The same fun foodie friends that tried (the absolutely awesome) Root & Bone with us made another reservation for us at a new restaurant within a few days of opening, Dirty French. (I love having foodie couple friends!)
Dirty French is the first French restaurant from Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick, who brought us Carbone, Torrisi Italian Specialties, and Parm (the latter 2 I still need to visit!)
They definitely paid attention to the details, with some awesome personalization of their knives.
And I noticed lots of pink roosters hanging around.
And some super creepy heads (dead clowns maybe?) up on the wall.
I had just had a great work meeting and was in a great mood when we sat down for dinner. The high continued when they served us their table bread, which was a warm herbed flat bread of some kind with a cheese spread.
It was good enough to have been a menu item. We all loved it. And boy did it smell like heaven.
A gentleman came by with a tray of oysters to show off.
This is the first time I’ve seen that, and it was a winning move. I wasn’t really considering ordering oysters prior to his visit, trying to jump right to the prepared foods, but with these pretty babies staring back at me, I just had to have some.
We were then served a bowl that was shaped like another rooster.
Which contained some little sides for the chicken (I believe).
And then out came the chicken, which is “Presented in 2 Services.” First service was the white meat, which was in a mustard sauce.
They served it with tortilla like bread (which was unlimited and we got more of when we finished the first round) and sauces so you can kind of add sauces and ingredients to make it your own, similar to how peking duck is served.
The meat on this was so juicy and tender, with perfectly crisp skin. I can’t say it was as good as The NoMad chicken, but we all really enjoyed it. Especially the sauce (which surprised me as a non-mustard lover).
We also ordered the veal, which I couldn’t have due to peppers, but everyone else really enjoyed it.
My choice was the pork chop with apples. Another mustard sauce that I actually really loved (am I becoming a convert?) and the pork was incredibly flavorful.
I loved the apples with it.
For the second service of the chicken, they served the dark meat… feet and all.
The boys had some fun with being chicken models.
Everyone also loved the legs. Sadly, I couldn’t have those either due to the peppers allergy.
Foot models?
We got a side of the Bacon d’Hotel, which was meaty and thick and juicy and everything we wanted it to be.
And a side of Pomme Frites which were unique and really fantastic.
And a side of champignons (mushrooms) were a really great compliment to the rest of the meal.
For dessert… we just couldn’t decide between the four options… so we went with all of them!
This is what took the meal from very good to great. We all went around trying to decide which dessert was our favorite.
First was a coconut creme brulee which I thought tasted like vacation but some people thought tasted like sunscreen (though they claimed that wasn’t a bad thing). I really enjoyed it.
Next up was a pineapple… something. I wish I remember what this was called because this was hands down my favorite. The pineapple was caramelized and it was sensational. I was deliriously happy when I was eating this. I was shocked at how good it tasted. Really took me (and the entire table) by surprise.
Then a citrus tarte with meringue on top. I thought this was really fantastic and loved the slightly browned meringue (I’m a meringue sucker!)
And lastly, beignets with caramel sauce. These were perfectly cooked, extra warm, and amazingly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And that caramel sauce was over the top. We all dipped a spoon in for one last bite before we finished.
I’ve heard rumor that service has been an issue for some people, however, our service was fine (though not remarkable by any means). The man who appeared to be a sommelier seemed confused when we asked him where our waiter was and then he took our order… so I’m not sure if that was our assumption gone wrong or if he was filling in. But after that speed bump, we were just fine.
Overall, I really enjoyed our meal.
I can’t say it was one of the best meals of the year, nor can I say “Go! Run! Now!” but it was definitely enjoyable. I’m glad we tried it earlier but I do not have the urge to go back. I’d rather try other places.
Though I could do a run through for that pineapple dessert!
Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10
