Passioné

This week is the first annual Montclair Restaurant Week! Pretty much copying off of the Restaurant Weeks at NYC and Philly, the restaurant offer a Prix Fixe menu. At first we were going to make a reservation for CulinAriane, Ariane was a competitor on this season's TopChef on Bravo. Unfortunately, their website said hours were Wed.-Sat 5:30-10pm, and the phone was busy, so we didn't get to go. Rescheduling that for this Saturday!

Our second choice was Passioné, which was not a bad choice at all!

The menu at first didn't seem like it has a huge selection, but that's usually how prix fixe works, choose one from each course. It's a little hard to read the top...basically First Course had a choice of Butternut Squash bisque, salad, Gnocchi, and Escargot. Entrée choices were short ribs, chicken breast, pork medallions, and skate wing. Dessert choices consisted of Crème Brûleé, bread pudding, butterscotch creme, chocolate souffle, and cheese.


Before the meal started, we got Foccacia bread with herb infused oil. The bread was cold, had a somewhat crispy crust, but the inside was soft!


We also got to sample the chef's amuse. Caramelized onions on top of bread. The onions were thinly shreded, had an awesome sweetness!


Parisian Gnocchi.
Jacky's Gnocchi was very soft and tender with a hint of potato and cheese. The roasted beets on top gave the dish a red color. The caramelized shallot and Chevre cream gave this first course a nice finish. I didn't order this because it had peas...lol.


Escargot en vol au vent.
There was a supplemental charge for the escargot, but I'm not sure I'm very fond of it. My first taste of the sauce was too salty...maybe it's from the olives. The puff pastry balanced the saltyness a tiny bit. The escargots were decent sized all nestled within the pastry.


My main entrée: Bordeaux Braised Beef Short Ribs, garlic whipped potatoes with horseradish-shive yogurt. Once again, my first bite was also salty. It gradually became less salty, and the yogurt was an interesting addition. I would've liked the pototoes to be creamier, but it was still good. The short ribs were awesomely tender, the meat just falls apart!


Three of us ordered the Pan Roasted Skate Wing, pommes puree, buerre noir with caper and cornichon...I remember watching a cooking competition so I knew what a Skate Wing was, but I don't think others did. The fish was tender, didn't smell fishy, and had a nice balance of flavor...it seems like I'm the only one who orders salty food?


Jacky ordered the Crème Brûlée for dessert. The caramelized sugar on top was a little too burnt for my taste, but the custard underneath was nice and "eggy" just how I like it!


Doughnut and Banana Bread Pudding
Came with coffee crunch ice cream as well, which was very crunchy. The pudding was just the right texture, and didn't come out too sweet.


Charlene ordered the Chocolate Souflé that came with iced decaf vanilla latte and toasted almond ice cream. She wanted to order a cup of the latte and a pink of the ice cream! The souflé was nice and soft, the aroma was just amazing.

Overall Passioné was a good experience; I would go back. Portion sizes were decent, and the Restaurant Week pricing were very reasonable for a French restaurant. If I had to rank it, it would be only a tiny bit below Verjus. Reason being the dishes I ordered were a bit too salty, plus, Verjus inspires me to make my own dishes at home!