California Grill and Monsieur Paul Review!

[thebigman65]

Hello All,

DW and I just got back from a week long trip and I wanted to share our experiences with the new updated menu's at both California Grill and Monsieur Paul. I want to start by saying that these restaurants are 2 of our favourite places on property, but both of them had gone through some updates so we want to share our experience.

California Grill:

I will start by saying that we absolutely did not like the 50th anniversary menu when it came out and we went there to try it. Some of the same items are on the updated menu, but it was the entire experience that put us off. It was rushed, pre-made and not up to the usually high standard we had come to expect from California Grill.

Our reservation was for 5:40 pm on our arrival day. We arrived at our resort fairly early in the day so we had a lots of time to get settled prior to our ADR. We arrived at approx 5:30 pm and were seated almost immediately. Our server was great but unfortunately I cannot remember their name.

We started with our appetisers:

DW had the Goat Cheese Ravioli (sorry I did not get a pic). She said while it was quite good, the filling was very rich, a little too rich for her. One note was that the server who brought this to us (not our server) was very rushed and basically dumped the broth over top and rushed away. Some more training required there....

I had the famous Spicy Kazan Roll:



Now I have to say, when I saw this come back on the menu I was very happy. It was by far my most favourite app, and I was sorely disappointed when it was not on the 50th menu. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed in the updated version. The roll itself was fine (although smaller in diameter than before or than a typical maki roll) but the spicy kazan sauce and scallops was a very very small dollop. Now admittedly this dish in the before times was probably a little large, but they have swung too far the other way. An extra tablespoon of this sauce/scallops would have been good! Overall, it was tasty, but lacking from what it once was!

For our mains DW had:

The Cast Iron Grill Pork Tenderloin:



DW loved this! It was moist and flavourful and the polenta is out of this world! The only thing of note was that the pork belly is very rich. This is more of a preference thing, not a quality thing. This dish was outstanding!

For my main I had the:

Halibut



I am usually wary about getting halibut at a restaurant as they usually over cook it. Not this time! This was seasoned perfectly and sat on a bed of Red Quinoa with a Squash-Yogurt Purée, Charred Onion Butter, Citrus Agrodolce. This dish was excellent and also not too filling which was good.

For dessert DW had:

The seasonal Panacotta:



This was a seasonally spiced panacotta on top of a soft sponge with (i believe) a strip berry compote on top. Two things on this dish. One, it was very well done and tasted great if you care for fall spices such as cinnamon, clove, etc. and Two, as you can see, it is shaped like the contemporary! Pretty nice touch IMO!

I had the:

White Chocolate and Cherry Creme Brulee!:



Almond Chiffon, Dark Chocolate Crémeux, Almond Crunch, Morello Cherry Gel, Black Plums. This was excellent and very rich. I could not finish it, but I would order this again in a heartbeat!

Overall, our experience with the updated post 50th menu was great! I would have like to see a bit more attention to the appetisers, but cannot complain too much about that. It is definitely back on our rotation!

Next up Monsieur Paul!

 

[thebigman65]

So DW and I used to go to Monsieur Paul on our fall couples trip every year. We were anxious for it to come back after the pandemic, and when we first saw it was opening and that it was a higher-end Prix-Fix menu we were a little sceptical. Ultimately we decided to give it a try.

Our ADR was set for 6:10pm. We arrived at 6:00pm and the CM took our name and asked us to wait there. Another CM came to get us and seat us as our table. We had a really nice table next to a window. Our server's name was Marine and she was from Leon. She was super kind and knowledgeable and made us feel right at home. She presented the wine menu and told us they can also make any cocktail we would like. Ultimately because we had indulged a little too much the night before, we decided to stick to water (or so we thought!)

Our first item was the Amuse-Bouche served with Monsieur Paul’s Cocktail:



The cocktail was a glass of Champagne! Totally unexpected and very good, with a hint of apple. The Amuse-Bouche was cured salmon (gravlox) with a small dollop of a mustard/dill sauce, then a small shot of lobster bisque and a piece of tomato infused bread. This was awesome! DW doesn't usually care for raw food like the salmon, but she really liked it! Overall off to a great start!

