Well yes…it’s that time of the year again. Funny how we get into these habits. Even though we had other plans for NYE….we’re going to stay closer to home, Et Voila always comes to mind, especially for Happy Hour. Though we’ve had some NYE meals at ET, we just decided to drop by. Especially since they now have a “special” black truffle menu.
Which you can add for $18 to any dish, or pick something from that menu. Because we had JJ in tow and were sitting outside, we could take advantage of the Happy Hour menu as well.
So, we placed our order, of some HH favorites, and a truffle dish off the menu. And of course I had a Huckleberry Bourbon to start.
It seems a bit weaker these days…but maybe its the HH curse?
This time there was no charge for the half baguette. Perhaps it’s based on what you order?
First up were the Beignet de Champignons ($10 HH). My goodness, this is what we usually order during HH with mixed results. This time it was so perfectly fried.
So crisp, the mushrooms almost buttery…my goodness! Which hides a mild earthy-saltiness. That aioli…which is almost like a basil driven thousand island does fine as well. Perhaps the best we’ve had over so many visits.
Unfortunately, another HH staple for us, the Raviolis aux Champignons (HH – $15) was off the mark for our tastes.
The raviolis were really tough, the sauce overly sweet, and we couldn’t make out the flavor of white truffle at all. I think we’ll be giving up on this one.
The next item, another HH staple set everything right again. The Terrine de Porc (HH – $13) was indeed “porc-y”.
It was quite offal-y and liver-y as well…so that whole grain mustard helped clean the palate and the sinuses. The Missus prefers the baguette with this to what is served.
And then what was supposed to be the “star” of the evening….from the Black Truffle Menu, we got the Champignons a la Royale ($28)….I know, we’re really into the fungi here.
First off, we really enjoyed the crisp and cheesy Parmesan Toast. For some reason the Perigord Black Truffle flavor didn’t come thru. The usually strong fragrance and nutty-sweet-earthy-ultra umami flavors quite faint. The sauce was too thin and watery, but had a decent mushroom flavor.
The Royale was more mushy than creamy and though it did have truffle and mushroom duxelle, the flavor didn’t come thru sufficiently for us.
Service was very nice as always. The woman serving us remembered JJ from our visit last NYE! She kidded us about loving our fungi. Though two of four is not that great in terms of dishes…it has us wondering if our tastes have been changing quite a bit over the last couple of years? At least the Happy Hour prices aren’t too bad.
Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116