2012 - Vie Restaurant

For our third trip to Vie Restaurant, we went on a Tuesday to take advantage of the free corkage and we ordered off the regular menu, instead of doing a tasting menu. Although the service started out on the slow side, once the service issues were straightened out (and it was more crowded than I expected for a Tuesday evening) the evening was quite pleasant.

We decided to start with a couple cocktails:

Sue got the Mirage: Ransom old tom gin, creme de mure, homemade cherry syrup, Jamaican #2 bitters, lime juice and lemonade. Nice, slightly sweet drink.

Mark ordered the Apple Lace - Zaya 12yr rum, seedling farm apple cider, berentzen apple liqueur, benedictine, dark cocoa and bitters. It was okay, but not our favorite, so Mark decided to try one more and settled on the Bourbon County Manhattan - Buffalo Trace Bourbon, brandied cherry juice, bourbon aged beer jam, peychaud's bitters. Much better, very yummy beverage

We had also brought a 2006 Ovid Experimental Wine D7.86, which was mostly Cabernet Franc. Vie decanted it for us and it really helped to open up the wine. The wine was a better accompaniment to our starters than our mains, but still a nice wine.

Now for the food:

Chef started us off with a lovely amuse bouche of halibut cheeks

local russet potato gnocchi, braised burgundy snails, green garlic, pickled fennel, local carrot puree. For an added bonus the carrot puree had duck fat in it - just what my girlish figure was looking for. Very tasty.

scotch egg: chicken sausage wrapped around a local farm egg, nettles, pickled spring onions, crème fraiche, watercress, almonds. We weren't really sure what a scotch egg was, but this was really really good.

wood-grilled 21 day dry-aged Q7 ranch ribeye, saffron potato puree, wilted spinach, pickled artichokes, shaved fennel, crab butter hollandaise. All hail Dan who was rumored to be working the grill this night. OMG, I cannot talk enough about just how good this steak was! The steak was perfectly grilled and had a wonderfully smoky crust on the outside. Seriously the best piece of beef I've ever put in my mouth.

caveny farm katahdin lamb combination: crispy slow cooked legs and crispy lamb bacon, smashed spring peas, curry roasted fingerlings, pickled leeks, mint lamb jus. This meal was good as well, wonderfully tender lamb leg, interesting contrast of the lamb bacon (nice to try but not as good as pork bacon). peas and potatoes were also good.

Even though we were full, we somehow felt compelled to order dessert anyway. I think because it had a suggested beverage pairing.

vanilla bean crème brulée espresso cream, hazelnut praline streusel with Gossart Gordon, 5 years old Bual, Madeira. Mark originally wanted to order the sauternes with the brulee, but settled for the suggested pairing. It was okay, but the sauternes would have been a better pairing by far.

Lemon semifreddo, grilled rhubarb compote, rhubarb puree, lemon madeleine, candied pistachios paired with Crema di Limoncello. This was good at first, but then it became too much. But in all fairness, we were probably too full to truly enjoy.

Did I mention how good the steak was? Vie is quickly becoming our favorite restaurant. Definitely worth the ride, Tuesday are an awesome bonus for the free corkage.