Brasserie Perrier (Philadelphia, PA)
A Restaurant Week to Remember
For my final restaurant week meal, I had saved what I hoped would be the best for last -- Brasserie Perrier. When I arrived on campus, I parked near Mayer Hall and went inside to meet Brian. He was running a little beyond schedule so I waited patiently while he got ready. We then grabbed a cab outside of Wawa and then headed downtown to restaurant row.
Brasserie Perrier was as busy as I have ever seen it and we had to push our way through the bar crowd to get to the host’s stand. We were quickly seated in the back room and received our restaurant week menus. This was one of the menus I was looking forward to the most due to my ongoing love affair with skate (and its infrequent appearances on most restaurant menus). As such, I quickly made my selections, tomato gazpacho soup, sautéed skate, and pineapple upside-down cake. Brian was less certain and asked for our waiter’s opinion. He strongly recommended the steak despite its additional charge and small size (7 ounces). I was turned off by this since I am not a fan of additional markups during restaurant week. The purpose of the week is to afford customers an opportunity to try new restaurants and dishes at reduced prices. To place an item on a menu only to mark it up (an obvious discouragement) seems counter to the spirit of restaurant week. Regardless of this, Brian had high expectations for the steak due to its strong recommendation from our server.
The pacing of our meal bordered on slow but I was fine with this due to the rapid, forced pace of many of my earlier restaurant week meals. Our first course began with Brian’s wild burgundy escargot with sautéed spinach, roasted garlic butter, garnished with parmesan brioche and my yellow tomato gazpacho, estate bottled extra virgin olive oil, with avocado arnish. Brian enjoyed his escargot and was happy with his reasonably large portion. I loved my soup although I was put off by its small size. The gazpacho was light, refreshing, and flavorful.
Had I been a betting man, I would have guessed that the steak would have been a disappointment but I am a foodie and not a gambler so all bets were off. Nonetheless, the steak au poivre with pomme puree and haricot verts arrived looking measly and bland with nothing but small portions of potatoes and string beans by its side. The meat itself was fine but the dish was unacceptable overall. I was thrilled with my sautéed skate with fingerling potatoes and broccoli, brown butter sauce garnished with hazelnuts. The portion was large, the fish was very fresh, and it was perfectly cooked. The potatoes were tasty but the hazelnuts did little to add to the dish.
While I was finishing my skate, our server stopped by check on our meal. I started discussing the skate and began a comparison with a skate dish that I had for lunch a few months ago at Le Bec-Fin. I noticed that our server began taking notes and he quickly retreated to the kitchen. Our dining room was immediately graced by the presence of Chris Scarduzio, the executive chef. He carefully cased the entire dining room looking for known food critics, I presumed. Recognizing no one, he returned to his post in the kitchen, I chuckled in amusement, and we finished our entrees.
I began our dessert course with coffee from La Colombe that was outstanding as always. Many of the top restaurants in Philadelphia serve their coffee and it is consistently outstanding. I have always been impressed with Brasserie Perrier’s desserts, which I have enjoyed during all of my previous lunch excursions. Brian ordered the Brasserie Perrier classic Tahitian vanilla bean crème brulee. He enjoyed dish; I thought that it was well executed but fairly typical in terms of its preparation. The pineapple upside-down cake with ginger ice cream that arrived in front of me was not what I expected. I had anticipated a standard pineapple upside-down cake but what was served to me was somewhat deconstructed, with the pineapple and cake lying on top of one another as opposed to being mixed together as usual. The concept was interesting but the dessert was lackluster overall. The ice cream had an excellent consistency and texture but the ginger flavor was much milder than I would have liked.
At the conclusion of our meal, we paid our bill and set off for Penn’s campus on foot. As we walked westward on Walnut Street, we discussed our final thoughts on the meal. Brian was extremely disappointed as expected. I was pleased with my meal but saddened by the knowledge that Brasserie Perrier can be so much better.
Overall, this meal was enjoyable but disappointing. I have loved all of my previous lunch meals at Brasserie Perrier and highly recommend its 3-course lunch prix fixe for its outstanding value. The service is typically outstanding and the food is consistently excellent.
