I recently had the opportunity to dine at Le Bec Fin, generally accepted as Philadelphia’s finest restaurant. This very upscale spot that can easily run $200/person with wine. Since this was a celebratory dinner, (and not one I paid for) I’m sure it surpassed that. A full-review follows after the pictures:

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The overarching theme of my experience at Le Bec Fin is that they seem to do everything exquisitely well, accept actually cook… the wines where fantastic, the amuse-bouche and hors-d’oeuvres were all great, the cheese selection and unlimited deserts were both earth-shattering. Even the service, which could easily be stuffy in an upscale place like this, had a certain ease to it that was unusual, and their smiles felt genuine. One key to the fine service was that they keep the service-to-patron ratio unusually high, with about 5 people serving our party of 30. The only issues were the actual main appetizer, fish dish, and meat dish — the heart of the meal. These dishes, which I’ll describe in more detail shortly, where not bad per se, but they lacked a certain richness that one expects from fine French cuisine. It was as if the chef had scaled back his butter and salt, leaving each dish, while fantastically executed, a little neutered.

Amuse-bouche and hors-d’oeuvres: tempura shrimp – crispy, tender, not a hint of grease; foie-gras with a touch of green grape preserve – the jelly offsetting the richness with it’s sweetness; cucumber panna-cotta with pickled cauliflower – truly amazing, refreshing to the palate while playing with interesting flavors.

Appetizer: trademark crab cakes – easily the low-light of the meal. One would think that if you call something your “signature” dish you’d take extra care with it, but the crab-cakes were fishy. Not quite long-john-silvers from the freezer fishy, but still bordering on unpleasant.

Fish Dish: Poached halibut with red tea, apple, mushroom, rutabaga and chestnut stew with allspice – the halibut was flaky and moist, but neither the flavor of the tea nor of the apply really came through. Similarly, the stew could have used a bit of “bite”.

Meat Dish: Domestic rack of lamb, white lentils cassoulet style, natural jus - just like the halibut, the lamb was cooked perfectly, but left we desperate for a bottle of A1 sauce, or anything to bring out the flavor. (Before I start getting gastronaut hate mail – yes, I know fine dining is about clear and clean flavors, and I agree, but this was clean of any flavor, including of the lamb itself.)

Dessert: Oh god - Too drunk and full to think straight at this point, I had 3 of the many many desserts from the never-ending tray. Tempted to go to the bathroom with a feather and rock-out roman style, I had the caramel cheesecake (one of the best I’ve ever had, which is saying a lot, as I’m a cheesecake addict), the coffee-cake (again astounding) and ended with simple, yet delicious strawberries in port wine.

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