Daniel Felizardo

Review of L'Etoile Restaurant & Graze

A fine dining restaurant with a very nice tasting ...

A fine dining restaurant with a very nice tasting menu. Keep in mind this place is about fabricating an interesting and varied meal experience and looks to quantity and flavor over quantity. This is probably the most expensive place in Madison but you are paying for quality of the ingredients and the care and effort going into crafting each course. The service was spectacular and our waiter was very kind and answered all of our questions. I was impressed with his knowledge and ability to explain the dishes. I thought the food was very good and there were things which I had never tried before. Overall all of the flavors really worked well together even though each individual piece seemed so odd. The duck and the beef tartare were stand outs for me. This is a great place for a fancy occasion. I enjoyed their cocktails but did not try much of the wine. The dessert wine was very good and went along with the dessert perfectly. This place is very reminiscent of michelen star restaurants focusing on molecular gastronomy except L'Etoile is more on the traditional side. The food had a lot of french inspiration, but they did a good job at locally sourcing a lot of the ingredients which I thought was a great touch.