Smarting from postponing our trip to Spain, we came back to Maine and Eileen suggested Chaval, an old favorite.
I almost cried when I looked at the wine list… I forget that they feature Lopez de Heredia and I was supposed to be there this morning.
The food was truly amazing. We started with a pre-app special, gougeres. I rarely see these in the US and they were classic.
Eileen’s beet salad was enhanced by unusual suspects… blackberries, mint and yoghurt spiced with ginger.
The shrooms were king oyster with a fried egg plopped in the middle of the plate and an amazing sauce that was mostly chorizo.
Incredible as these were, the star was the rabbit entree we split. It was confit, a mix of light and darker meat, crisp vermicelli and veggies mixed with sherry aioli.
I had a half glass of Bargemone Provence Rose (which I imported for ~35 years and my old company still does). Beautiful as always. Eileen had a glass of Rioja which was absolutely perfect with the rabbit. My glass of Catena Malbec was excellent, but the fresh vivid fruit was not as good with the earthy rabbit dish.
This is a great restaurant, and I don’t use the term lightly. Stoopid me for not having been for a few years and thanks to Eileen for steering us there.