New European Food: Le Cheval Blanc

A corner of the main dining room

Crémont - the justly famous Alsace bubbly

Well, perhaps not every penny. You must put aside a bit here and there, for rent, gas, and keeping the odd cobweb out of your wine cellar. Nevertheless….

We threw money to the wind and had dinner at Le Cheval Blanc (The White Horse) in the half-timbered Alsatian village of Lembach. (scroll all the way down for full address and tel) From the moment we were greeted by the receptionist, shown to our table and offered wine, until we left some three hours later, we were never disappointed for even a fraction of a second.

What do you look for when you go out to eat? I’m talking about you personally. Ambiance? A quick bite? A dining experience? If I’m spending more than pennies, I want it all and I want it better than anything I could cook at home. As a friend of mine put it: If you have an expensive meal and walk away thinking you could have done that yourself, you’ve wasted your money. I may add, you’d also like to walk back in with a shotgun and suggest the Chef-in-Thief return your silver shekels, or lose what’s left of what he so proudly calls his brain. But, of course civilized people don’t do that. We know when we’ve been robbed fair and square. We tell all our friends to make reservations under different names and cancel at the last minute.

No worries at Le Cheval Blanc. I guarantee that unless you are a master chef, with your own Michelin starred restaurant, there’s no way you can match this cuisine.

Delicate, little finger sized vegetable creams

Which brings us to the whole question of La Guide Michelin and the meaning of their stars. Without putting too fine a point on it (pun intended), one star means “a very good restaurant in its category.” Two stars means the restaurant offers “exceptional cuisine and worth a detour.” The coveted three star ranking means you should bow down and thank your lucky three stars that you could get a reservation this century and that you could afford it. As of late 2009, there were 26 Michelin three star restaurants in France and 81 in the world. Some have carried the distinction for years and others have just arrived and the kitchen staff is still drunk and celebrating.

Proudly carrying one Michelin star, Le Cheval Blanc offered one of the most superb meals I have ever had, for décor, service, and unbelievable deliciousness. I walked away after happily parting with my money, armed with a broad smile that stretched across my face and down to my belly

Le Cheval Blanc offers an a la carte menu and also several compete menus. We decided on The Gourmand menu, which had so many courses I ran out of fingers, but you can count them yourself on their web site: http://www.idealgourmet.fr/930-restaurant-ideal-gourmet-presentation_mr-gb.html. No meal in France begins without wine. We selected a Crémont, the Alsace version of Champagne and were not disappointed, with it’s crisp, yet soothing taste.

Shaved slices of smoke cured beef

Beer bread and local farmhouse butter

Foie Gras - silky smooth and melts on your tongue

Cannelloni as you've never had it. A glass of local, light Pinot on the side.

Rather than test the limits of language and endurance, I will exhibit great restraint and restrict myself to impressions of the cannelloni. Why pick pasta? Common point of departure. Everyone knows pasta and we all have our favorites. None are in the same category as Le Cheval Blanc’s version of this Italian staple.

The pasta we’ve all eaten is doughy, heavy, with a mostly predictable topping of cream or tomato and beaucoup cheese. Le Cheval Blanc’s cannelloni was as light as a crêpe. The filling of duck foie gras and slivered, wild mushrooms rested in a reduction of black truffle emulsion, frothy and heavenly. Each ingredient was individual, with nothing overpowering the effect of the whole. Flavors soared! I have never tasted such a divine blending of tastes and perhaps (depending on my investments and whether or not I choose to ever drive a car) never will again. And yet, the cannelloni was only one of a parade of delicious surprises, many photos of which I had to exclude for reasons of space.

Each course and the many palate cleansing intermediate courses arrived like works of incredibly wonderful, stupendously interesting, tongue slapping works of art. In truth, I had to restrain myself to capture the moment on film before reaching for my fork.

This was not a good restaurant, or even a great one. It was far more. Le Cheval Blanc was a dining experience that will live on my palate and in my dreams for decades to come. If there are better restaurants, neither my taste buds, nor my wallet are prepared for the challenge.