L'Etoile

L'Etoile is unquestionably a wonderful restaurant with great food, a lovely ambiance and excellent service. We had a great dinner there that was a real event for the eight family members who could attend. I would definitely go back. A special shoutout to the maitre-d, Nick, for taking my reservation well in advance of the normal time limit and thoughtfully seating us in a long booth partially shielded from other diners.

All that said, the restaurant is a bit caught up in itself. The food and service both are borderline pretentious. While my pork belly starter, a special, and the duck breast were both excellent, the menu choice was severely limited. For entrees, there was a whole branzino, a turbot fillet, the duck breast, a vegetable dish, and two steaks. Since none of us are vegetarians and Darras was grilling steak the next day, that left us with three choices for entrees. There was no pork entree, no lamb entree, no chicken entree. Why on earth not?

Amy's photo of the branzino before cooking

On top of that, the two fish entrees in this city less than a hundred miles from Lake Michigan were flown in from the Mediterranean and Chile respectively. Really? We had great fun mocking one of our (two!) waiters, who in presenting the whole branzino ordered by Amy and Fletcher held it out on the tray and said this was caught earlier today in the Mediterranean and packed in ice to be flown here. The next day, Darras presented out steaks in a similar fashion, saying they were slaughtered in Kansas and packed in a cooler three days earlier for our dining pleasure tonight.

None of this of course detracts from the actual dining experience, which was on a level equal to any place here in Washington. It's not for nothing that L'Etoile was named one of the country's top 50 restaurants by Food & Wine. It was a great splurge for mini-family reunion.

We tried all three of the entree choices available to us. I know Darras and I enjoyed the duck breast with creamy polenta, and he welcomed the chance to once again have a starter of the fresh sea scallops not available in Kansas. Amy and Fletcher had the squash blossoms as well as the whole branzino. The turbot and branzino got a big thumbs up from those who ordered the fish. The chocolate cake and the creme brulee ordered at the table were both excellent, as well as the cheese platter, and some of us enjoyed a cognac.

The wine list, while not enormously imaginative, had a varied selection in all price ranges. Because it was Bastille Day and that was one of the reasons for us choosing a French restaurant, we stuck with the French wines and found a Muscadet and a Burgundy pinot noir moderately priced enough that we could enjoy several bottles over a leisurely dinner.