I had the illogical compulsion in this holiday party/holiday get-together season to get in a dinner at Lenoir before Christmas. Maybe because the last (and first) time I went, I vowed I would go once or twice a month. At least. Or maybe it is because the Paris/France trip is looming, and my France longing is in full swing, and Lenoir reminds me of Verjus and Paris. And now suddenly it is a few months later and no second time, much less a third or fourth time, for a return trip to Lenoir for that long-ago promise. We know how these things go.
So I made the reservation. Couple of noteworthy points for that recent visit.
1. Service here is as service should be. (We had Clinton helping us out.) That is to say, it is more French than what we sort of think is ok and expected in the USA. By that I mean there is no intrusive frequent slew of inquiries into how is everything. Instead, there is the just right amount of ensuring all is well and the just right amount of attentiveness and intuitiveness to know when something might be needed. Compare with Freedmen's from the Thursday night mescal cocktail night (was a rough week), and the 3-4 persons who each made a round about every 5 minutes to interrupt and ask how things were for us, while I was busy solving the week's problems with a friend. I like the place, really, but brilliant streams of consciousness over the great cocktail were interrupted far too often for my 47-year-old brain to get back to that stream after assuring everyone several times that everything was fine. (Sort of cute in the over-eagerness. Loved the smoked turkey though.)
2. Back to Lenoir. I liked everything we had. But one item was exceptional. Fortunately Anne was there early enough to beat me for the 7:30 reservation and get seated at the bar to be there when someone else, who was eating dinner at the bar, exclaimed over whatever she was eating: "Oh my God. This is amazing." Anne found out what it was. We each ordered it. It was this:
butternut mole tortelli / roasted brussel sprouts / amaretti crumble / lime butter
We asked for bread so we would not have to lick our plates to get the last of the crumble and the butter off.
We asked how long this unearthly delight would be on the menu - forever?
Clinton told us: yes, lots of good reviews on this one, yes we'll keep it on the menu----for a couple of weeks.
Oh. This is sad news. Just a couple of weeks. The window of this happiness opportunity will be closing soon. Run. Go try it. The tang of that lime with the crumble texture and the crispy Brussels sprouts (chopped up tiny and crunchy, as a garnish almost) with the smooth richness of the butternut mole - it's pretty darn awesome. Served up in that nice (French-like again) small portion. Just enough to thoroughly enjoy it. Not too much a serving so as to get too full and not fully appreciate the next course.
Well done, and see you very soon, Lenoir, before 2013 rolls around here any day now.
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