Been wanting to go here. Never went when they were open before, but thanks to Steven’s invite, I finally had a chance to go. Verjus is a French-inspired wine bar from the owners of Quince (where we’re have some of our best meals, but in our opinion has fallen off in our most recent dining) and Cotogna (which we still enjoy a lot). For an early Wednesday evening (5:30pm. they open at 4pm), this place was packed. We were just doing a walk-in (they only take reservations for 6 or more) and we fortunately didn’t have very long to wait for hightop seating at the window.
Menu was primarily French bistro fare posted up on the prominent billboard above the kitchen. This was a wine bar, so of course we drank wine. I had a glass of Tempranillo to start which I only though was ok (not enough body/flavor and a bit on the acidic side). I later had better success with a Pinot from Alsace and the Bordeaux they had by the glass was quite nice.
We started with the bread and butter and the anchovies. Bread was delicious…crisp, flaky crust and delicious and moist made even better with the butter. A good start. The anchovies served in oil. Delicious in their salty anchovi-ness (is that word? it is now). Next came the mussels escabeche. I suppose this is technically a Spanish dish, but either way, it was very delcious. The mussels were atop some crisp buttered toast rounds and tops with some mild peppers, some onion, herbs, and seasoned well. The mussel tasted very clean and fresh and flavorful which was key.
Next came the thon blanc cru and the omelette boursin. The thon blanc cru is basically a tuna carpaccio. The tuna was very fresh as I could have hoped for and flavored with some salt, zest, and olive oil. The omelette boursin was a very delicately made omelette with a boursin cheese filling. The egg was so delicate that it got me thinking about a bit about how they made it so smooth (I make myself cheese-filled (I’m usually using goat cheese) omelettes fairly regularly for lunch. I’m guessing they also strain the eggs, which I never bother to do, but I saw them do that on The Bear, lol). In any case, it was delicate and delicious.
For our mains, we ordered the monkfish sauce moutarde and the saucisse manchego. These dishes are also self-descriptive – monkfish in a mustard sauce and sausage filled with manchego cheese. I enjoyed the monkfish, the mustard sauce, as well as the vegetables, very tender carrots and very non-bitter baby brussel sprouts. The sausage was a flavor bomb with it’s rich meaty flavor, not overly spiced and the cheese just added to the richness.
Speaking of richness, we were both not sure about dessert, but we had hear what they were and once we heard, we went for the pain perdu, which is basically French toast. I also don’t know how they did it, but the toast was so moist, almost liquid-melt-in-your-mouth moist. Add some caramel sauce and some ice cream. I had planned to only have a bite or two, but we polished it off in short order.
All in all, a very enjoyable meal and a chance to catch up with Steven. Can’t wait to return here sometime with Andrea!
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