A Taste of France

This weekend my wife and I decided to head out for a nice evening meal at a local French restaurant we've been meaning to try, Chez Vincent. They advertise at one of the local outdoor markets we frequent by parking their unique red Citroen convertible on the street. Seeing this quintessential French automobile peaked my interest in their establishment.

Our evening started with the typical back and forth, "what do you feel like?," "I don't know, what do you want?" Eventually, I remembered the drivable billboard of Chez Vincent and decided to see if they had an online reservations, which they do through OpenTable. We made our reservations, dressed, and departed for our 7:30PM reservation. On our way there a torrential downpour brought traffic on the freeway to a crawl (30 MPH with hazards flashing). After 30-plus minutes of driving through screaming wind and hyper-wiper inducing rain, we pulled into Winter Park. Now the daunting task of locating suitable parking. Being the gracious husband that I am, I volunteered to drop my wife off at the door and park the car myself so only one of us would get soaked.

5 minutes later and significantly less dry, I walked in the front door to be greeted by my wife sitting in a cozy window seat with a bottle of water and the menus placed on the table. The waitstaff, several of whom were French, were prompt in taking our drink order and explaining the evening's specials. After reviewing the menu I settled on a starter of cream of mushroom soup, a glass of house red wine, and a meal of venison in cherry sauce, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. My wife decided to try the soup de jour, a cream of tomatoe and basil, a glass of Chardonnay, with a meal of salmon aux framboises (with rasberries), vegetables, and rice Provencal. Everthing from the service to the food, was tres bien.

Following the meal we decided to each try a dessert, I went with the Bavarois, a combination of rasberry and chocolate mouse in mango sauce. My wife went with the French classic of Creme Brulee, like Amelie Poulaine she loves the crack, crack, crack of the spoon on the hard sugary surface. I am happy to report that neither option dissapointed. We both coupled our dessert with a cup of coffee, mine traditionally black, while my wife asked for creme. I've explained that in Europe the locales do not drink milk in their coffee after breakfast. Her response, well I do...