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| In the dining room, waitress Diane Firtell, whose artwork is on the walls, chats with Leonard and Elizabeth Rosenfeld of Lenox. |
LEE
That oddly named restaurant, From Ketchup to Caviar (K to C), on Route 7, in Lee, is gone! Frank Tessier, co-chef at K to C, and his wife, Rachel Portnoy, have taken over the lease and the kitchen and renamed it Chez Nous. It's a mix of upscale Berkshire dining and pure French bistro minus the butcher's white paper tablecloths.
Gone are the formal portraits and the swag window treatments. With twisted vines made of twigs interlaced with strands of little Christmas lights and a fresh coat of paint, the new owners have introduced a more informal atmosphere. Artist/waitress Diana Firtell has her composite watercolor, collage, and photography paintings on the wall and the windows have ordinary curtains.
Tessier has plans to make this more like a
"We're spying for all our friends who are still in Florida who want to know if Chez Nous is as good as its predecessor," a casually dressed, gray-haired diner seated at a nearby table, told me.
The answer is a good news, bad news scenario.
Everything about Chez Nous promises excellence: Having worked at Le Gavroche, a two-star Michelin restaurant in London, Breton native Tessier is a well trained, knowledgeable, imaginative chef who obviously knows what he's doing.
French is now the first language on this menu followed by an English translation. Good French rolls and homemade foccacia bread is served in a coiled wire basket wrapped in paper, a la bistro style.
A classical French duck leg confit has replaced the K-to-C version, which would either have had a crisped skin or a fruity sauce.
Each main dish now has its own garnish and vegetable rather than the one vegetable "du jour' that was previously served with each entree.
And no longer is onion soup -- a mainstay of K to C -- a given; now it's relegated to the specials menu.
One of the appetizer "musts" on this new menu is a mixed greens salad lightly dressed with a red wine vinaigrette served with a piece of Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. camembert wrapped in filo and deep fried. It is divine and while all French food is not rich, this one requires that you jog home after dinner.
For a simpler and lighter salad, try the asparagus lightly dressed with a truffle vinaigrette and Parmesan shavings or the vegetarian antipasto.
Though most chefs would probably prefer to barely cook a high-quality piece of meat, the rack of lamb, for this reviewer, was perfectly prepared, a point (medium rare), and served au jus (in its own juices). The sautéed scallops with lemon, saffron and sun-dried tomato risotto maintained the integrity of the juicy scallops and the creamy risotto.
The golden pastry blanket on the chicken pot pie, that helps steam the various diced vegetables and potatoes within, remained flaky. It did not get soggy as often happens in lesser restaurants.
The hamburger, now called, "Chez Nous" burger, gave credence to the original Ketchup to Caviar menu (because there was nothing else that you could garnish with ketchup) was grilled to perfection, with a charred outside and pink interior.
No flavor overwhelmed another except with the Cabillaud Roti sur Piperade which translates to "Roasted Cod with a Sweet Pep-per Stew and Cous Cous." The stew totally overwhelmed its delicate partner on the plate. Nor-mally, cod is tender and flaky when cooked. This evening it was tough and so salty that I had to return it to the kitchen.
My dining neighbor however, who happened to order the same dish, found the fish perfect.
Most restaurants experience some inconsistency and though I may have left feeling a little hungry, I was reassured that Chez Nous was as good as my expectations.
On a second visit, accompanied by three others, I had a similar experience, however. A well-prepared and simple organic chicken stew with a grain mustard sauce was so salty that I again returned it to the kitchen. Overly salted vegetables also accompanied a very tender lamb shank. And the aforementioned chicken pot pie, my guest said, tasted salty as did the hamburger.
I feel that I need to say that I am not "salt-a-phobic" and use and cook with it quite liberally. Sometimes chefs become desensitized to salt.
The only other time this happened to me was in a restaurant where the owner told me that they prepared all their sauces with MSG.
"Don't kid yourself. All the restaurants do it", he explained, when I looked at him incredulously. This, I'm sure, is not the case at Chez Nous.
Rachel Portnoy is pastry chef and does an admirable job. A menu favorite is the Banana-Toffee Tartlette with a mini chocolate malted. There will be no leftovers with this dessert.
If you ever took an old-fashioned chocolate pudding out of the fridge before it had time to set, you have an idea of what the malted was like -- a velvety good comfort dessert with a touch of nostalgia.
The other favorite, though less impressive, was the warm sticky toffee pudding with vanilla créme anglaise.
With desserts like these, dinner ended on a happy note and the kitchen could not have been more gracious about accepting my returned entree.
Next time, I'll ask first if it's possible to omit the salt.
Let the kitchen hate me right from the start of the dinner but at least, I'll know that I won't be wasting food and I'll have a very good dinner prepared by an excellent chef with whom I have an honest difference in taste.
with a mini chocolate malted.
150 Main St., Lee.
Tel. 413-243-6397.
Style: French bistro.
Dress: casual
Prices: Appetizers: $3.75 to $8. 95; Salads: $6.25 to $8.50; Main courses: $10.25 to $24.95; Desserts: $6 to $10.50.
Smoking: No smoking.
Hours: Dinner only: Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 9.
Reservations: Highly recommended
Credit cards: All major except Discover
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Noise level: Quiet. Tables generously spaced.
Special: a member of Berkshire Grown. New menu this month.
