Brasseries in San Jose, CA

“TLDR: The Best Brussels Sprouts. Awesome Lamb Chops. Our meal was JUUUUUSST shy of perfection (5 stars). If I could give 4.5, I would. Normally, I would give 5 stars if a restaurant does a dish so outstanding, that I would consider it the top 2 or 3 dishes I've ever had. Their Brussels Sprouts would have done it. However, there were several flaws that pulled it from the lofty 5-star perch. First the obvious great news, their brussels sprouts were the best I've ever had. Even better than my first time having great sprouts (which was literally a revelation since before I had great sprouts, I HATED them!) I think it's the onion they roasted it with. They added a great sweet flavor. And the carmelization on the sprouts... they were bits of heaven. Even a day later, I can still taste the deliciousness. And BSB didn't even need any "tricks" like adding bacon. The sprouts stood on their own. Truly a 5-star dish. I also ordered the Lamb Chops medium. They were tender and soft. However, and this is a pre-cursor to the other complaints, it was JUUUST a bit bloodier than I would like. I would put this closer to medium rare, AND at places, rare. Still, they had great flavor, and I enjoyed the gaminess of the dish. Oh, but their ENDIVE! Again, deliciously roasted, and a bit sweet again. I don't know who prepares the veggies, but that guy is truly the star of the kitchen! Normally, I need "something" to mask the flavor of veggies so I can swallow them. Not here. The endive, I ate just on its own, and it was SO flavorful. I normally say this only about Indian cooking, but if I HAD to have a vegetarian meal, THIS PLACE would be near the top of the list. My wife ordered the Pork Chop. For much of it, it was tender and well-cooked as well. HOWEVER, near the center of the chop, it was pretty red. And as you know, pork can't be red. We had to send it back to be re-heated again. It's rare we send food back... but because the rest of the chop was delicious, my wife wanted to finish it. She also loved the sauerkraut. (Again another delicious veggie!) It was tangy yet still very flavorful. The spaetzle was ok... a bit too al-dente for my wife's liking. So that was one big flaw, and one small flaw. We also ordered the Manresa bread. It was a bit too burnt on the bottom. It had that unpleasant bitter taste. We LOVED the home-made butter though. It was smooth, and spread easily. I'm glad it wasn't "chilled" nor was it watery. It was at the perfect temperature. I just LOVE spreading butter and watch it melt into the crevices. It's too bad the bottom was burnt. I pretty much ate the top part and left the bottom crust alone. The final thing we had was the beignet. Man the BEST beignet I've had was in Seattle, by another celeb chef. I forgot the name of the place... it's in one of my older reviews if you're curious. And no, I haven't been to the birthplace of the beignet yet, but so far, Seattle was the best. So when I saw it on the BSB, I KNEW I had to try it! Beignets are rarely seen, but often desired. This was truly the great disappointment of the night. First of all, the sauce LOOKS like chocolate. And I dipped the beignet eagerly expecting that rich sweet chocolate taste. NO, it was bitter. It's some kind of caramel with brandy. And yeah, they burn off the alcohol, but it still has a bitter taste. I guess this is beignet for adults. My wife doesn't like caramel, and I don't like bitter, so we didn't touch the sauce again. As a result, even though they were powdered to high heaven with sugar, they just tasted... flat and boring. They are very fluffy though. I just wish they served it with jam, just like the ones in Seattle. Truly a disappointing end to a great and wonderful meal! The last thing I want to say is, even though our waiter was friendly, the service was SLOWWWWW as Molasses. We had 7:15p reservations, and yeah, we were late about 10 min. NBD, right? We got sat and then... just waited and waited... and waited. I t“

“As always EXCELLENT Service and GREAT FOOD!“