THOMAS KELLER'S BOUCHON.

Had a meal at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in the Venetian recently. It was memorable in many ways. We celebrated a birthday and it was spent with great friends who happen to be "foodies"like me. Meals with that group is stimulating because the food is critiqued down to the most miniscule of details. Eating with them is like spending time with food writers. They knew their stuff down to which wine complemented the dishes. I should know my wines coming from a culinary background but I must confess that I find the whole thing pretentious. I slept through all my wine classes in culinary school. But I digress. The presentation was not elegant. Simple and sweet and appropriate. The overall feeling of Bouchon was that the food was soothing.

The menu.


The french bread I did not eat.


Diana's endive salad with roquefort and walnuts.


My fennel soup I blew on realizing that it was cold as I put it in my mouth. It was a surprise.


Diana's soft shell crab dinner.


Kimmie's ham and cheese brioche with fried egg and mornay. I love everything with egg on top.


My gnocchi a la Parisienne. It is different from Italian gnocchi in which it is made with puff pastry intead of the traditional potato. It was flavorful but very filling. The fricassee of vegetables with the spinach was a nice touch.


The seafood platter consisted of a whole lobster, 16 oysters, 8 shrimp, 8 clams, 9 mussels, and crab.


Everyone was taking pictures the whole meal. My photos were for twitter.


Gabriel chose the wines along with Diana.


The birthday girl along with her entourage.


Paul and Katherine.


What the rest of the Texas group was waiting for.


In case you were wondering... the cake was red velvet.


Diana and her lucky black chip. Take it Gabriel!


The outside ambiance. Beautiful.


-Cinista.