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June 29, 2005
Cafe Matou
Matou is French for tom cat. Cafe Matou is a beautiful French restaurant in Bucktown. The menu changes daily and features seasonal food with unique seasoning.
After spending the early morning and afternoon eating Guatemalan tamales and Pollo Campero, mi amor and I spent Saturday night saying goodbye to each other over an amazing French meal. It is our new tradition - we first went to Cafe Matou before I left for L.A. for Thanksgiving (our longest time apart until now).
The restaurant offers champagne by the glass, which mi chavo thoroughly enjoys. Personally, I prefer a Berry Godmother as an appetizer drink - it's champagne with raspberry liquer and a dark chocolate twizzle stick. Absolutely delicious.
Along with our champagne, we had appetizers - mi chavo had
Grillade des asperges et champignonAnd I had a duck confit salad -
Grilled asparagus and portabello served with a relish a relish of tomato, fresh basil, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and Auvergne blue cheese
Salade de mesclun et confit de canard auvergnateAt first, I didn't want to try fish because the smell of seafood isn't appetizing to me (although it tastes good and I always mistake the smell of shellfish for the smell of fish). In the end, I chose a blackened grouper with breading in a delightful sauce that included tarragon and something else. Mi chavo had the salmon with asparagus and a sauce, but I can't remember exactly what was in anything. Perhaps because we also shared a bottle of white Rhone wine. It was magnificent. After finishing ever last bite of my meal, we ordered dessert. Mi chavo picked better for dessert quality - he had phyllo with yummy stuffing. It was rich and filling, but I only had a taste so again, can't remember the details. I had figs in a light syrup with a side of chantilly. What's chantilly, you ask. Well, it's basically a fragile whipped cream. We drank coffee with dessert.
Baby mixed greens, duck confit, roast bosc pear, Auvergne blue cheese and walnut vinaigrette
My problems began when the sommelier offered us a taste of a red wine while we were finishing our coffee (we were talking to him and were surprised that he was drinking a chilled red wine). After a few sips of that wine, I was a goner. Felt as drunk as a skunk. Oh well. I suppose most of our best evenings have ended with me passing out on the way home.
We had delightful conversation throughout the evening and I managed to not think about work during most of the date. It was spectacular.
Posted by cj at June 29, 2005 03:28 PM