My sister and I had the three course tasting at the bar a couple weeks ago. Despite the bartender warning us that ordering an appetizer in addition to our three courses was a little much, I couldn't resist the opportunity to order the shoat rillete. It came in a sizeable portion, enough for up to 4 people to share. We should have just stopped there, the rillete having just enough salt, sweetness and creaminess from the fat. Every now and then we'd find a small morsel of meat, and when more toasted brioche showed up, unsolicited, we really couldn't justify having it go unused.
This is how we got ourselves into trouble. Already we were sated, and we hadn't even begun the actual tasting. Several dishes have already been described, but I just wanted to highlight the shoat pot au feu that I had for my main course. Yes, I had shoat twice in the same sitting. Yes, it was intentional, and there was not a moment of regret. Where the shoat rillete was hard, the pot au feu was soft. Where the rillete was salty, the pot au feu was sweet. As long as my liver can handle all the fat, it was not overkill.
So the pot au feu. It was shoat tail, tongue and ear, by far the least sexiest parts of the pig, but let me tell you. This dish is excellent. It arrives with a puff pastry on top, which is taken off and placed in the bottom of your dish. The contents are spooned on top, and then butter is mixed into the broth to make the sauce and poured on top. I think this process is done to create food envy in your companions. The heady smell alone tells you that you have chosen better than them. Shoat tail: Firm, forgiving, and unassuming, but full of flavor. Shoat tongue: soft, creamy and sweet. Shoat ear: sweet, sticky, coats your mouth and then dissolves. I think most people here are pretty open to eating things like pork belly, kidneys, livers, and other offal. This dish has made such 'undesirable' parts into something so elegant while staying equally rustic. The butter enrichment to the broth at the end of serving the dish is kind of involved, but I think it's just playing up one of the great things about pot au feu is that all the gelatin in the meat has dissolved into the broth, making it savory, just a little thick and sticky, and so deeply flavored. I had one quick absent-minded bite of my sister's duck dish (sorry, I don't recall anything about it) and just felt annoyed that I had been disturbed from my dish. It was like someone's cell phone going off during a symphony. I stopped talking to her completely. No converstation topic could engage me more than what I was eating. And after having written all this, I realize that words just fail. I just feel strongly enough about it to say that I want other people to try it before it disappears.
Everything after that was nonessential. This dish is now essential to my taste repertoire. Pork will never. ever. be tasted in the same light. I'm doomed.