an egg is an egg...meditating at the Museo Miró in Barcelona

Friday, December 04, 2015

à VERT Brasserie

It's been almost a year since I have visited Á Vert and I realize that I have practically the same picture to post with this blog entry. Why? Probably because I can't wait to start my entrée before taking a picture.

Aside from the above dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding [$9] with caramel sauce and chantilly cream with sea salt the meal was quite good but the pistachio macaron went to the other diner. The bread is always excellent. I had Beef/Duck Confit Stew [$16] with a parmesan mashed potato crust like a French Shepherd's Pie. It had lots of flavor but had been a special and was described as duck confit but the beef was not mentioned. My glass of Cote du Rhone [$9] went fine with the meal. Now that I have read the charge slip I appreciate it more. We also ordered two sides: Roasted Beets [$6] not a winner and the Vegetable 'Casserole' [$5] not a winner either as both needed a bit of salt of some such seasoning. The meal would have been fine without these two additions. The other diner had the Boeuf Bourguignon [$16] and felt that was the winner of the day.


January 7, 2015
Had a marvelous lunch today at à VERT Brasserie in West Hartford Center. The day was blustery and terribly cold and the restaurant was warm and friendly. I guess I can save on airfare when I need that typical French lunch and just show up here.

We started with super bread and butter better than what I had on my rivercruiser on the Seine a few months ago. Cream of Mushroom was the soup of the day and it was earthy and filling with its little brioche croutons. Two specials of the day were shared: petite beef tenderloin sandwiches with a dab of camembert and a spread of aioli bedecked with a generous serving of frites. My entrée was called Lamb Stew but was a wonderful serving of root vegetables in gravy topped with two perfect baby lamb chops. Amanda, our server, picked out a Merlot blend to accompany this stew and it perfectly matched it. 


We ended with a Cappuccino and a French press coffee adorned with a pistache macaron and split an order of Profiteroles chock full of vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce and nuts. What a day that could have been such a bummer turning into perfection...c'est la vie [c'est ma vie!].

No comments: