Monday, February 27, 2012

Country French Food in the Heart of Emory

Mark this down as a place to try next time you're in Atlanta. Le Giverny, located in the Emory Conference Center Hotel, is not a place you're likely to stumble upon, but it's worth seeking out.

We had dinner there Saturday night with Bill's cousins Barbara and Richard, Richard's wife Gigi, and their friends John and Kathy. We started with a bottle of red wine, Clos du Val. It's from a Napa Valley winery started by two French men. Recommend!


I couldn't resist ordering pommes frites with malt vinegar and lemon garlic aioli for the table--but only after everyone promised to partake.


Good thing they brought three bowls of that aioli. Next came the freshly baked sliced baguette and homemade (yes!) butter.


I don't know who churned the butter, but it was worth the effort, light, creamy, effortlessly spreadable. Good munching while we waited for our small plates. Most ordered the Salad Giverny, but a few of us went in a different direction. Here's the house salad.


Here's my beet and Granny Smith apple salad: chilled oven-roasted beets, slivered apples, red onion, blue cheese crumbles, and lemon vinaigrette.


Barbara selected rillettes de porc a la moutard--translation: pork rillettes, Dijon mustard, red onions, cornichons, and baguette toasts.


Richard's French onion soup was not overly cheesy, a complaint I have about some versions.


I asked the server to recommend the best dish on the menu. Six of us took his advice and ordered truite grenobloise--translation: fresh local rainbow trout, mashed potatoes, asparagus, toasted walnuts, capers, and brown butter.


It was delicious. John praised his mignon de porc au poivre (pork tenderloin, tomato and spinach risotto, and creamy three peppercorn sauce), which our server also highly recommended along with moules marinieres a la belge (mussels with pommes frites and garlic aioli).


Bill's coffee-flavored cheesecake was delicious and beautifully presented with raspberry coulis and whipped cream.


Barbara's profiterole was stunning.


Next time I need a French dessert, I'm going to try to duplicate it using the Barefoot Contessa's profiterole recipe .

Here are the happy diners on the way out the door.


L to R--John, Barbara, Kathy, Bill, Gigi, and Richard.

A Gallic good time. That's what we're having.

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