A Bit of France in Sacramento

Bistro Michel, located in downtown Sacramento, is quite a treat! The menu is very much like one you would see in France.

Above is a Salade au Crottin de Chavignol - a warm goat cheese salad with lardons and tasty croutons all over frisée lettuce. The salad was perfectly dressed in a light vinaigrette and the lardons were extremely flavorful. In my opinion, there could have been more cheese and less of the rest, but I adore cheese so am biased. I enjoyed a glass of Chablis with my salad.

Jeff enjoyed the duck gizzard and lamb tongue salad with persimmons. Mmmm...duck gizzard.

 

Next! Duck liver mousseline. Need I say more? We enjoyed a glass of cremant de Bourgogne with this dish.

Delicious pan seared Hawaiian fish (I apologize as I have totally forgotten the name...) which resembled halibut in flavor over zingy spinach and fingerling potatoes...and capers on top. Oh, and that brown butter goodness you see there in the dish. A wonderful white Rhone wine to accompany it and I was quite content.

For Jeff? Pork shank. Incredibly tender! To accompany his meal, Jeff enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir from Provence, not Burgundy! It was quite good!

Dessert: Valrhona chocolate mousse with orange vanilla cream...filled with orange zestiness and chocolate impact.

Cheese after chocolate? Well, the very kind owner was there and graciously insisted we have a bit of cheese. Not one to say no to cheese, we obliged. Jeff mentioned I love stinky cheeses so Tête de Moine was an obvious choice. Isn't it beautiful? It's a round piece of cheese that is cut with a blade that is stabilized in the middle and swung around the cheese cutting thin ribbons. The black pile there are preserved young black walnuts from Ukraine...unlike anything I have ever eaten...still nutty, but quite sweet and chewy.

Our experience at Bistro Michel was wonderful. The staff was very kind and knowledgeable and the owner went above and beyond to show us a good time. He truly cares about his establishment and the quality of the ingredients and service.