Pantagruel was named for a gluttonous giant and Chef Jason Gouzy tries to honor gastronomy at his restaurant which received one Michelin Star after just 8 months of being open.  Opening in 2020 the menu was done in chapters, each with 3 parts.  That is, with each course or chapter the ingredients are presented in 3 different ways, so the diner can experience the food in several forms and textures.  The menu was composed of 6 chapters with optional wine pairings offered.   There was an optional cheese course, at an additional charge and an upgrade on one of the chapters.  We declined the cheese but chose the lobster upgrade over the fish.  It was an “L” shaped space with only about 9 tables, most clad with white clothes and set with fresh flowers.   Some semi-circle booths were on one end and smaller square tables were toward the back.  A larger irregularly shaped table was in front, lower lighting was supplemented with hanging fixtures and windows to the street in the front, and faint music was in the background.  It was a pleasant space.

Set-Up

 

Food

A series of snacks were served immediately with a beet and trout theme.   A red beetroot tart was decorated with red trout eggs. It had a great crust and a nice pop to the eggs.   A yellow beet curry was seasoned with horseradish to compliment the sweet beet.  Some of the beet and trout were encased in an ultra-thin chip.  You definitely tasted more of the trout here and I loved the crisp outside.

 

Bread service was sliced brown bread with seeds or without and served with seaweed butter.  The bread had a good texture.

 

First Chapter was made with oyster, potato, citrus and caviar.   The bowl on the right had a raw oyster with caviar.  It was mild but great.  The left bowl held a vichychoise sauce on oyster and celery.  It had excellent flavors.  The smallest bowl held potato and oyster mousse with fried capers with some raw potato ribbons.  All three were good variations.

 

Veal sweetbread, mushrooms and mussel made up the Second Chapter.    Ceps were roasted and served in an emulsion in the smallest bowl. It was super tasty.  A smoke-filled container revealed mushroom bits between 2 thin discs that were great.  The largest plate held a perfectly cooked sweetbread alongside tasty mushrooms and mussels.  All were good.

 

Lobster from Brittany, pear and sweet onion were the ingredients used in the Third Chapter.  The main plate had a lobster tail alongside sweet onion with a  lobster bisque sauce.  Some mustard seeds blended in nicely and the bisque was deeply flavored.  The square sandwich was of lobster alongside more of the lobster bisque.  It was buttery crisp on the outside and fabulous.  The last was a ball of pear with lobster inside.  It was not as good as the others.

 

Deer, spider crab and seaweed made up the last savory course.  The main plate held deer in a crust of nori and pumpkin seed with jus of the meat.  The meat was nicely rare and topped with some spider crab.  The seaweed wrap was too strong for me but when removed things tasted much better.  The bowl had spider crab with cep oil and deer tartar.  It was very good, especially mixed together.   The smaller plate held leg meat with pickled beetroot in a sauce of spidercrab.  This was the long-cooked meat with a sauce similar to the rare meat.  It was also good.

 

Pre-dessert was a Chantilly cream under grapefruit ice cream in a lovely little cone.  It was tasty.

 

Quince and peanuts were the ingredients in the dessert.  The largest bowl had peanut butter cookies with quince purée, that had the texture of applesauce.  It was tasty.  The black plate had a quince roll on peanut lemon jelly.  The white bowl held peanut ice cream with peanut butter topping and quince chunks.  I liked the white bowl best followed by the large plate combinations.

 

Last treats came out in a globe server.  It was an almond praline and chocolate sandwich and a pear infusion with fig camomile and cardamon.  The infusion was all right but the cookie was great – sweet and crisp.  Chef came around to visit with all the tables as the service wound down and all were sent with a bag containing 2 chocolate chip cookies.