In this Celebrations issue of the newsletter, I decided to include a Bastille Day event from a fancy place. Bayona is a spot I never went to with Tom because I always considered it too gourmet for me. It definitely is, but now it’s my job to go. The menu for this week’s Bastille Day celebration looked manageable, and the price was great. It was a 3-course prix fixe for $65pp, and that price was so good I had to find something on the menu to eat. It turned out to be not as hard as usual. The first course offered a choice of three items: a Pied e Cochon, A Garlic Flan with Escargots and Grilled Bread, and a Beet Salad featuring Beluga Lentils. I chose the pig's foot mainly because it came with Sauce Gribiche. something I get whenever I see it.
It was the Coq au Vin in the entrée course that attracted me to the menu. Other choices there were Mussels and Ratatouille. And for dessert, they offered Assiette de Fromage (a cheese course) or Pear Tart Tatin.
I saw braised pork on the menu and opted for that, even knowing the Pied de Cochon meant pig’s feet. It was indeed braised and coated in something, then roasted. And it was an entire pig’s foot. When I cut into it, there was nothing but bones. I have had trotters before, but never the entire foot with the hoof attached. One of my companions is from Ecuador, and she became really excited at the sight of this pig’s foot.
I offered it to her as she tried to explain what I was eating and how to do it. She regaled us with stories of how much of that she ate as a young girl in Ecuador and how delicious it was. She cut through that thing like a buzz saw, finding edible bits where an inexperienced scavenger saw nothing. She explained that it was not meat she was eating but cartilage. She told me with a bite in her mouth that it melted in your mouth. Literally. When she finished the sentence, her mouth was empty, and she didn't chew or swallow. Ewww.
This is one of the most fashionable people I’ve ever met. The way she was devouring this pig’s foot was quite the testimony to the power of the nostalgia it conjured up for her. I was mesmerized. She had already picked off the escargot from her own appetizer order. It was the Garlic Flan, and it was beautiful when it arrived at the table. A perfect flan was in the center of the plate, with what seemed like endless bits of roasted garlic in a butter sauce. The bread was nicely grilled, and the butter sauce pooled all around the flan. Escargots cascaded from atop the flan, which my friend scooped up and ate between bites of the pig cartilage.
I thought this flan was delicious. I have never had a savory flan, and while this is not a preferred texture for me, I liked it very well. The flavor was intensely roasted garlic. The toasted bread offset the soft texture of the bread.
For entrees, my friend immediately dismissed the Mussels because she had just had them. When she inquired about the Ratatouille, the waiter did not sell her on it, so she deferred and got the same entree as I did.
When the Coq au Vin arrived at the table, I was so glad we both ordered it because I definitely didn’t want to share this. It was exquisite. The visual actually excited me, and that is something that rarely happens. The chicken skin was almost black, sitting in a dark jus over creamy potatoes with wild mushrooms and bacon pieces dotting the jus.
I cut into the tender chicken and quickly realized it tasted better than it looked. It was tender, cooked to the sweet spot, and oh, so flavorful! Rich and dense with the taste of wine and mushrooms, this was an exquisite plate of food. The potatoes underneath didn’t need to be there, but they were the absolute perfect thing to be a base for this luscious dish.
Since I am not a dessert person, it didn’t really matter to me what was next. I would have eaten chocolate, but I chose the Pear Tart Tatin. My friend got the cheese (Assiette de Fromage), and I just got the tart for a different taste.
She wasn’t all that thrilled with her cheese plate, which came with fantastic little toasty crostini, two pieces of firm cheese, and a ramekin of soft cheese crumbles with roasted grape tomatoes in halves.
My pear tart was lost on me. It was a thick crust base with all the pear slices that were soaked in something, and a dollop of Crème fraîche. Another person at the table loved this.
She is a wine drinker, and she could have brought a wine from her collection without being charged a corkage fee. Bayona has a lot of great deals like this. It is a lovely place, and the food is polished and sublime. It should be busier.