One of Tom’s groomsmen from our wedding is a still-practicing dermatologist, world traveler, gourmet, and ardent oenophile. He and Tom would meet monthly for dinner, and occasionally the girls would go. Many years ago he called about a new favorite place called Boucherie. It was located on Jeanette St. right off Carrollton. It was a restaurant in the style of Brigtsen’s: an intimate and quaint refurbished cottage with delicious food.
Chef Nathaniel Zimmet is a master with a smoker, and a lot of what he’s done through the years reflects this skill. It’s not barbecue, although an adjacent space is home to Bouree, his casual barbecue place he calls a Cajun smokehouse. Boucherie is the first place I saw charred lettuce in a salad, now seen fairly often.
Since that initial visit Boucherie has moved twice, out of the original space and then back again. The chef has added several more projects, like a non-profit called Humble Bumble, and he’s started to feed kids school lunches that they actually want to eat. His latest project is a degustation menu at Boucherie, and we talked on the show recently about a recent proliferation of such menus around town, and why he has gotten into this game. I was most intrigued about this development, because I think of Boucherie as a more laid-back place than one is likely to see with this level of “fancy” dining. But Nathaniel said it’s a chance for him to flex his gourmet muscles. He is doing just that.
I asked my fanciest gourmet friend to join me for this adventure. She will eat things that are "cured" rather than cooked. We started with an oyster course. The tiny oyster was from Alabama and was served in an arresting presentation featuring seaweed. Next to the oyster was a tiny spoon holding lime “caviar,” tiny beads of the fruit from a particular type of lime whose pulp beads instead of shreds. This was very interesting. And delicious. I am crazy about the taste of lime in any application.
Next was Ajo Blanco, a cold soup that was almond-based with a piece of cured redfish. This was accompanied by a cigar shaped roll of Phyllo dough with almond paste inside. I could have eaten a few of those. Phyllo dough is something I rarely see, and I love it. The soup was thick and creamy, studded with bits of grapes and black garlic. The cured redfish was the strongest flavor. It offset the rest of this nicely.
That was followed by a meat course featuring slices of rare Wagyu beef served over Kabayaki Sauce with a roasted carrot. The sauce was thick and a great foil to the intense flavor of the beef. This was terrific.
The Intermezzo course was next, and that was an unusual combination of what Nathaniel calls “dirty rice,” featuring Pecan rice, a Louisiana rice similar to popcorn rice. There was a touch of foie gras in it, with tiny bits of crispy sweetbreads on top. This was garnished with a new type of scallion slicing which is interesting and decorative. If a scallion can be gourmet, this is it.
A crabcake course was next, and this was our least favorite. There was too much going on here. To me, a crabcake stands alone. Because there was so much to this dish, the proper care wasn’t given here to making the crabcake the star that it should be. It got lost. This came in a lake of Crème fraîche with so much caviar as accent it ceased to be an accent. The caviar selection was cleverly colored for Halloween but we both felt this needs tweaking. On top of all this was a pickled Cambodian crab that was also just “cured.” Another distraction from our excellent crabmeat in the crabcake.
The main course brought the chef back to his roots. It was Coppa, a small slab of smoked pork served alongside crispy fried lotus root.
It came with a separate plate with the Asian sauce Sambal, a crepe, and two kinds of mint: regular mint and apple mint, both of which were refreshing, particularly the apple mint. This was sensational.
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Many times on The Food Show I have stated that I never eat dessert. But I was thrilled with the last two courses of this meal. The first was glacé, which was a small scoop of honey ice cream with a honey drizzle and a housemade honeycomb. It was beautifully ornate and intricate, finished with a tiny bit of salvia. The ice cream was superb without being too sweet. Perfection in presentation and taste.
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And the last course was fun. A Crème brûlée doughnut. Huh? It was Crème brûlée in a doughnut shape surrounded by a delicious crumble.
Tenzing was our gourmet sherpa through this adventure, and he guided us expertly. He brought us a parting gift from the chef, a plate of fun treats. There were Pop Rocks dipped in chocolate, a few Florentine wafers, and dried citrus.
The price of this 9-course degustation is $115. I can spend that on far less. It was interesting, delicious, and educational. Best of all, not too far out. In the world of dining “experiences,” just right.
