With two restaurants in the top 100 restaurants in the world – French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York – Thomas Keller is a culinary genius. Call him King Midas because anything he touches turns to gold, or so it would seem, considering the success of his other Yountville restaurants Ad Hoc and Bouchon. A natural assumption is that his Bouchon Bakery would also serve manna from heaven. Rave reviews from websites such as Yelp and Citysearch reinforce this belief. But is this just hype that has spilled over from Keller’s other successes? Or is Bouchon Bakery as good as its brethren? My wife Lucky, our pal Grady, and I were in Napa this past weekend and thought that perhaps we would make a jaunt over to Yountville to judge for ourselves.
Located right next to Bouchon, the bakery is a tiny place busting at the seams with people coming to and fro like ants at a picnic. Those in line either talked excitedly about what they were going to get this time around or studied the beautiful contents behind the glass case. Lucky stood in line for a good 15 minutes, which was ample time for Grady and me to decide on a few treats to take with us on our road trip through the Wine Country. Grady’s shirt, as usual, was soaked with drool as he watched patrons carry their delectables out the door.
At last, Lucky finally reached the counter. Shouting over the din from the other customers, I gave Lucky a list of items that caught my eye. Grady, however, only looked at me with those sad eyes, knowing that his diet precluded him from any of the bakery’s offering. A little under $30 later, we walked out of the bakery to the patio in back with our bag of baked goods in tow.
$30 bought two sandwiches, two chocolate bouchons, a citrus pistachio brioche and a pear tart. Lucky’s Jardiniere sandwich was compact yet dense. Filled with eggplant, red onion, cheese, artichoke, and dressed with a pesto sauce on wheat bread, it did a fine job of satisfying her hunger. My goat cheese and turkey served on a grilled baguette was simple yet flavorful. However at $15 for the two, it had us wishing we had packed our own sandwiches and saved the money to buy more pastries. Maybe on my next trip to Napa, I’ll stop in and try the chocolate caramel ganache ($6) or the mango mousse triangle ($6.50).
Up to this point in our meal, the Bakery had not lived up to our expectations. True, it was known for its baked goods and not its sandwiches, but even the baguette on which my sandwich was served was overtoasted, making it too dry and crunchy. Nonetheless, we were willing to let bygones be bygones and make peace with the desserts. The first to go were the chocolate bouchons, dense bite-sized brownie-like morsels. A somewhat hard outside gave way to soft, almost chewy inside with chunks of dark chocolate. Lucky likened them to a less sweet version of the chocolate chewy cookies at Safeway. Although I agree there were some similarities, namely the consistency, the quality of the bouchon’s ingredients was far superior. The result was a more chocolatey dessert that wasn’t so blindingly sweet. “But the Safeway cookies go for $3.50 for 12. These are $2 apiece,” Lucky countered. Yes, the bouchons were good, but not that good.
The citrus pistachio brioche was a delicate, light bread with distinct candied lemon pieces throughout. Usually I am not a fan of lemon rind in my baked goods, but in this case it was not too overpowering. Added to it were tangy cranberries that contrasted the citrus. Carmelized sugar bits sprinkled on top along with the pistachios added a nice crunchy texture. At $3, this was perhaps my favorite of them all.
It was a nice touch that they used Asian pear in their pear tarts, resulting in a pastry that was neither heavy nor overly sweet. Underneath the generous helping of pear slices was a vanilla pudding containing an ample amount of blueberries. Just under the size of a CD, it was a nice way to end the meal.
While Bouchon Bakery undoubtedly serves up tasty morsels, I think it benefits from the associated success of Keller’s other restaurants. How else can one explain why one patron shelled out $150 at a recent visit? Or why there was a 15-minute wait. Or why people travel from across the bay just to try the place. If you are in the area, by all means try Bouchon Bakery. But you don’t have to leave the city to find equally delicious offerings if you know where to look (hint, La Boulangerie at Pine).
Bouchon Bakery
6540 Washington St
Yountville, CA, 94599
(707) 944-1565
Originally published: www.ucsf.edu/synapse/articles/2007/Nov/1/bouchon.html
No comments:
Post a Comment