Exploring Providence
Pot Au Fue
February 23rd, 2013
Providence, RI
Abstract
We were in Providence for a little fun night, we had talked about what we wanted to do for dinner and our first choice did not have any times. We then pulled up open table and found a little french restaurant and it sounded pretty good and had the appropriate time slots so we made a reservation. This is not the end of the story though, about halfway through the movie we were going to we received a call from the owner and he stated that the time on open table was incorrect, and they would not be able to see us for about 45 minutes after our initial reservation. We said okay, still excited about some of the food options.
Pot Au Fue
Pot Au Fue is a little French bistro in downtown Providence and was established in 1972. To me this restaurant screams what Providence offers, when you enter you go down stairs and are in a dark basement of an office building. The decor screams French bistro, small and intimate, with tables very close together, a small bar with 8 seats and an open kitchen that is barely big enough for the single chef. This restaurant would be a very nice date experience to impress someone.
Our Food
Beverage
Nick: They decided I should pick the wine, they suggested a Zinfandel - so I chose the one that soundest best, it happened to be the 2nd most expensive but that had nothing to do with it. The wine went really well with all our food and had a pretty good overall taste.
Tara: I had originally voted for a bordeaux blanc but upon hearing that it was a more sweet, dessert-style wine we opted out of that and had Nick choose a traditional Zin. I think he chose very well and the wine had great berry overtones and a nice clean finish with most of my foods. Some things it did not go super well with but that's the bane of a red. It did encourage me to get the filet though... I was not disappointed!
Stephan: My heart always sings for a good Zin. And this was a good Zin, a nice medium bodied red wine with a fruit over tone with a subtle finish. It rounded out very well with my dish and and it was a compliment for every course.
Appetizers
Nick: Never a huge escargot fan, these were clean but they always seem too salty to me.
Tara: I was excited about this before we even got to the restaurant. In fact, it was one of the reasons I voted for this place over others. It's been a long time since I've had escargot (something I never thought I'd like) and it sounded good. I thought their presentation was nice and the snails were clean and not over-cooked. The sauce was a pleasant compliment with a slightly "green" or basil-y flavor that I thought went very well with the escargot themselves.
Stephan: I love escargots, it has always been one of my favorites when done well. The problem is it being done well. First when the dish came out and they were in shells, it tells me they are fresh and clean, no barnacles or sand on the shell really shows how clean it is. The flavors were a good blend and didn't over power the snails at all, which is very nice, the dish was clean in flavor, simple and not complex or over done.
Nick: Stephan didn't like this as much as I did I think but it was really good - especially the croissant, cut the saltyness, and the sauce was sweet. I agree it was not as well seared as some we have had but I enjoyed it.
Stephan: As Nick stated I think this dish had a fatal flaw. The sear on the foie gras looked nearly perfect, the croissant added a texture element and the sauce was a nice sweet demi. The flaw on this dish to me was a simple saucing issue, by putting the sauce on after the foie gras was seared and letting it sit for a time took away from the crispness. Again the dish was clean, the components were great, it was a personal preference on how I prefer Foie Gras.
Entrees
Stephan: I was so excited for this dish, I love crispy duck breast, and was just so excited. Unfortunately, I didn't read the full description. The breast is slow roasted which means that I could not temp it (I love medium rare duck). This dish like all the previous ones were very clean the flavors were balanced, a nice sweet fruity glazed coated all the duck perfectly, the duck cooked (the way stated in the menu) was nearly perfect. The leg was how I love duck cooked, roasted in confit, crispy and succulent. I have to comments on the sides, the potatoes are highly recommended as Tara also mentions below. The veg left something to be desired, it was over done and very boring, to me it seems like an after thought, and since it is included in cost it really isn't something to be expected to be amazing I guess.
Nick: Other than my sides being a bit bleh - my meal was good. The sauce, a tomato, mushroom, and red wine reduction, had a really intense earthy flavor up front and then sweet finish. The veal cutlets were over cooked for my liking but thats just me - cook to order was not an option - but I'd love to get my hands on a meaty steak with that sauce.
Tara: For whatever reason lately, I've been craving beef so once I knew we were ordering a red Zin for wine, chicken and pork went the way of the wind and I ended up ordering the Filet... the most expensive item on the menu!
I ordered it rare but it came to me closer to mid-rare which was fine actually. The beef itself was very tasty, not gamey and went very well with the wine. The sauce was a nice compliment to the beef although it did need a little salt in my opinion which probably could have been solved with some sea salt over the top or pressed into the steak before searing.