Next up were the appetisers:

I had the Maine Lobster salad with passion fruit vinaigrette:



It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was very good just the same. It was lobster as you see it, one a bed of veg with mayo, around it were small pearls of carrot puree, mango puree and an herb puree. There was also a Passion Fruit vinaigrette over top. The small clam shell was chopped up clam with olive. It tasted much like Tampenade and was very very good. Overall this dish was amazing!

DW chose the Escargot cassolette with watercress and potato emulsion:



Her first bite and I could tell she was in heaven! I tried some of the broth and it was to die for! She was very happy with her choice!

Next up, the fish course!

DW and I both chose the same item - Seared scallops served with maple pumpkin velouté



First off, my apologies for the picture. I forgot to snap the pic before we dug in! This dish was amazing as well. The scallops were cooked to perfection and the Veloute was heaven. The only slight critique I would have is that there was slightly too much puree. That is just a preference thing and took nothing away from the dish!

Between the fish and meat course, our server brought us out a pallet cleanser. She told us this was something very traditional in France with this type of meal and it was designed to help not only cleans the pallet, but also aid in "pushing down the food" was the way she described it. lol....anyway, it was a small glass with a small scoop of ice cream in it, then she poured a pear flavoured 40% liqueur over it.



Again, my apologies for the mostly eaten ice cream pic! Something very interesting was the way in which they get the pear in the bottle. The basically put the bottle over top of the pear flower as its growing and the pear grows inside the bottle! Pretty cool! The liqueur was very strong, but it was very flavourful and was a good cleanser....not sure how much of a digestive it was though....lol...

Next up - The Meat Course:

I had - Rack of lamb roasted in a cocotte, curly green cabbage stuffed with mushrooms and chestnuts, fresh thyme juices:



I asked for Med-rare and it was perfect! Overall this dish was great and perfectly sized. I did not care for the cabbage part of this dish however. It did not have a lot of flavour and I would have preferred another accompaniment.

DW had - Center cut beef tenderloins grilled, porcini fricassee, mashed potatoes mousseline, Bordelaise sauce:



DW liked the dish, however, she prefers her beef/steak, to be Med-well. This was Med. It was close enough and she enjoyed it, but was slightly under what she prefers. She said the mushroom side was a little too "earthy" for her taste. The mash potatoes however were other-worldly! She told me I had to try them and OMG were they good! Overall she was a little disappointed in her choice. Not because of the quality of the dish, it just wasn't to her liking.

Next up, the Cheese Course:

Unfortunately I did not get picture of this, but we had 2 different dishes and shared them. 1) was a selection of cheeses, Blue Cheese, Camembert, Goat cheese, and a medium french cheese I cannot remember the name of. 2) was a warmed, very salty and tasty goat cheese served over top with bread, that was akin to a brie. Both dishes were very very good.

On to Dessert!

DW of course had to have - The Sphere! Chocolate almond cake, chocolate cream, hazelnut biscuit, chocolate ice cream, warm chocolate Cognac sauce:

This is a left over item from there previous menu and she loves this so she had to have it!



She said it was delicious as always!

I had -

Vacherin classique​

Meringue, vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, vanilla Chantilly, raspberry coulis

This was also, very good. Nice and fresh. Apparently I am at my photo limit (strange), so I can't post the pic.

The meal was finished off with a small glass of Port and some Macaron's to take home!

Overall our experience with the new Prix-fix menu at Monsieur Paul was Excellent, from the greeting, to our wonderful server Marine, to the food, it was a night to remember and we will certainly be back!

 

[HolRae]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I had to choose between these to meals for my upcoming trip. I decided on Monsieur Paul. I am very excited to try the new menu.

 

[auntfrannie]

It all looks delicious!!

 

[thebigman65]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I had to choose between these to meals for my upcoming trip. I decided on Monsieur Paul. I am very excited to try the new menu.

You will not be disappointed!