Cafe Monte - Charlotte Restaurant week

So on to Charlotte Restaurant Week. Saturday night I was privaleged to join some old friends for dinner at Cafe Monte, a French cafe located in Phillips Place, just around the corner from Southpark Mall off Fairview Road. As we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a professional looking staff and a fully stocked case of pastries. The almond croissants looked inviting with a glistening silky finish that made them look positively inviting. In addition, the case was stocked with chocolate tarts, complete with fresh raspberries, a fresh fruit tart tatin, and a beautiful dining room bedecked in Provencal yellow with black and white subway tiles lining the floor.

Time for the first course. A traditional emmanthaler and gruyere cheese fondue. I must admit that the pairing of granny smith apples and French baguette looked appetizing, if a bit small for our party of four. Undeterred by its seeming puniness, the cheese was wonderfully combined with just enough of a hint of kirschwasser (cherry liquor) and made for a great start to the evening. I did, however, find the three carrot sticks a bit confusing. The combination of carrots and the cheese left something to be desired, and the apple slices that accompanied it had begun to turn after being exposed a bit to long to the humid air that engulfed the dining room.

On to our next course, a summer salad of mesclun greens with frisee lettuce, radiccio, and spinach served with fresh sliced strawberries, diced cucmber, avocado, and finished with a pungently acidic strawberry vinagrette. While not my ideal, the salad was acceptable even if it lacked zeal and appeared to have been hastily thrown together with little eye for presentation.

Next up were the main courses. I chose a prime rib medium cooked over slow heat with an au jus, and my dinner companion a pan seared sea scallop with risotto in an artfully prepared buerre blanc. I will henceforth take my culinary cues from Tiffany for future reference, as the scallop was stellar and the buerre blanc as expertly crafted as if the grande dame, Julia Child had whisked it together herself. The notes of toasty butter and white wine vinegar almost made up for the plainness of the preceding salad. Almost.

As for the prime rib, it was competently prepared with a savory salty crust and roasted julienned vegetable medley of carrots, potatos and onion. Now, this is a dish that I've prepared in my own kitchen numerous times, so I may be a bit biased. The food was competent, but lacked the panache of the scallop dish. The steak was cooked to order and was satisfying, but did evoke memories of a chain steakhouse near home. It was by no means a fail, but with such a wonderful ambience and such a stellar seafood dish, I was left wanting in comparison.

Time for dessert. I opted for the chocolate mousee cake with raspberry glaze. I say glaze because it was less a coulis, and more of a gelatinous topping. The mousse was light and flavorful and the dish was a success even if it did remind me a bit more of a cheesecake in its current incarnation. Tiffany opted instead for the key lime pie, again superior. Light and firm, the pie was an excellent accompaniment to the buttery richness of the scallop and risotto and left nothing to be desired. Outstanding.

Cafe Monte was competent and poised, but left me wanting more. It's evocative decor make it a perfect place for an evening out with friends and I found the ambience refreshingly subdued for the Southpark area where so many competitors go for glitz over guts. Competent and inviting, but lacking the wow factor, I would recommend it for a relaxed evening with friends and a good bottle of wine or for coffee and dessert to cap off an evening.

Next up on the tour of restaurant week, the Melting Pot located on Tryon Street in University City. Admittedly this is a restaurant where I've dined before, so I know what to expect.

But before that, I will look to foods past as I wax elegaic about food memories from childhood in my next post. So until then, Bon Apetit, Y'all!

Food Memories

Welcome to The Dinner Dossier, a blog dedicated to all things culinary.

Growing up in the rural South, food becomes an integral part of the fabric of life. Whether preparing a meal with friends and family, sharing a bottle of wine from a favorite local winery, or enjoying a dining experience at the local bistro or gastropub, the way we experience food is often indicative of the way we choose to go about life itself. There are those who slowly savor every morsel, basking in the decadence of a rich dessert. There are those who toil over their creations until their dish until they have achieved perfection. There are still others who see food as utilitarian, content to grab a quick bite on the way to the kids soccer practice or grab a Lean Cuisine on the go for lunch.

And then there are those of us who have a passion for all of the above. We savor the complete culinary experience from searching for the perfect produce to finding the right knife, cookware, or serving dish. We are the foodies whose lives are literally centered around our kitchens. We spend our free time reading cookbooks, magazines and visiting specialty grocers and farmers markets. We appreciate the art and craft of finely prepared foods at restaurants and revel in finding that new dish that we just know our friends and family will love. We plan vacations around where we're going to eat, and we take drives in hopes of finding that barbeque shack that has the best pulled pork you've ever tasted.

There's something in the pursuit and passion for food that sets us apart from the average "cook". No better, or no worse but we must feed this passion (quite literally) for it makes us whole.

So this is the first post on my blog. I hope through this vehicle to share tips and suggestions on preparation, tools, and great restaurant finds. And more than anything else, I hope to share my passion for everything culinary; learn a few things along the way, and possibly even make some new friends. So let's raise a glass to all the foodies out there.

Tomorrow, a good friend and I will be heading out for Charlotte Restaurant Week to Cafe Monte'. Until next time, Bon Apetit, y'all.