Lunch at Alizee
Courtney and I went for lunch at Alizee on Saturday. Since Elizabeth Large gave them four stars for food, we wanted to see if it was as good as we had heard.
Annoyingly, it's in a Doubletree hotel, so you have to park in the garage and go through the lobby (they validate parking). Not exactly what would make you think you're in for a great dining experience. The space is very modern, with an ambient techno soundtrack playing.
We started with a charcuterie -- a delicious pate, slices of pork sausage, and some kind of pork thing that resembled a slice of rullepølse. It was served with sliced pickles (no cornichons!) and a grainy mustard. The pate was far and away my favorite.
Courtney got moules frites. These were very good, perfectly steamed with vermouth and herbs -- not rubbery at all. I got steak frites. Surprisingly, the rare (as ordered) and huge hangar steak was not served on top of the fries, but on the side in a little miniature fryer basket. It came with a sauce bordelaise, although I couldn't taste much shallot. No matter, the beef was good.
The lunch menu is not the same as the dinner menu, so an evening experience might be very different. But if you sign up for email updates on their web site, you get a coupon good for a buy one get one free lunch entree, which we used. Total bill with coupon, one glass of wine and two of Clipper City from their disappointing beer list was under $50, not including tip.
Service was attentive if not polished (at one point our waiter asked if we were "still working on that"). But he was friendly, mostly knowledgeable, and we had no complaints.
I'm not sure I'd give it four stars, but it was good. I'd be willing to go back for dinner, but as Courtney said, we'd be more inclined to return to B&O Brasserie first based on our lunch experience there.
By JonParker
on Nov 23, 2009 07:44 AM
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Yeah the unfortunate part of being in a hotel is that they have to offer breakfast lunch and dinner where it seems as if dinner is clearly the focal point.
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That location has housed several restaurants over the years and never seemed to have an issue with being inside a hotel.
I, too, had a fantastic chicken liver pate with my dinner there last week. I"m not a beer drinker, but was pleased with their wine list. We'll definitely go back.
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Went to Alizee for lunch with a friend a little while ago, and against my better judgement chose the wild mushroom risotto, expecting a reheated, gummy mess. But no, after a fair wait, a smallish portion of perfectly cooked, light-up-your-mouth rice and fresh mushrooms appeared. Based on that visit, and her salad with fresh cherries, my pal returned for brunch with family. Here is her report:
Field green salad with pistachio beignet, IPA marinated and bbq'ed shrimp atop great cheese grits decorated with pickled okra. Right size, delicious, perfectly cooked, great looking. Eggs en cocotte, eggs benedict, Dutch baby (not on too many menus) pancake, finished in the oven, puffy and beautiful. Three choices for dessert, seriously good chocolate oval, truffly and decadent, strawberry tart (me). We didn't try the lemon thing, the coffee -- my brother is a coffee nut -- was very good. I had some wild cocktail made with elderflower liquor, and so on. It was such a great way to get through brunch with the family.
This place needs patrons. The wait staff could not have been nicer or better. Gave mother a beautifully boxed extra chocolate dessert when she said how much she liked it. Zero complaints, only praise. $20 bucks!!!
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