Catherine M

Review of L'Etoile Restaurant & Graze

Haven't had this type of well-balanced and thought...

Haven't had this type of well-balanced and thought out dishes outside of Paris. Each dish got an A+ for presentation. The "Tasting" menu had several ingenious combinations. They weren't all winners, but as my husband said, "I didn't eat anything that I was disappointed to have tried." I would add that a few of them were out of this world. A delicious fish tartare with a heavenly buttermilk aioli stands out in my mind as one of those bites that makes you wonder why you bother to shovel other food into your mouth.

The view of the Capitol building is quite lovely and the staff here are obsequious but well-informed, and didn't make me feel stupid for not knowing what the notch in the sauce spoon was for. Who knew there was a sauce spoon anyway? I guess it only matters if the sauces are as exquisite as these.

You should come here at least once if you live in Madison.