Austin's hottest new restaurant is...
..Bonhomie? Perhaps not. But I commend this French-American bistro for some delightful new offerings and surprising spins on old favorites! My ever-thoughtful wife, Erin Mindell Cannon, planned the evening. We shared each dish.
The first thing I noticed was that the host guy was 17 years old? Now that I mention it there were a lot of young people toddling around this restaurant which, to my mind, kinda fought with the upscale-French-meets-diner thing the place is going for. Anyyyyway.
I ordered a 'Kentucky Mule' because the menu had an assortment of 'Mules' on it, and I happened to know that the one with Bourbon is called that. This did not go over well, and I got a blank look from our server and a reprimand from Erin! However when the dust settled the drink itself was quite nice. It had a light froth on top, and the acid element was well balanced with the generous dose of Bourbon. You win this round, Bonhomie!
What is obviously a Kentucky Mule
We ordered a few things to share. One of which was this Pho/French-dip crossover. I wanted to order two, but our server was like, 'How about just one of those?' Which I took as a comment about my weight. Anyway she ended up being right.
This thing was really cool! Flaky croissant. Meat inside. Thinly shaved onion, mint, jalepeño (this last is very important because the thick chunks can be too hot) -- in other words the floral profile of a bowl of Pho. And then a bowl of ... beef stock? I don't know. For me this one was all about potential. I couldn't really figure out how to enjoy it. I wanted a bite with all the flavors so I tried jamming herbs into the croissant and then dipping it, but it kinda fell apart. Anyway that's more on me then it is on Chef (that's what our server called the chef). Erin loved it for it's delicious pastry qualities. I want to get it again... and next time I'll just dump everything in the bowl and mash it together.
A new twist on the French dip sammich
French onion soup! Erin, who's opinion I respect in such matters, thought it was unremarkable. I really liked it. Good salt levels, and the bread on top was well saturated (my true readers will recall that I don't like crusty bread!). Plus, there were nice tender chunks of beef rib at the bottom. What better reward after slurping up all that salty cheesy goodness??
A divisive french onion soup
Gnnoooochhhiii. This one smelled great. Lemon and parsley notes activated atop a hot cheese mound. And I say cheese because, and I didn't know this, sometimes Gnochi is just cheese? Erin said there was no potato in this and that's why it stuck in my craw like eating a mouthful of kindergarten paste. Thumbs down. Nice try, Bonhomie.
Gnocchi? Gnot for me!
I forgot the fancy word they used for this, but it's their specialty. They have 5 or 6 varieties and I chose the one that had my favorite things: dill, toasted capers, onion, tomatoes, smoked salmon floating on a creme freshe blob atop a perfectly crisped potato cake. The potato was especially remarkable because it was crispy, salty flavorful without being heavy. This was really the standout thing for me. All the flavors were hitting so nicely -- especially the dill/salmon combo which just tastes refreshingly Nordic. Do you know what I mean?
The real reason to come here: the pommes rostis
3 out of 5 Aemon stars. Would definitely go back because I can avoid various ordering faux pas and skip directly to two or three of those crazy good potato things.