Debauve & Gallais Chocolatier in NY, NY

I was recently in NY for a mini-vacation, and had occasion to head to NYC. I dragged MH up 50 blocks to Debauve & Gallais on 69th and Madison. From what I had heard, the chocolate was incredible and the confections were sublime. I prepared myself for gustatory pleasure, walking the last 10 blocks in heady anticipation. Man, was I disappointed.

I tried a number of different ganaches, and their specialty "champignons" - mushroom-shaped confections made of chocolate, brittle, and caramel. Everything was too sweet, not subtle enough, and undistinct in taste.

First up was the plain ganache with a 70+% cacao content coating. This ganache was not pointed enough for my taste. When I have plain, chocolate ganache, I want the taste of the chocolate to be strong, striking, and the focal point. I prefer overtones of vanilla, and not of nut. The taste of this ganache was broader, with not enough vanilla. I much prefer the ganache at La Maison du Chocolat which has a better consistency.

I next tried a raspberry ganache with a coating of about 60% cacao content. The raspberry flavor truly did not come through. A creme brulee ganache was full of flavor, but was terribly sweet. So too were the famed champignon confections, made of a caramel stem, and a little brittle "cap" coated in chocolate. I gave a portion of the champignon to MH, and he nearly gagged on the sweetness. Other confections were equally disheartening.

The one bright light was the praline ganache. Less sweet than the others, with a pleasant burnt-nutty flavor, I believed that this was the best of what I had.

The most disappointing aspect of Debauve & Gallais was the cost. Touted as being the purveyors of chocolate to the kings of France, at $100/lb, I expected something sublime. La Maison makes a very fine confection (dare I say, better?), and is less expensive at about $80/lb.

Finally, I did not get to try their 72% plain chocolate bar (they only had the 66% and the 84% in stock), but at close to $15/bar, I'm not sure I would have wanted to.

Cafe Gibraltar in El Granada, CA

I had a somewhat difficult time making reservations at Cafe Gibraltar. One would think that a restaurant far off the beaten path would be less popular (it is located in sleepy El Granada just north of Half Moon Bay), but not this one! After trying to make reservations three times to no avail (Dinner at 10pm? Thanks, but no.), I got a friend to call. There's a trick: Cafe Gibraltar takes reservations starting at midnight for the next day, and you can call to leave a message on their answering machine. That's exactly what she did, and it worked (finally)!

The decor is an interesting mix of modern and old-school. A warm color scheme and middle-eastern touches make the restaurant feel exotic. You can choose to sit at a sturdy wooden table in the center of the restaurant, or to sit in a more private booth, Moroccan-style sans chairs, along the back wall. Regardless of where you sit, I would recommend sitting away from the front door. Temperatures in the evening on the coast are cool, and during autumn and winter months, a brisk breeze blows inside, chilling the hostess and whomever is unlucky enough to be seated at the tables closest to the door.

Cafe Gibraltar touts itself as Mediterranean, but the menu's span was much greater, encompassing European and Northern African selections. That being said, the food was truly outstanding. We started with the Mezza Platter, which included tyrosalata, hummus, tzatziky, savory tomato jam, nazuktan, rapanak-ya salatsi, roasted garlic cloves, esaladilla de piquillos and house-marinated olives, served with flatbread. The menu stated that this dish served "2 or more," but with 4 people in our party, we were hard pressed to finish, especially after eating a bottomless basket of delicious flatbread with olive oil and balsamic to start.

For my entree, I chose the Kaskasu Bi'l-Lahm, an Algerian dish of spring lamb, slow-braised with fresh local fava beans, tomatoes, artichokes, pearl onions, garlic, saffron and dried apricots, served atop a pearl cous cous and black lentil mélange. The lamb was richly-flavored and tender, falling apart in the tines of my fork. The fava beans were plump and tasty, and they, combined with the pearl cous cous, made a wonderful foil for the lamb. The Carne di Costata Di Bue, a dish of Italian origin that included beef short rib meat, slow-braised (this technique is big here) with red wine, root vegetables, and roasted yellow fin potatoes was excellent, although after consuming all that bread, the potatoes were a bit much to stomach. I also sampled the fresh local halibut pan-roasted with a crispy cous cous (not as good as the pearl cous cous) and herb crust. The halibut was served over braised chard and a potato puree, finished with a ground mustard seed glaze and garnished with roasted marinated asparagus. Again, the potato puree (read: mashed potatoes) were nothing special, but the roasted vegetables here, as in all the other dishes, were superb.

We were too stuffed to eat dessert. If I went back, I would skip the appetizer. Honestly, if you indulge in the flatbread, you really don't need it. Or simply get a side order of marinated olives. They were excellent.

The one drawback to the evening was our waiter. He was quite scattered, forgetting drink orders, menu orders, and was sometimes neglectful of our table. He was a lovely, young guy, though, so our party took pity on him and let him scramble around without getting angry. That being said, the evening was so enjoyable, and the food was so good, that we just let it go.


Cafe Gibraltar
9.5/10