Dinner at Bistro Élan - 5/18/11
Tonight we are dinning at Bistro to celebrate Hoa's birthday! . Bistro Élan is located in Palo Alto and they are known to use fresh produce from the local farmer's market. Their menu is constantly changing depending of type for produce that is available. Bistro Élan called themselves a California-French bistro. The bistro is fairly small so make sure to call in for reservation because the place is always busy and it is very unlikely that they can take walk-ins.
Hoa and I posing in front of the restaurant.
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The restaurant is located on California street in Palo Alto. There are plenty of parking in the back of the restaurant. The outside of the restaurant is pretty simple. |
A large pot of lavender on a small table blocking the way to the garden. They closed their garden seating this evening (too windy). |
Open Kitchen concept so patrons can see what is going on in the kitchen.
Sitting down at our table for the evening.
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The menu |
Bread basket and butter |
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compliment of the chef: Salmon gravlax on potato chip and drizzled with aioli & dill sauce.
Appetizers
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For appetizers we ordered the special of the day: Foie Gras au torchon, with honey sauce and bread pudding.
The foie gras by itself was very buttery and had a lot of flavor. Kevin and I thought the sauce was too sweet and somehow did not go with the foie gras. The bread pudding felt like we are eating a dessert and it was not very good either.
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The second appetizer we ordered was a Fresh Dungeness Crab Salad with Celery escabeche, Mache and Pistachio.
This dish was pretty good. The celery was poached and then marinated in an acidic mixture before serving so it has a very interesting texture and taste.
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Here we are enjoying our appetizers.
Next... Main course and dessert
