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There's a little French bistro called Josephine Creperie & Bistro in a suburb of Detroit by the name of Ferndale. Every month, on the last Wednesday, they host a special prix fixe dinner that focuses on a geographical region whose cuisine has been influenced by French cooking. I attempt to go every month as the food and drink are always excellent and the prices reasonable. It insures that, no matter what else happens in a given month, there's at least one "special occasion." I try and get as many people as possible to go so it's a social event as well as a gastronomical one. It usually ends up being 1d4+3 people in attendance. As this is to be, in part, a food blog what better way to kick off that aspect than with a restaurant review.1

Mediterranean Menu
Wednesday June 25, 2008

Amuse Bouche
Olive Tapenade Canapé

First Course ~ Appetizer
Squash, Swiss Chard & Gruyere Crepe Tortilla with Aioli

Second Course
Summer Salad

Third Course ~ Entr’acte
Fresh Citrus Sorbet

Fourth Course ~ Entrées
Beef Entrée - Braised Lamb Shank with Garlic & Herbs
Poultry Entrée - Mediterranean Chicken with Lemon & Garlic
Seafood Entrée - Filet of Sole with Fisherman’s Sauce
Vegetarian Entrée - Roast Vegetable Paella

Accompaniments (served with all entrees)
Saffron Polenta Cakes
Provencal Green Beans

Fifth Course ~ Desserts
Crema Catalana
Fresh Fruit Crepe with Peach Amaretto Sauce

The crew for this month's Last Wednesday meal was myself, mrs. sd, and lm. Mrs. sd was drinking her usual Kir Royale2 and I was drinking the house Cabernet Franc.

The amuse bouche was very good. It was a ripe olive tapenade atop a thin round of toasted French bread. mrs. sd doesn't like olives so I got to enjoy two servings of this salty treat. lm liked it at first but then I think the saltiness got to him so he stopped eating it after a few bites.

The next course was the night's winner in my opinion. The crepe was made with a sturdier flour, perhaps whole wheat or buckwheat. It was a little thicker than an ordinary crepe (that might be where the "tortilla part comes in). It was served "sandwich style" (like a quesadilla) rather than rolled, like I've seen most crepes served. The slight bitterness of the chard combined with the sweetness of the squash and the creaminess of the cheese made this an excellent course. The nice light aioli added a nice final touch to the dish.

The salad course was pretty straightforward. The salad was a mix of fresh greens with a few veg (cucumber3 and carrots) topped with a nice-and-vinegar-y vinaigrette. This time it was topped with a slice of not-too-sour grapefruit. It added a pleasant tartness without overpowering the rest of the salad. The combo of the vinaigrette and the citrus might seem like an acid overload but the effect wasn't that at all.

The entr'acte was a lemon-mint sorbet. To me this tasted nice and lemon-y with a pleasant (but not well defined) "green" background. I wasn't tasting mint, just green. mrs. sd (whom I suspect of having a better palate than I do) said the dominant flavor for her was the mint. I forgot to ask her about the lemon aspect of it. Overall, a nice palate cleanser.

I had the lamb and mrs. sd had the fish. The lamb was good, but I think I'm coming to the conclusion that lamb shank doesn't do a whole lot for me. I like lamb. Actually I love lamb. But lamb shank isn't very lamb-y to me. It tastes good but when I eat it I just think "this tastes good," not "this is some good lamb." mrs. sd enjoyed her fish. Sole is a very mild fish, not fishy at all. The sauce was nice. It was a white sauce, possibly made with cream, butter, flour and ?. It has a nice flour-y taste to it. That's probably not the best way to describe it, but that's what came to mind when I tasted it. Not like eating a spoonful of raw flour but flour-y in a good way. The polenta cakes were good, topped with a sweet reduction that might have been balsamic vinegar based. The beans were a very simple (and very tasty) preparation of green beans and tomato chunks.

I has a glass of wine with dessert. Their dessert wine is a sweet-tart, intensely flavored blackberry wine. It usually goes well with the desserts they serve, especially when said dessert contains chocolate. A crema catalana is like a creme brulée. It has a thick sugar glaze on top and a vanilla goodness underneath. The fruit crepe was OK. It used the same kind of crepe and the first course. The fruit was diced and the the dish was served with the sauce and a light whipped cream. The sauce was good but wasn't particularly peach-y or Amaretto-y (though I don't know that I'd recognize the taste of Amaretto if I came across it with no foreknowledge). It was good but nothing special.

The Last Wednesday meals are always good but this one was the best in a while.

1. 1. Please note that I am not in any sense a food critic, professional or otherwise. My reviews will be pretty subjective. Although I guess (barring obvious mistakes like "the meat was burnt to a crisp," or "the dairy was rancid") all food reviews are. One thing I hope to get from these reviews is a trained palate. This review will be extra subjective as I had my hands full with a 20-month-old so I took no notes. I'll be relying on my dodgy memory.
2. 2. I don't know if they use Chambord, creme de cassis, or perhaps just a syrup. I'll have to ask about that.
3. 3. Yes, I know it's technically not a veg.