Maison Pic *** valence, france 10/2023

Before we ate, the server had their house perfume of rose geranium and bergamot which we sprayed on our hands. A nice touch.

Amuse:

Starting from the start to the left and moving counter clockwise

Savory cracker with a herbaceous dairr creme with some very fresh pistachios. Savory, with the floral notes of the pistachio coming thru most prominently

Celery tartlet. Cheese that tasted like an aged Comte was crumbled and bound in an aromatic lovage purée, topped with shaved and marinated celery. Strong fresh, savory bite, the most balanced of the 3. The aftertaste of the cheese made for a perfect counterpoint for our champagne

Seaweed tart. Tall tart shell that was very crisp albeit a liquid center of a salty and slightly acidic sauce of what I’d imagine is some combination of phytoplankton, seaweed, and soft herbs.

All the canapés landed well for us and served their functions to refresh our palates and get us excited for more.

Bread basket. From bottom to top, a whole grain, long fermented bread. Savory with a rich and creamy crumb. Cornbread with the texture of pain de mie. Sourdough. Served with a butter of tonka and a peppercorn whose origin I don’t remember.

Belon oyster. To the right a foam made of the oyster liquor, and a veil of the liquor as well. Below is a brunoise of braised kombu marinated in citrus and a preserved caper leaf. First bite ate like straight up oyster. The other components turned it into a dish with some sugar, umami, the citrus did a lot of heavy lifting here. Fine set.

Canape to the right was a crisp coated with a powder that tasted like sour cream and onion. Filled with a dice of some very nice tuna, there was a piece of oyster, a citrus sphere, katsuobushi heavy dashi somewhere, this was a very balanced bite that ate very well with every movement of the mouth uncovering a different flavor and texture.

Madame pic’s signature dish. Matcha pasta filled with a lightly smoky mix of goat and sheep cheeses. Served with some grilled kale, a warm and punchy sauce of watercress, dill, and fennel, and some herbs. A matcha bao is served on the side for the remaining sauce.
This dish ate brilliantly. Aromatic, light, herbaceous, and savory. And was impressive for the sauce to be so verdant and served hot.
Bao was a bit of a miss. Matcha flavor was mild, was not warm, and just didn’t add a lot to the dish as a whole, especially since we had just gotten our bread which tasted better.

Cauliflower mushroom. Served with a sabayon of fermented bread, and a buttery sauce of toasted yeast and mushroom jus. Topped with green garlic crisps, indiscernibly flavored tuiles, and lemon balm.
The mushrooms were steamed with eucalyptus and bergamot en cocotte. They were just cooked. I really like this texture of mushroom as they hadn’t absorbed a lot of fat thru the cooking process. Aromatic and meaty. Texture here was great. The sabayon collapsed and mixed with the sauce pretty quickly. Chef is evidently not a fan of using too much butter in her sauce work, flavors were direct but subtle. The crisps on top were clever in that they gave the impression you were eating a steak with a grilled exterior.

Blue lobster. Tail and claw. On the side fricasse of the knuckles served with tomalley emulsion, fresh almonds, and an almond milk veil (?). Sauce of bitter almond, rose, and lobster oil. This was a miss for me. The bitterness of the almond in the sauce was a detriment. Balance came with the sweetness of the lobster but just barely. I love lobster with floral notes ie rose, bergamot, etc. but I’ve usually had it tempered with a prodigious amount of butter. Not the case here. Cuisson on the lobster was perfect though.

John dory. Coated in a fermented chestnut powder and grilled. Tromp l’oeil of chestnut purées, muscat grapes, and a jus of chestnut, rum, and oolong. Loved this. Sauce was delicious with the roasted, nutty, caramel notes of everything blending perfectly. Grapes brought much needed balance. If anything, I thought John Dory was a bit of a mild choice for such bold flavors.

Plats

Sweetbread cooked in aged beeswax, marinated with milk, buckwheat, and meadowsweet, then fried. Corn purée, fermented sweet corn, crispy buckwheat, caramel corn, mezcal gel, and a veal jus with more meadowsweet. On the side a beignet filled with more sweetcorn purée.
This dish was awesome. Real wow moment. The smoke, sweetness, acidity, and richness were all dialed to a T. Beignet was the perfect vehicle for soaking of the jus and perfect Cuisson.

Beef marinated with black garlic and vanilla. Grilled leeks, black garlic purée, crispy tendon with emulsion of the marinade, and coffee. Incredible quality beef. The flavors of the black garlic, vanilla, and coffee blended together created a flavor significantly better than the sum of their parts. Chefs approach to sauce making is similar to that of a perfumer.

Cheese. So the cheese was of great quality but it was chilled. Really a bummer. Didn’t say anything, but probably should have. Not sure if this was the intention but if it wasn’t that’s a big flop on their part.
A local Brie with a crispy brioche made with rendered cheese fat and the dried rinds. On the side, a vanilla mousse, topped with a mousse of the Brie, dulce de leche, and the same cheese aged for 6 more months shaved on top. The sidecar was fine. The vanilla and the cheese blended together and didn’t offer much contrast to the cheese itself. Also, they described it as vanillas ice cream, but it was two isi foams on top of eachother. No contrast. Some sort of contrast in temperature and texture would’ve helped this presentation. Although I straight up didn’t like the lobster I consider this the biggest dud based on temperature alone.

Zerts

Millefuille of cream Infused with jasmine, bergamot and rose. Covered with Various crisps one of which was dusted with a red fruit powder. A pretty bland Buffalo milk foam on the side. This are like a very elegant fruity pebbles, in the best way. Textbook perfect pastry for the Mille. I felt the cream allowed the elegance of chefs ideas to shine through beautifully. Just as the cream is the perfect foil for fragrance, a bit more butter would’ve gone a long way in previous courses.

Chocolate “hive”. Dark chocolate interspersed with chefs signature chocolate ganache for which she selected the beans, hojicha/chocolate cremeux, honey pana cotta, and toasted buckwheat mousse. This ate overly sweet and rich for my taste and seems to be form over function. I see for some they’re into this kind of dessert but I’m personally not. I felt some acid, a tart Yuzu gel or something in one of the combs would’ve gone a long way.

Mignardise

A ravioli of red fruit leather filled with lovage. This was surprising and a bit strange for us. Lovage is probably in chartreuse? This cleansed our palate but was more shocking than anything.

Black olive and chocolate ganache on a biscuit. This was more olive than chocolate. Salty, didn’t work for me at all really. Generally not a fan of this sort of combination in general.

Lil pate de fuit on a stick. Tart and good. Don’t remember what it was.

Chef has a very deft hand when it comes to seasoning. Everything was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Chef does an excellent job sourcing, everything was local and they made a point to express how many kilometers away every ingredient was from through the meal. I appreciate this dedication and approach rather than sourcing seafood from toyosu. My faults ultimately come to taste (sans cold cheese). Great example of nouvelle cuisine and feel grateful to have eaten here. At 410eu for the tasting, the value proposition is pretty low. The somm crushed it. Started with ‘12 dom btg, a fantastic white Bordeaux for mid courses, a light Grenache for main, and he paired us 2 fantastic teas with dessert. Would not go again, but we had a good time, cheers

Thank you for such a detailed and informative post. Saved me the expense and hassle of going there in person