The "mushrooms" portion of my meal left a little to be desired on my mushroom loving palate. With a description including chantrelles, morels, shiitakes and cepes's I was rather disappointed with the paltry amount of mushrooms that actually came out on my plate but what I did have was very tasty. I just wish there had been more of them! I'm also pretty certain there were some button and portabellos on my plate... which I'll never complain about but those weren't listed!
Desserts
Stephan: I like crepes, I like them a lot when cooked well, they should be dense, moist, buttery, and thin. This was all of that, it was cooked very well and chilled down to not make the inside perfect. On the inside of this crepe was a velvety chocolate mouse, light and airy with a balanced with the bourbon cherry sauce. The sauce added a nice tartness to balance our the sweetness.
Tara: On the list of "Things I Love That I Shouldn't Have" is flourless chocolate cake. Upon seeing it on the dessert platter... suddently I found room in my tiny tummy for it... especially considering that I had wine left which I was certain would go fairly well with this rich dessert.
It was a very decadent dessert with all the normal characteristics of flourless chocolate cake. Dense, rich, moist without being sticky (i.e. not dry at all) and terrifically chocolate-y. It was a perfect match to our Red Zin and over the course of about twenty minutes I managed to slowly make my way through this dessert completely. A wonderful end to the meal.
Cème brûlée
Nick: That is a legit spaghetti bowl of crème brûlée and it had a great vanilla taste, was not over caramelized and had a perfect soft creamy texture. For 12$ this and the wine made the biggest highlights of my meal.
Nick: That is a legit spaghetti bowl of crème brûlée and it had a great vanilla taste, was not over caramelized and had a perfect soft creamy texture. For 12$ this and the wine made the biggest highlights of my meal.
Unexpected After Dinner Treat!
I found the beer to have a crisp sensation, the flavor was earthy and only mildly sweet, while there was malt flavor I would not have pegged the ABV at 9% . I found the finish of the beer to leave only a subtle bite from the hops. I don't consider my ability to separate traditional flavor accents very good so I will leave it at that.
Tara: After the meal, Stephan had engaged the owner in discussion on his way back from the lavatory... consequently we all found ourselves sitting at the bar talking food, beverages, travel and other topics as the conversation rolled on... it's amazing how often this actually happens to us...
Nick was sampling some of the highly rated beers with the owner when the owner learned that I do not drink beer and asked his bartender to whip me up this little gem called the sazerac which I then learned is the oldest known American cocktail dating back to pre-Civil war times in New Orleans (which is where the owner of Pot Au Fue first tried this beverage.) Here's a little trip through that story on Wikipedia. Amazingly, I didn't find anything here that deviated from what I was told sitting AT the bar... he was quite well versed in the beverage!
Here's the thing... I didn't ask what was in it, I just took it graciously and tried it and actually found it pretty harsh on my first sip but discovered it was one of those drinks that grows on you after your first sip and just enhances it's experience as you continue on through it. Now... it was a sipper for me... one of those drinks that would (and did) last me over an hour. What I did learn shortly after trying it was that it actually has whiskey in it! I am typically not a whiskey or cognac drinker so I was astounded. A very nice drink and a great conversation piece to say the least. It's not something I'd be pounding but if I wanted something tasty to nurse for an evening out (that, if you're not careful will quickly put someone like me under the proverbial table) I'd probably try this again!
Summary
In reading Yelp and looking at the through the menu, it seems like Pot Au Fue is hit or miss. It was extremely busy when we went and we were really crowded in, even our server had a hard time getting around. Overall, I think all of our dishes were very clean, the flavors were spot on and everything was cooked correctly. The flaws in the restaurant that I had were fairly minor and mostly preference related. One of the biggest complaints on Yelp was cost, well what you have to understand is value. All meals include a greens salad, veg and potato.
Pot Au Fue is a good restaurant, expect to eat a good amount of food and the food is cooked exactly as a traditional french restaurant. Do not expect new age or avant guarde techniques, this is what french food was 100 years ago. I would try Pot Au Fue again, but not on a Saturday night, a week night when it is not so busy. I think many people have down marked this restaurant due to expectations, the food is subtle and flavorful, they use salt and seasonings sparsely, but the sauces have great flavor and the technique used it traditional and near flawless. I would recommend Pot Au Fue to anyone who knows and understand traditional French cuisine.
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