Restaurant of the Week 

Restaurant Jean-Louis
61 Lewis St.
Greenwich, CT.

For a small, 45-seater, this esteemed French restaurant harbors an awesome wine list that would be hard to maintain in a place many times its size. The wine cellar fills half the basement and cops Wine Spectator's “best of award of excellence,” one of only three in Connecticut.

“We like our wines,” understates chef-owner Jean-Louis Gerin, who helped famed Paris chef Guy Savoy open his Greenwich sensation and changed its name to his own upon purchasing it in 1985.

He and wife Linda, the daughter of restaurateur René Chardain, also like their foods. They present meals of great tastes and originality in a dressy room where tables are set with white cloths over lace, Villeroy & Boch china, sterling silver and red roses.

The personable Jean-Louis was honored as best chef in the Northeast in the 2006 James Beard awards.

His style has matured into what he calls “La Nouvelle Classique,” a richly flavored cuisine that is complex yet light. The majority of patrons select the grand tastomg menu ($69 per person, two-person minimum), five courses that change daily and aren't decided until 5 o'clock. What about tonight? Jean-Louis was asked. He thought a moment and responded: sweetwater prawns, fillet of pompano, sweetbreads with saffron and wood pigeon. Otherwise, you can pick and choose expensive, exotic treats on the à la carte menu.

Appetizers always include the signature endive salad folded in sour cream and three American caviars that Jean-Louis created for his wife when she developed a craving for caviar while expecting the couple’s first child. Among foie gras choices is a classic double oxtail consommé (“the real thing,” says Jean-Louis) with truffle mushroom and foie gras slivers “still cooking.”

For main courses, we hear great things about the braised medallions of monkfish layered in greens, the braised leg of rabbit with a mustard cream sauce, the filet of ostrich flambéed in a peppery cognac sauce the sliced breast of duck and foie gras sautéed with orange-sherry vinaigrette, and the venison medallions with a majestic grand veneur sauce.

Dessert might be a bitter and sweet chocolate mousse with café au lait sauce, a super-thin green apple tart with green apple sorbet or baba sponge cake warmed in rum with fruit compote and banana sorbet. Afterward, Jean-Louis likely will come to your table to discuss the meal and bid you good night.

(203) 622-8450. www.restaurantjeanlouis.com. Entrées, $38. Prix-Fixe, $59 for three courses, $69 for five courses. Chef-Bar menu (multiple small plates)s, $49. Lunch, Monday-Friday noon to 2.  Dinner, Monday-Saturday from 5:45.
 

Material excerpted from Best Restaurants of New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2002.