Okay, maybe bouchons and bistros aren’t the same thing, but to me they are indistinguishable. Maybe someone will correct my ignorance.
So I just recently went to one of my favorite casual restaurants, L’Express (see About Me), located on the corner of Park Avenue South and 20th Street. Right now, the 1st Annual October Sausage Festival (cue the inappropriate laughter) is going on at all the Tour de France restaurants (L’Express, Cafe d’Alsace, French Roast, etc.) and I urge you to go and partake.
On this latest occasion, L’Express did not fail to impress me once more, even though I’ve been there many, many times. My dining companion and I shared a bottle of a nice 2004 Côtes du Rhône and one of the special sausage plates to start. It consisted of three lamb merguez sausages grilled on a skewer with grape tomatoes, served over a white bean puree and a smoked red pepper sauce. The sausages had a lovely rough texture on the outside (instead of the sometimes unsettling, perfectly smooth hot dog-like casing many sausages possess) and a pleasant charred flavor to them. The lamb was seasoned heavily with garlic and black pepper. The smooth white bean puree spiced with cumin accompanied the sausage perfectly. The red pepper sauce (with hints of tomato) added a balancing sweetness and tartness to the overall smoky dish. For $7.50, it seemed very reasonably priced and would have made a great light dinner or a very hearty starter for one.
For my main, I finally was able to pull myself away from my usual croque monsieur (a ham and cheese sandwich dredged in egg and cheese and then pan fried, amazing, esp. with dabs of dijon mustard) and ordered the lamb burger (a lot of lamb for one night), which I’ve been eying for a long time. My friend got the steak frites.
The lamb burger was absolutely incredible and hands down one of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted (yes, I said it! Corner Bistro and Burger Joint be damned!). I ordered it medium rare, which was just right as it came out juicy and full of the flavors of onion, parsley, cumin, and other spices I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was served on a pillowy brioche bun that was too big for the burger itself, so I trimmed away parts of the bread. The burger also came with a glob of harissa, a thick, spicy red chili pepper paste common in North African cuisine that was a lot spicier than any harissa I’ve ever had before. I spread a thin layer of that on the burger. I usually prefer a lot of ketchup, but I refused to let anything get in the way of the flavor of the lamb burger itself, so there was only the faintest smearing of ketchup. Of course, it came with a big pile of L’Express’s delicious fries, cut slightly smaller than shoestring with the potato skins left on. Fantastic. The only other burger that could stand up to this one in flavor and seasoning, in my opinion, would be my mom’s burgers.
My friend got the steak frites, also medium rare. It was seasoned very simply with no sauce, just a little bit of salt and pepper before hitting the grill. In each bite, you tasted the sweet flavor of the beef front and center with the deeper charred flavor of the grilling in the background. Lovely.
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