Eating at Le Train Bleu was an extraodinary experience from start to finish, that transported me to classic French cuisine of the early 1900s, before the two world wars during a very prosperous time for the French. For me, this was a big experience. The tone is set by the grand room in which the restaurant is situated. It is difficult to imagine a more resplendent venue whee the middle class can so easily dine without being accompanied by a politician or royalty.
It’s hard to believe this is a restaurant and not a museum, which for a restaurant could actually be a problem. The venue may be extraordinary, which then lets the food be mediocre or bland. My wife and I were both worried about this because it has happened to us before. And though France offers some amazing dining experiences, you can still find numerous tourist food traps where French culinary pride is strangely missing. But that was not the case with Le Train Bleu, at all. Every dish from every course was perfect, almost to the point of feeling weird that we had nothing to complain about. Even though our eyes were mesmerized by the decor, our taste buds were still highly focused to make sure they were not trying to sneak something bland and uninteresting onto our plates. But even for our critical culinary ways, a moment of disappointment never came. We were pleasantly held captive by the handcuffs of classical French flavor executed superbly well. This was the dining experience I think of the most from our trip to France, because the restaurant was very clear on what it wanted to be and do, and it solidly delivered with every bite. But enough of my gushing, let’s look at the details.
Amuse Bouche
I always appreciate restaurants that give you an amuse bouche because it lets you know what you’re in for. The amuse bouche is a way to say ‘hello there!’ to your taste buds, and wake your food soul up. It is usually very flavorful, but not overly complex. This amuse bouche was a very fresh tasting cream of fennel soup, and it checked all the boxes you need to check on an amuse bouche and was the perfect way to start the meal. It was very flavorful without being over the top. These things inspire me to find more creative ways to say ‘hi’ to people in my daily life. Hi, I’m David. I’m flavorful, but not too complicated.
After we finished the ‘hello’ portion of the meal, we settled in a little more by eating the mini-baguettes from the bread service.
The Bread
The waiter asked if I would like the regular baguette or the whole grain, and seeing through his charming false dilemma, I requested both, and he happily obliged, and both were excellent. I discovered that there is some kind of controversy about putting butter on bread in a French restaurant, but the waiter brought a very nice butter to the table and we were able to have the bread and butter fix we were looking for. In the US, very sadly, if you ask for butter they may bring you a tiny plastic container filled with olive oil and a bunch of chemicals designed to make you think it’s butter. But this is France. Butter is sacred.
The bread and butter and the amuse bousch were all to prepare us for the main courses to come. We skipped the appetizers because it is very easy to over-eat in a situation like this one, and though we wanted to try practically every single appetizer they had, we showed restraint.
The Lamb and Potato Gratin Dauphinois
As one might expect from the fact that the lamb was carved in front of us, it was very tender. And interestingly, it was mild in flavor, even with the sauce. Sometimes the flavor of lamb can be very aggressive, but this was very mild, and a wonderful partner for the roasted garlic. The potatoes revealed the French love of butter, as they were really buttery. No complaints.
Casserole of Beef Tenderloin, Baked Potatoes ‘à la boulangère’, Girolle Mushroom Jus
This combination had a great deal more personality than the lamb, as it was trying to achieve a more robust flavor profile. The Lamb was meant to sing with softer notes, whereas the sirloin was singing much louder, and with a greater range. The sirloin gave us an expressive sweet and savory experience, while the mushroom sauce on the potatoes gave a touch of earthiness to help ground the bite. Each had their virtues, and at least one of those virtues was deliciousness.
The Iced Tea
I am aware that the image below is focused on the wine, and the wine was great, but I also wanted to share the attention to detail Le Train Bleu showed on the iced tea. Iced tea is not common at all in French restaurants, and waiters tend to look at you with a puzzled, but superior grin when they triumphantly declare that they don’t serve that. Some of the younger people are a little more tolerant and bemused by American’s infatuation with iced tea. The iced tea that Le Train Bleu brought rose to the level of a non-alcoholic mixed drink, with an effort to craft an elevated version of the essence of iced tea. I noticed right away that this creation had a hint of mint, lemon, and sweetness that was perfectly balanced. I generally hate mint in tea, but this let me know that mint can be delightfully integrated. I have tried tea all over the world, and the closest that comes to this is how the bars and restaurants in Lima, Peru will make iced tea. They also treat it like a mixed drink, and will add lime and lots of sugar to it, which is a little over the top for my tastes. So high compliments to the bartender at Le Train Bleu for making the best iced tea drink I’ve had in the world!
Dessert!
Crêpes Suzette and Rum Baba
Using food to engage with history is such a unique way to participate in the lineage of social customs. The crêpes suzette is a dish that emerged in the 1890s in Paris, although the specific origin story is disputed. One story involves serving royalty under a stressful situation and another involves an evolution of the ‘fruit on pancakes’ concept by a chef’s grandmother. Either way, the elaborate and ornate dining venue, along with a desert that was invented about the same time the restaurant was built let me step into the shoes of a French restaurant goer from the 1890s. And though so many things have changed since then, these things haven’t. The rum baba ddesert has an even earlier history dating back to 1835, and possibly earlier. The concept is simple enough – pour sweetened rum on a dried out cake and add some vanilla creme to it. Some sources think this desert may have its origins in the middle of the 1700s, and so those diners in 1890, who were experiencing the new crepes suzette dessert, might have wanted to experience some nostalgia themselves by ordering the traditional rum baba. And for this meal, 1835, 1895, and 2022 were able to exist side by side as we were able to close out one of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten. This is one of the meals that should make you say ‘Vive la France!’
Final Thoughts
When you can walk out of a restaurant and have a satisified food soul, you can delight in a few hours of enjoying your humanity. But when you can walk out of a restaurant with your food soul fulfilled AND feeling like you’ve connected with something beautiful and historical you can claim victory over the bland and the boring. Our outing at Le Train Bleu gave us such an experience and this has become one of our fondest dining experiences. If there were any criticism to make, it would be that Le Train Bleu is trying to perfect the old without creating anything new. French cuisine can go in so many different directions and still be French. You can read about one example in my experience of Le Servan. But I don’t think that should be considered a criticism at all. It should instead be considered a virtue. I hope Le Train Bleu continues to offer perfect versions of the classics, to remind us that what was beautiful yesterday is still beautiful today, and perhaps even moreso because it endures in our hearts and minds as something special from the past, that we want to keep with us in the present, and inspire us for the future.
