We were ushered in kindly and quickly tallied our choices from the €18 pre-fix menu that included an appetizer, main dish, and dessert (€15 for just appetizer and main dish). I ended up choosing poelee de 6 escargots de bourgogne au bleu d'auvergne, cuisse de canard confite gratinee au miel pommes sautees a l'ail, and moelleaux au choclat creme anglaise, or escargot with blue cheese sauce, duck confit with honeyed potatoes, and chocalte cake with creme.
I was excited to try the escargot as my appetizer (first time trying it) and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of taste. The escargot here was already pre-shelled and hiding within a pool of melted bleu cheese. The escargot itself didn't seem to have too much flavor on its own (I've heard it usually doesn't) but the richness of the bleu cheese sauce more than made up for it. The texture was chewy, almost like a clam but meatier. Overall the escargot was a plus that didn't provoke the gag reflexes that little kids usually make when thinking that they're eating snails and I'm glad I tried it. However, if I were to go back (which I most likely will) I think I would order (and recommend to everybody) the eufs poches au Romarin or a poached egg in creamy rosemary sauce. I was able to steal a bite of my neighbors after bartering one of my own escargots and the softened, almost raw yoke mixed with the milky sauce was a small bite of heaven that definitely made me compare the 5 pieces of escargot I had left in my dish.
As for the main dish (which I will no longer call entrees because entrees actually mean entry plates and are used to correctly describe appetizers here), the duck confit was for a lack of a better word, stunning. I haven't had duck confit before so I guess I don't really have a base to compare it to, but I have tried duck prepared in other ways and this was by far the best duck dish that I've had so far. The duck meat was tender and the skin covering the duck meat was a nice fatty compliment. The ratio between the two was just right and the honey sauce (along with whatever else was mixed with it) gave it a slight sweet flavor that was delicious. The thinly cut potato rounds were as equally amazing with a good balance of small crispy rounds and thicker, heartier ones. They went well with the duck too. Also, through further bartering process I was able to steal a bite of the beef tartar as well as the beef steak and this time around, the sampling process made me even more content with my dish as I elatedly felt like it was the best one on the menu (there's a certain pride to be found when you feel like you ordered the best dish you possibly could at a restaurant).
And while our meal was also served with a side of dessert, I was so completely satisfied with my duck confit that I was tempted to just skip dessert and continue to smack my lips and enjoy the lingering taste of the prior dish in my mouth. But since I have this sometimes negative (mostly positive) habit of eating all this is placed in front of me, I obliged to the to chocolate cake in front of me that was sitting in a pool of custard-like cream. It was a simple dessert that tasted just fine and can be accurately summed up through its picture.
At the end of the day, I left Atelier Aubrac not only with an appreciation for its bargain-priced (and absolutely delicious) pre-fix menu, but also a craving for more duck confit. You may notice a spike in duck confit posts in the following weeks if the restaurants I go to have the same option, or I may just end up going to Atelier Aubrac again sometime in the near future. Either way, finding a new go-to dish (steak frites just never cut it) can only be summed up best as how Charlie Sheen says it: Winning.
Atelier Aubrac
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51 Boulevard Garibaldi, 75015 Paris, France
Metro: Segur or Sevres - Lecourbe
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