The Facts:
Name: Brasserie Perrier
Address:
1619 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-5402
Phone: (215) 568-3000
Cuisine: New French
Website: Brasserie Perrier
Cost: 3-course restaurant week prix fixe $30
For my final restaurant week meal, I had saved what I hoped would be the best for last -- Brasserie Perrier. When I arrived on campus, I parked near Mayer Hall and went inside to meet Brian. He was running a little beyond schedule so I waited patiently while he got ready. We then grabbed a cab outside of Wawa and then headed downtown to restaurant row.
Brasserie Perrier was as busy as I have ever seen it and we had to push our way through the bar crowd to get to the host’s stand. We were quickly seated in the back room and received our restaurant week menus. This was one of the menus I was looking forward to the most due to my ongoing love affair with skate (and its infrequent appearances on most restaurant menus). As such, I quickly made my selections, tomato gazpacho soup, sautéed skate, and pineapple upside-down cake. Brian was less certain and asked for our waiter’s opinion. He strongly recommended the steak despite its additional charge and small size (7 ounces). I was turned off by this since I am not a fan of additional markups during restaurant week. The purpose of the week is to afford customers an opportunity to try new restaurants and dishes at reduced prices. To place an item on a menu only to mark it up (an obvious discouragement) seems counter to the spirit of restaurant week. Regardless of this, Brian had high expectations for the steak due to its strong recommendation from our server.
The pacing of our meal bordered on slow but I was fine with this due to the rapid, forced pace of many of my earlier restaurant week meals. Our first course began with Brian’s wild burgundy escargot with sautéed spinach, roasted garlic butter, garnished with parmesan brioche and my yellow tomato gazpacho, estate bottled extra virgin olive oil, with avocado arnish. Brian enjoyed his escargot and was happy with his reasonably large portion. I loved my soup although I was put off by its small size. The gazpacho was light, refreshing, and flavorful.
Had I been a betting man, I would have guessed that the steak would have been a disappointment but I am a foodie and not a gambler so all bets were off. Nonetheless, the steak au poivre with pomme puree and haricot verts arrived looking measly and bland with nothing but small portions of potatoes and string beans by its side. The meat itself was fine but the dish was unacceptable overall. I was thrilled with my sautéed skate with fingerling potatoes and broccoli, brown butter sauce garnished with hazelnuts. The portion was large, the fish was very fresh, and it was perfectly cooked. The potatoes were tasty but the hazelnuts did little to add to the dish.
While I was finishing my skate, our server stopped by check on our meal. I started discussing the skate and began a comparison with a skate dish that I had for lunch a few months ago at Le Bec-Fin. I noticed that our server began taking notes and he quickly retreated to the kitchen. Our dining room was immediately graced by the presence of Chris Scarduzio, the executive chef. He carefully cased the entire dining room looking for known food critics, I presumed. Recognizing no one, he returned to his post in the kitchen, I chuckled in amusement, and we finished our entrees.
I began our dessert course with coffee from La Colombe that was outstanding as always. Many of the top restaurants in Philadelphia serve their coffee and it is consistently outstanding. I have always been impressed with Brasserie Perrier’s desserts, which I have enjoyed during all of my previous lunch excursions. Brian ordered the Brasserie Perrier classic Tahitian vanilla bean crème brulee. He enjoyed dish; I thought that it was well executed but fairly typical in terms of its preparation. The pineapple upside-down cake with ginger ice cream that arrived in front of me was not what I expected. I had anticipated a standard pineapple upside-down cake but what was served to me was somewhat deconstructed, with the pineapple and cake lying on top of one another as opposed to being mixed together as usual. The concept was interesting but the dessert was lackluster overall. The ice cream had an excellent consistency and texture but the ginger flavor was much milder than I would have liked.
At the conclusion of our meal, we paid our bill and set off for Penn’s campus on foot. As we walked westward on Walnut Street, we discussed our final thoughts on the meal. Brian was extremely disappointed as expected. I was pleased with my meal but saddened by the knowledge that Brasserie Perrier can be so much better.
Overall, this meal was enjoyable but disappointing. I have loved all of my previous lunch meals at Brasserie Perrier and highly recommend its 3-course lunch prix fixe for its outstanding value. The service is typically outstanding and the food is consistently excellent.
The Facts:
Name: Brasserie Perrier
Address:
1619 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-5402
Phone: (215) 568-3000
Cuisine: New French
Website: Brasserie Perrier
Cost: 3-course restaurant week prix fixe $30
posted by Mike at
6:30 PM
