Of all the things I have been missing about Paris, food certainly tops the list. So I was excited to check out L’Albatros, recently opened by Zack Bruell, in University Circle near Case Western Reserve University. While I was slightly dissapointed by the lack of any sort of French feel to the atmosphere of the restaurant (although that has more to do with what i was hoping for than any failing on the part of L’Albatros), my lunch was wonderful, and the service was the most attentive of any restaurant I have been to yet.
Fresh bread (served continually every time our plates were empty–bonus points!), dipping oil, and a house made mustard kept us company until our appetizers and entreés arrived. My arugula salad was ten thousand times better than the one I ordered at Bar Cento. I ordered the grilled salmon, which was beautifully seasoned and finished with a citrusy béarnaise sauce, but slightly undercooked to my liking. Pier W still wins the salmon contest, but I’ll gladly eat from L’Albatros any day. The salmon was served on a bed of lentils, which had a hint of sweetness that I wasn’t terribly thrilled with. My companions ordered the chicken breast with fennel and goat cheese, the suasage platter, roasted trout, roasted cod, and duck confit. The trout was phenomenal, as was the bit of sausage that I tried. Positive reviews were given to all the dishes except for the cod.
Our waitress noticed that the cod was barely touched, and not only offered to bring any new item from the menu, but brought over the manager and took the dish off of the bill. Having turned out lunch hour into deux heures, the other interns and I decided to skip desert and head back to the office, but I eagerly anticipate returning to L’Albatros and tasting their desert selections.
