Bistro Bordeaux

I normally wouldn't go all the way to Evanston to have dinner. There are enough restaurants in Chicago to keep me satisfied. I was however recently in Evanston for other reasons and as I was there around dinner time it didn't make any sense to come back to Chicago before eating. There are several restaurants of interest in Evanston so it wasn't hard to find something. I decided to stop at a place that I had read about that sounded kind of interesting. Bistro Bordeaux has what they call a "couture prix fixe". If you order the prix fixe, the chef will come out to talk to you to figure out your likes and will suggest your dinner. It sounded like a really cool idea so i decided to try it out. I like French food in general so I figured that I couldn't lose. After a short conversation, the chef suggested for me the soup, a beet and goat cheese salad, monkfish and escargot, and a dessert of my choice. It sounded good so I let the chef drive. The soup came out after a few minutes and admittedly it really didn't look that appetizing. This soup was a grey-brown. I was expecting something a little more brightly colored after having the squash soup at Bistro Voltaire. After tasting it, I was relieved. It was a Duxelle mushroom soup which should have been grey-brown. It was creamy, mushroomy, and had a nice dollop of creme fraiche in the middle. Despite not looking so great at first, it was a good start.
After the soup came the salad. I have had beet and goat cheese salads before and I like the combination but this was a little different. The beets were roasted baby beets. They were very tender and the flavor wasn't quite as strong as a mature beet. The goat cheese creamy and was roasted in a chestnut leaf giving a slightly smoky flavor and the greens were mache which is a type of leaf lettuce that tastes kind of like a sweeter arugula. It was a good combination and the good dinner continued.The entree was both surprising and amazing. It consisted of a large piece of monkfish on top of sliced sunchokes. It was served with burgundy soaked escargot and celery root soup. The monkfish was tender and tasted really good. I thought the combination with the snails was ingenious. The snails had their typical beefy flavor and the burgundy was a good complement. The sunchokes provided a nice crunch and the celery root soup was nice and creamy. It was a great dish and I almost was sorry that I finished it but dessert was next so I wasn't too sorry.
After I finished my entree, the chef came back to try to figure out what kind of dessert that I wanted. This was actually pretty easy because he mentioned it when he was talking yo me about the rest of the dinner. I had the creme brulee. I love creme brulee especially if it's done well and this was done very well. There was a nice crunchy crust over a very creamy custard. It was a nice finish to a good supper and if I happen to be in Evanston again, it would be nice to try it again.