Les Tablettes de Jean Louis Nomicos is a medium sized 2 room place with a very modern interior. The woven wood ceiling and walls are a striking feature. The polished wood tables are nicely spaced and set with good sized linen napkin in the main room and lovely full linens in the second room. Service is top notch. It seemed formal at first but as time went on we were able to establish a rapport for a most pleasant dining experience. Chef Nomicos peaks into the room often to see that all is going well and later comes out to visit with his guests. It gets a well dressed crowd but is a surprising value at lunch.
An a la carte menu is offered but there is an option for 58 euros that includes 3 courses, cheese, coffee and wine (the wine portion can be white and red or just one). You can get by with 42 euros if you don’t want the last three options. An even better value when you get to taste the divine food Chef Nomico turns out.
A gift of gourgeres start your experience and they are moist inside and crusty outside with additional crumbs on the top. A warm bit of goodness that sets the tone of what’s to come. Bread service is a choice of white or wheat roll. Both have a terrific crusty exterior and nice moist interior which you can dip in olive oil if you choose.
An amuse bouche of pumpkin velouté is an orange very mild cup of custard with a round of celeriac surrounded by oil of fennel in the middle. It was lovely and the bread was a perfect way to get every last bit of it.
For a starter my husband had the poached egg and asparagus with veal juice and parmesan. It was a perfectly cooked egg with a totally savory veal juice blending all the ingredients. The strongly flavored asparagus were a nice change from the anemic ones often served and sliced lengthwise for an interesting visual. A very good dish.
The gnocchi were with artichokes, Parma ham and sage. Each component in the dish was good on its own but also combined well with any of the others. It was accented with crispy bits of artichoke which really brought out their flavor. The light creamy gnocchi also had a bit of that fabulous veal juice to add to the taste level. Another winner here.
We both had the main plate of poultry oyster with macaroni, mushrooms and reduced juice. It was a really reduced juice giving it an incredible taste and texture. The macaroni were long enough to only need a couple to span the long plate and topped with cheese. The chicken was tender and tasty. A really fun plate.
Cheese of the moment was a cheese flower in a bowl of fruit. The shaving of the cheese was so pretty I didn’t want to eat it but glad I chose to. Creamy and light it was terrific with the bowl of grapefruit and pineapple that were sweetened slightly. A very tasty and different cheese course.
For dessert the Paris-Brest is always a favorite and this one didn’t disappoint. Each little section was sugared and topped with nuts then filled with rich, sweet cream. It was a lick the plate dish for sure.
If that wasn’t enough then the mignardises came and all were a yum x2 or more! The rum baba was served on a paddle cause you needed that to get it into your mouth without it dripping the delicious rum it was filled with. The chocolate caramel was sweet and melted in your mouth with a little crunch of nuts imbedded in the chocolate. The lemon custard was on top of a incredible buttery crust that was just a bit of heaven in your mouth. I’ll be back soon!
