Archive for January 22nd, 2009

Pomme Frite Belgian Restaurant, Palm Springs, California

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

256 South Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Tel. 760-778 3727
Website: www.pomme-frite.com
Parking: Street
Dress Code: Casual
Reservations: Yes
Credit Cards: Yes
Prices: Moderate

This French-style Belgian restaurant, located on the main drag in downtown Palm Springs, has built its reputation on excellent pomme frite served in a wire cone and Moules à la Marinière, which is as Belgian as it gets. They also offer an equally outstanding roast chicken, Carbonades Flamandes (beef stew made with beer), escargot and various homemade pâtes. It is interesting to dine and people-watch on the sidewalk terrace.
The owner Jean-Claude Constant, who in the past spent more time in the kitchen, has now hired a chef who came from the award-winning Desert Sage Restaurant in La Quinta. This may be a good thing for the kitchen, but it assures for a terrible experience for diners, as it has given him more time to spend in the front of house and the unpleasant sound of his loud voice bossing his wait-staff and yelling orders to the kitchen is really irritating and annoying. It is a shame that this restaurant’s cooking, which is quite all right, is diminished to nothing due to the constant (no pun intended), distraction of the reverberation of this tyrannical Belgian’s voice in the dining room.

Cave Augé, Wine Shop – Paris

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Cave Augé, 116 Bd Haussmann 75008 Paris
Metro : Saint Augustin (line 9)
Tel. 01 45 22 16 97
Website: www.cavesauge.com

A full range of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines as well as a collection of bottles from boutique wineries from all over France. This is one of the best places to find obscure, almost unknown wines from areas that heretofore have been mostly overlooked. There are regularly scheduled tastings that will give the opportunity to taste some of these mainly unknown, rare gems.
The old shop reeks of antiquity and has the feeling of emanating from a more graceful era.
It is well looked after by Marc Sibard.