Chef Philippe Schmit spent some time in Paris recently to receive his Mâitres du Cuisiner de France (Master Chef of France) award and, in his words, save the rest of us $15,000.
How did he do this? By checking out the latest food fashions in Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, such as L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and Agapé Substance, and bringing what he learned back to Houston. No airfare, hotel stay or heart-stopping credit card bills required to have a taste of France in Houston.
At a recent media dinner called “Postcards from Paris,” local food writers were invited to the restaurant to preview what Schmit has in store for the menu at Philippe Restaurant + Lounge, as well as experience French food trends. The restaurant’s sommelier Vanessa Treviño Boyd was on-hand to discuss the wine parings as well. Her choices were brilliant, and I can see why she was recently named one of the top seven sommeliers of 2012 by Food & Wine Magazine.
Fresh sardines and delicate slices of cured Spanish ham might not sound like they’d go well together, but they made for a beautiful amuse bouche plate. Bites of a rectangle of tomato focaccia bridged any gap nicely. The fresh and rich sardines were the star of this show. If everyone had access to sardines like these, no one would ever wrinkle their nose at their mention. A crisp 2011 Txomin Etxaniz from Spain set off the plate beautifully.
Spanish influences continued in the next dish, with an innovative, foamy gazpacho gilded with chorizo dust. A dining companion commented that the chilled soup seemed to change with every bite, and she was right. Sometimes you’d get marinated baby shrimp, and sometimes the cucumber would come out to play. Treviño Boyd selected a 2011 rosé from Heitz Cellars in California, which smelled a bit like sour cherries and was assertive enough to play with the big flavors of the gazpacho. Look for this dish to appear on Philippe’s menu in the future.
I love the idea of an orgeat salad dressing, but the beautiful salad it came on with edible flowers and escargot hidden inside deep-fried croquettes just didn’t have enough flavor to make me want to have it again.
The next dish was a rich celebration of fresh peas and springtime. A one-hour poached egg was nestled in a warm bath of light green puréed peas. Truffle oil is so often abused, but in this case a scant amount of it in powdered form provided a mere wafting scent, more a suggestion than a taste of truffle. Whole peas decorated the dish, as well as a square of “leather” made from dehydrated pea puree. Served in a martini glass, this paean to spring was very rich, but exactly the type of playful dish one expects from an ambitious French restaurant kitchen.
It was hard to find the cod and asparagus under all the milk foam on the next dish, but once I did, I was very happy. (And you thought the foam trend was over? Three of our seven courses featured foam of some kind.) This was another seasonal celebration, this time showcasing fresh asparagus. The cod was perfectly done – but oh, the asparagus! We had asparagus three ways: fresh spears, deep-fried slivers that I could have eaten a bucket of as a snack and very thin lengthwise shavings. Asparagus is notorious for being hard to pair with wine. Treviño Boyd wisely selected a Gruner Veltliner, which handled the challenge just fine.
I wish I hadn’t been quite so full at this point, or I would have more appreciated the next course, a hearty dish of sliced duck with orange sauce, shredded duck legs and a beet juice-tinged salad of fennel stems and baby squash. Square tiles of filo dough laboriously embedded with individual leaves of Italian parsley – the effect was like delicate enameled jewelry – balanced on top of a length of rhubarb. Duck-lovers will want to give this entrée a try, as Schmit plans for it to show up on the regular menu.
On to desserts. Yes, two dessert courses. Integrating soft cheeses into desserts is back in favor in Paris right now. The next plate had not only a frozen white cheese parfait with a ribbon of red currant geleé, but also two slices of a ripe Basque sheep cheese. Between the mild frozen dessert and the strong cheese, there was certainly a lot of contrast in flavors – perhaps too much, although I appreciated each item for its own merits. The Taylor-Fladgate Tawny Port was a perfect match to the pungent sheep cheese.
Lastly came a light-as-a-cloud meringue (blanc manger) filled with almond crème and served with strawberries. It was slightly sweet and angelic, and the tang of the fresh strawberries was a welcome accompaniment. This is also in the works to appear on Philippe’s menu, so I strongly encourage you to finish off a meal with this if you spot it.
Afterwards, Schmit treated us to a presentation of the food he experienced while in Paris. Unlike slide shows with your relatives, this one was very interesting. Dishware is a huge deal, from a crystal bowl with a single amuse bouche nestled in an indentation to elaborate desserts that require multiple plates. Schmit described a cigar-smoked foie gras that he had eaten. And while that may sound vile to some, I can imagine how sweet tobacco smoke might actually enhance the dark rich flavor of the bird’s liver.
Chefs who continue to learn, grow and integrate outside influences into their dishes will continue pushing Houston forward as a food city. Philippe Schmit, along with other ambitious chefs, is setting the expectation that high-end restaurants cannot rest on their laurels. Some chefs visit other cities to broaden their horizons; others travel to far corners of Houston to get hands-on experience with different cuisines in restaurants willing to host them. When they bring their newfound knowledge home, we diners benefit, and it’s delicious. No excursion required.
PHILIPPE RESTAURANT + LOUNGE, 1800 Post Oak Blvd., 713-439-1000, philippehouston.com