A Birthday

We went to Chez TJ and the dinner was fantastic

Chez TJ. You won't go to Chez TJ often. Chez TJ is a place for special occasions. Yesterday was Totof's birthday. We were thinking to try Chez TJ but had not have a good reason to go there. Yesterday was a perfect occasion. So, I booked a table and wanted to surprise Totof.

We felt the difference when we entered. Unlike other French restaurants, the dinning areas are more like a house. Three main rooms. Each room has 4 ~ 5 tables. Each table supplies silver utensils. We had a very nice table. Next to a big window. The place was classic. Looked around, every one dressed up formally. The servants were well trained. Politely talked and answered questions. All walking was slow but firm. You did not see any disorder in Chez TJ. Only beautiful things, elegant manners, and smiles.

Last night, there were two sets of menus.

CHEF’S TASTING MENU
$110
Twelve Smaller Portioned Courses
Arranged for the entire table
With Wine Pairings $165

MENU GASTRONOMIQUE
$80
Selected from each Course
With Wine Pairings $125

We were not hungry enough to get 12 courses. Also, Totof knew which dish was good (or did him? I will reveal some stories later on). Another reason was that we did not want to become overwhelmed. When you have too many excellent dishes, you feel numb and would not appreciate good food as much as you normally do. 12 courses. What if every course is good? We will kind waste the later courses since we are numb to good food. The Gastronomique from yesterday had 4 main courses. Each course had 3 ~ 5 selections. We took a look. Some dishes looked quite tempting. Besides, 4 courses would be just right for our little stomach. So, we decided to get 2 Gastronomique dinners.

The fun began

What we ordered? Before the appetizers, Chez TJ served us soup and three tiny pre-appetizers. Fusion elements. The soup was the truffle consome with a tea bag on the side. The consome was rich. The pre-appetizers were two quail eggs with fish eggs on top, radish, and onion. For the appetizers, Totof had Heirloom Carrot Terrine and I had Artisan Foie Gras and Devoto Ranch Apple. The Terrine was quite colorful. It had mango, mitsuba and jelly inside. The outside was green papaya. More like a fashion accessory than food. The Foie gras was a masterpiece dish. Four presentations, four flavors. The right most one was seared with onions and herb on side. The second right one was raw foie gras with apple jelly. The second left was raw foie gras with crispy thin cookies and pineapple cubes. The left most was sweet foie gras. Sweet foie gras? Yes. None of us had ever tasted sweet foie gras before. The sweet one was placed in a white porcelain. On top of foie gras, there was apple syrup and form (like egg write form). Totof was absolutely amazed by this sweet presentation. We liked this foie gras dish very much. An impressive start.

Our second courses were Slow Cooked Black Cod and Live Scallop and Blue Hawaiian Prawn. The servants mentioned what the dishes had when they served you the dishes. A long explanation. I wondered how many people did get it. I asked Totof if any servant was French. He said none of them. The Cod looked elegant. Dashed with green sauce. The chef put a half cooked egg on top of the Scallop and Prawn dish. I took the egg away and saw a gold - sea urchin. Sea urchin was my favorite when I ordered nigiri. I did not expect I would see sea urchin in my dish. The servant did not mention it. I guessed it was meant to be a surprise. The scallop was huge size. As huge as the tiger prawn. It had white soy-dashed butter underneath. Both Totof and I loved this dish.

Our third course were Composition of Suckling Pig and Poached and Roasted Poussin. My first order - foie gras and my second order - scallop and prawn got perfect scores in both vision and taste aspects. This time, my poussin course was not better than Totof's pig course. The Pig course had a square of pork and a pork confit as main body. On top of the main body, it had hot quince gelee with caraway scented cabbage. Dashed with brown butter. The pork was tender and cooked well. The meat was pink and not the raw pink. It was more because the meat itself - the meat was from a suckling pig. Totof told me poussin meant young chicken. The Poussin course had a piece of chicken breast and a chicken confit as main body. It had brgundy truffle and parsnip. The servant poured the light sauce in front of you. The sauce was consome based. The breast part was well done. The truffles clicked with chicken well. The poussin was ok. But next time we would order the Pig course but not the Poussin course.

Our closure course were Fourme d'Ambert and Variations on Chocolate, Fig and Coffee. My Fig and Coffee course was laid out amusingly. The coffee part was teased by Totof since it looked like something. The Fig with pot de cream was excellent. So good. It was so good that I would like to ask the servant what it contained. We waved and the servent came. The told me the Fig was with the pot de cream. This Fig pot itself was a masterpiece. Not only me felt this way. So did Totof. The fun thing was after we finished this course. The same course was served to the table behind ours. We could hear people exclaimed on this Fig pot. They apparently liked it a lot too. If you go to Chez TJ, don't forget to order this.

The formage course was authentic. The presentation was not as wonderful as others. But, it was tasty. The blue cheese was strong. Very strong. ButTotof liked it.

After our courses, we decided not to take coffee because we wanted to go home and try Totof's gift - Guitar Hero 3.

The Chez TJ dinning experience was unforgettable. We knew why this restaurant was highly ranked. We will absolutely go back.

Location: 938 Villa Street, Mountain View, California