In honor of the newly-extended two-week Houston Restaurant Week (what? you hadn't heard?), Houstonist celebrated the end of a long week and the beginning of another at Le Mistral, one of the many restaurants that participated in the first week of this year's Houston Restaurant Week, which benefits the End Hunger Network. As fate would have it, however, we didn't end up ordering from the Houston Restaurant Week menu at Le Mistral at all.
We hadn't been to this favorite French outpost in west Houston since they moved into their newly-expanded space this past May. The old Le Mistral was a dark, cozy corner of France tucked away incongruously in a strip center off Eldridge; who would ever expect that Houston's best French restaurant would be located here? The space was small but inviting, the staff old-school and polished, the owners friendly and accessible and the food unmatched. The new incarnation of Le Mistral, all modern design elements and high ceilings, came as a total shock when we walked in the door. Gone was the cozy bistro; in its place was a stark, almost overly-trendy restaurant that stands in marked contrast to Le Mistral's humble beginnings.
Luckily, the food was exactly as brilliant as we remembered.
Arriving early for our reservation, we sought a seat in Le Mistral's warm, dark-toned bar and ordered a few glasses of crisp Vouvray from the friendly bartender. While also quite modern, the bar seems to have retained the same coziness as the original facility and the service at the bar was equally pleasant. The wine menu has expanded and is full of expert choices; no surprise, since Sylvain Denis (one half of the fraternal duo that owns and runs the restaurant, with brother David as head chef) was a sommelier in his native France before coming to Houston.
When we were seated, we were excited to try their Houston Restaurant Week menu's triple offering of cream of wild mushroom soup, double pork chop with apricot chutney and their famous chocolate fondant. Disappointingly, we were told that they'd run out of the pork chop the day before, but had neglected to mention that when we called to confirm our reservation for Houston Restaurant Week and hadn't removed it from the printed menu, either. The replacement? Chicken. We decided to mull over the menu a bit longer instead, and ended up having a meal that -- while delectable -- wasn't exactly what we came for.
Keep reading the review after the jump...
The appetizers we decided upon were two different kinds of foie gras -- a terrine, which was served with roasted beets and toast points and was light and airy in spite of its ample fat content, and a few pieces of lightly sauteed foie gras that were thick, buttery and decadent, perfect with a glass of sauterne -- and the wild mushroom soup. Despite the unappealing grey color of the soup, it was dense with the taste of the forest (the mushrooms had been pureed into a dizzyingly thick cream that clung to the spoon) with a spicy layer of garlic that brightened the entire dish. All of the appetizers were exceedingly well-executed.
Unfortunately, towards this point in the night, our waiter became increasingly distracted by a big top table in his section and our service became non-existent. Food runners brought our entrees and we had to repeatedly bother the bussers to get any silverware. Drink refills were scant.
Our entrees, at least, were masterful. We ordered the house special of the night, three lamb chops with garlic mashed potatoes and lamb jus, as well as the duck breast with spicy orange glaze and one of Le Mistral's best dishes, their Beef Wellington. All three might have been too heavy for summer dishes in lesser hands, but Le Mistral managed to make all of them seasonally-appropriate and positively refreshing, despite the fact that Chef David Denis wasn't even in the kitchen that night.
The Beef Wellington deserves particular merit for its inclusion of scandalously huge clumps of morel mushrooms among the puff pastry and perfectly-cooked beef. The lamb and duck, too, were cooked to the ideal medium-rare; good thing, too, since Houstonist hates nothing more than overcooked meat. Our waiter (prior to his disappearance) split the plate of duck for us, which made it into more than enough of a portion for each person, but neglected to tell us that there would be a $2.50 charge for doing so. Not that the money is the issue; once again, it was the omission of information which was slightly annoying.
After the entrees, our dishes were quickly cleared by the busser. However, we sat at our empty table for another twenty minutes before anyone came by to offer us a dessert menu or coffee. We had wanted to order a souffle, but since they take another twenty minutes to make (and it was already 9:00 p.m.), we settled instead on Le Trilogie, a beguiling dessert trio, and some decaf coffee.
The dessert was hit and miss. No one cared for the panacotta, comparing it to a cold, overly-sweet bite of creme brulee. The lemon curd between ginger cookies was a hit with half the table; the other half didn't appreciate the tartness of the lemon and how it was offset by the bite of the ginger. The buttery chocolate mousse, on the other hand, was enjoyed by everyone.
Getting the check was another struggle, as our waiter now seemed to be pointedly avoiding not only coming near our table, but even looking our way. We wondered if we had somehow offended him or were maybe just giving off some strong B.O. Either way, we eventually flagged him down and managed to get the tab, which was an extremely reasonable amount for such a feast. The foie gras, in particular, is a bargain considering the amount that they serve.
All of their portions, in fact, are incredibly generous while being priced very conservatively. Perhaps they've abandoned their French roots when it comes to portion size, instead adopting the adage that everything is bigger in Texas. Whatever their rationale, it's all good by us. And while we had one evening of bad service (and don't particularly care for the new decor), it certainly won't deter us from coming back to Le Mistral. After all, there's now a chef's table in the kitchen, not to mention we have a whole new wine list to peruse...
Le Mistral
1400 Eldridge Parkway
832.379.8322
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