Apple Duck Confit at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget
My family is not going to the Summer Olympics in Paris (2024), but wanted to honor this event and went out for a swanky French dinner at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains by San Jose.
We began our meal with escargots (snails) that swam in delicious melted butter with pungent, freshly crushed garlic from nearby Gilroy and freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley. Snails are purged with white flour to clean their digestive tract, which makes them spongy, popcorn-like balls that easily soak up garlic-butter sauce. I like to soak up the leftover sauce with pieces of bread.
As my main dish, I ate apple duck confit. Duck has a lot of fat and sautéing it in this fat makes it juicy with melted fat. Bordeaux wine is said to go well with confit. I did not order a glass of it, because the confit came with an applesauce to cut the rich flavor of the duck confit. This is a good dish for a designated driver.
The apple duck confit also came with potato slices that had been fried in duck fat, making them dense and able to soak up sea salt. Crisp, steamed French green beans rounded out the meal for a refreshing finish.
In place of dessert, I shared a cheese platter with my husband Laurent. We both love cheese and liked the well-aged cheese chosen for this platter:
-roquefort from Averyron, France
-pont l’évêque from Normandy
-Brie de Meaux from outside Paris
Eating at Chez Philippe is pleasant, and the restaurant sometimes has live jazz playing at dinnertime. (Check the website for jazz evenings.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
