La Brasserie

On the hottest night of the year, we snagged one of the window tables at La Brasserie. Thankfully, the sun had tumbled behind the building across the street and we were well shaded.

Since we love French and German food, it was natural that we'd want to try this restaurant. We were a little apprehensive about the no reservations policy, but we thought we'd give it a go. Luck was certainly a lady tonight, and we were seated immediately.

Over a delicious Konig Ludwig beer, we perused the menu. How often have you been to a restaurant and wanted to order pretty much everything on the menu? For starters, we chose the Alsatian onion tart and the pâté de campagne.  Onto the mains, the fish du jour looked especially appealing, and of course we wanted to try one of their specialties, suckling pig.

Alsatian onion tart

The dark Alsatian tarte had just the right amount of sweetness from the carmelization of the onions, and the accompanying greens were a great offset.

pâté de campagne

The pâté may have been rustic in name, but not in taste or appearance. The presentation was so fabulous that we sat in admiration before we even picked up the camera.

viognier, pinot noir

Maybe it was hunger, but we really did not plan our wine ordering very well. What we should have done was pair our first glasses with our appetizers and our second glasses with our main course. What ended up happening is that we ordered two different glasses that paired only with the main courses. When the wines are this good, however, it's pretty easy to just go with the flow.

The halibut was perfectly moist and sauce amazing. The variety of spring vegetables served alongside were plentiful, colourful and fresh.

The sauerkraut was immensely satisfying, and, together with the schupfnudel complemented the suckling pig beautifully. The crispness of the skin reminded me of the schweinhaxe I experienced in Munich.

After our empty dishes were swept away, we were reluctant to leave. Not wanting to overindulge too much, we ordered a single digestif and a French press coffee.

armagnac

The armagnac was exquisite as expected. The coffee was so delicious that we left the sugar and cream untouched. One of us asked why our morning coffee can't taste this good.

french press coffee

The room was beautifully decorated, and it was fun glancing over at the chefs working their magic in the open kitchen. We thought better of taking a photo of the restroom, but it was eerily clean, even at ten o'clock in the evening.

chandelier

We were helped by a couple of different servers, seamlessly.  Dishes were explained effortlessly, recommendations were gladly and expertly given, instructions were followed to a T. If we could find this quality of experience in a brasserie in Paris, we would count ourselves fortunate indeed!