𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆 which is also called a floating island. Consisting of prink praline, hazelnut, pistachio, meringue and filled with créme anglaise. I’ve never been a been fan of meringue as I find them too sweet. But the citrus from the créme anglaise adds a bitterness.

Overall, I would say that the food was good especially the Chou Farci and ‘Pariterole’ (the standout dishes for me). The other dishes were however did not stood out for me. The service was very polished where the servers often came to check in with us. I would recommend coming here with a larger group to try more items on the menu as quite a few of the dishes are made to share. Interior wise it is one of the nicer restaurants that has opened recently.

𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍: ⭐️3.5/5

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