Jean Claude in SoHo

Contessa, RRR and I headed to Jean Claude, a delightful small French bistro in SoHo for dinner the other night. I've been to Jean Claude a few years back for a date and while the date was unsuccessful; the meal was certainly memorable!

On this repeat visit, I began with a lovely mesclun salad with goat cheese croutons and vinaigrette dressing that I shared with RRR. The goat cheese was toasted and melted on to the croutons and while not as amazing as our salads we enjoyed in France last year, it was certainly tasty.

I followed with a roasted breast of Duck with ragout of white beans, shitake mushrooms and rosemary sauce. The duck was thinly sliced, perfectly cooked and the thick sweet rosemary sauce was simply magnificent! Almost as good as the duck was the white bean ragout. The best part of the beans was the head of garlic that was sliced, roasted and placed in the middle of the ragout. As I plucked the brown soft cloves out one by one and mixed them into the beans and mushrooms, I kept thinking this is pure paradise!

RRR had the sauteed red snapper with artichokes, leeks, and basil oil and the fish was cooked perfectly with a nice sear on the outside. Contessa's roasted leg of lamb with eggplant, zucchini, peppers and puree of potato looked beautiful but she was a bit disappointed in the sauce; this saucy lady likes her sauce on the subtle side!

For dessert we split a creme brulee that was just right and not too sweet, a crime often committed by French bistros across the city. I must say "split" is a term I use loosely since yours truly ate far more than her share.

A true gem in SoHo... Jean Claude will make you feel like you are in on a (not so well-kept) neighborhood secret!