Jeune et Jolie — Restaurant in Carlsbad

All of the Michellin. None of the (typical) pretention.

I read the negative reviews first. I always do that. I need to stop. The negative reviews usually offend me because they're usually written by people who don't know what the hell they're talking about. You go and view that person's other reviews and find that they usually complain about there being too little salt on their french fries. Of course they don't enjoy Upscale Dining !

My wife and I decided to make Jeune our last fine dining experience before we have our first child and begin our twenty year parental purgatory.

We are happy to have made the decision.

The Service:

Is Jeune "pretentious"? YES ! Decorating food, sending multiple people to your table who care about you, asking you what kind of water you prefer, and staff knowing how to pronounce everything on the menu is soooo "pretentious", isn't it? When I go to a fine dining experience I expect this kind of "pretention".

We found the staff to be learned and warm. Everyone smiles every time they make eye contact with you, and were always very gracious - even about taking your used utensils from the table.

If "pretentiousness" is defined as making food or the experience surrounding it not be pedestrian or plebeian, Jeune does it well. Thank you to the staff for delivering food and experience that I can not get at home.

The service matched the vibe. Not one element of how we were greeted and treated was wanting - in any way.

The Food: A lot of the manner of presentation and preparation reminded me of other Michelin establishments that I have visited. The biggest difference was the fact that none of the flavor stories were exhausting or difficult to understand. The food matched the menu descriptions. Oh and it wasn't a 4 hour commitment. We were in and out in under 2 hours.

Truite Fumee A savory panna cotta on a toast round. A smattering of other, seasonal ingredients. As an appetizer we found it great. It was an excellent follow up to the amuse bouche. Would loved to have had an entree sized portion of this.

Porc It was the sauce for me. The sauce and puree. Chef demonstrated proficiency in how he contrasted flavors. Sweetness. Zest. Warmth. Salt. All went well with the pork that they served two way: fatty belly-like morsels and medalions of loin. I recommend it.

Champignon My wife turned this dish into a crime scene before I could properly inspect it. I got to her plate in time to confirm that this mushroom dish performed exactly the way that you would expect it to: cream, umami, earthy. The black truffle felt like more of a privilege than the dish deserved. But it felt good knowing that I was eating it - in this economy.

Poisson I recommend this dish for the undecided. It felt and tasted "safe". It was prepared very well and the flavors weren't at all "kitchen cabinet", but this dish didn't have the unnecessary adventure you usually find in fish dishes at better establisments.

Pintade A roulade of game hen. I couldn't tell if this was forcemeat or just sous vide flesh. It had two elements: an outter layer and inner core. Somehow, they both tasted very different despite having obviously spent a lot of time together. The monococco was like a very toothy risotto. I originally thought it was farro but that's only because I am not a Michelin Chef. It paired well as an accompinament to this dish. The sauce was en pointe.

The Desserts We tried two but agreed that the "Lait et Miel" or "Milk & Honey" was our favorite. I wont ruin it for you by going into my own take on it. But I recommend it.

And I do not know why... But I have eaten Michelin (and better) across the country over the years (Four Seasons. L'Orangerie) and the bread is always my favorite thing of the night! The brioche rolls with Meyer Lemon infused butter dusted with bee pollen was the best part of the night. We could have had two more servings...

Thank you for a beautiful evening and...

We were so excited to celebrate my birthday here, but had a strange experience that ruined the evening for us. I booked a bar seat reservation a month advance for my birthday - specifically wanting to sit at the bar because I have a new baby, this was me and my husbands first night out in months and I wanted to feel like a fun, social, lively adult. When we showed up the hostess tried hard to persuade us to sit on the patio instead. First off, it was 45 degrees outside and secondly, I made a bar reservation because we WANT to sit at the bar. After declining the patio, she asked us to wait and after a few minutes came back and told us she had over sat the bar and there were no more seats available (which she obviously was well aware of from her attempts to get us to sit outside instead). She then asked us to wait outside and that somebody should be getting up “shortly” and they’d seat us. I wasn’t thrilled (you don’t expect this at an upscale restaurant), but it wasn’t a huge deal and we didn’t mind. While waiting outside the hostess asked if she could get us a drink (which we thought was being offered as an apology, but we were charged for these). They eventually moved us inside to a tiny lounge table while we waited. 45 minutes past our reservation we were still sitting there, nobody had come to talk to us about the situation and at this point we were starving. My husband went and asked if we could order some food. Again, with a new baby we didn’t have all night to just hang out and linger and we had already been there almost an hour without starting our meal. About 1.5 hours after our bar seat reservation, 2 bar seats finally opened up and I fully expected them to come offer us those seats (at this point we were halfway through our meal and probably would’ve declined) but nope, they immediately sat someone else in those seats (who were friendly with all the staff). Honestly, it just felt like this restaurant had totally forgotten about us. There were no attempts to go above and beyond to apologize or make things right (again, which I’d expect from an upscale place) but we got nothing. We received our check for $250, nothing being comped and we were even charged for the drinks we were offered while we were made to wait outside. If they had made any attempt to apologize for the situation (like even just one free drink) we would’ve happily paid and been on our way, but we were pretty shocked and asked to speak to the manager. The lady we spoke to did seem very sorry and said she had asked the kitchen to comp one of our snacks (a $15 item on a $250 bill, literally the bare minimum they could’ve offered and it was still on the bill). She ended up taking all of our drinks off and also gave us a $50 gift card. It was a nice gesture but just felt strange at a place like this that we had to push to get any type of apology. The restaurant gave away our reservation to some walk-in’s and was going to do absolutely nothing to apologize or make it right. I’ve never been to an upscale place that treats customers this way. The food was good and the guys who waited on us were great, but it was just overall a very off-putting experience. Most fine dining restaurants want to spoil their customers with a lavish experience, making them feel special and valued - unfortunately this is not one of...

I had one of the best dinners of my life here. We celebrated my wife’s birthday and had a wonderful experience. We sat near the executive chef’s prepping station so we got to hear him call out orders as they came in and his staff respond “oui chef” with each order. This made it feel almost like we were dining in the kitchen adding another layer of excitement to the evening. The ambiance is very Art Deco and highly stylized with no detail left untouched, from the circular shapes noticeable on the table edges, bar top and mirrors to the fine gold finishings it had that staple of old time elegance. The bathrooms even had a level of detail you would expect from a trip to four seasons or the ritz Carlton. The tables were far enough apart you could drift of in delight with your family or embrace your neighbors and delight in the decadence you are being served.

We ordered the chef’s prefix 6 course menu and I have to say it was the perfect amount of food and will earn them a Michelin star. The first course was a soup served in a hand crafted double shot glass. This little taste of soup was by far the best soup I’ve ever had, it had all the components That made me want to have a bowl of the stuff I knew at that moment we were in for a special treat. Next up was an oyster served chef style with his blend of horseradish and beat that we’re so well balanced I was speechless. We then we served a seared ahi with roasted capers, white bean paste, Demi-glaze and bitter salad. Next was a Asian infused dish that had a rice portage topped with egg yolk mushrooms bacon dust and a tasteful amount of spice. This Asian infusion was reminiscent of the Tofu house off convoy or the new Vietnamese bowl place in the windmill food hall, which was such a great turn in the meal to prepare us for the Scallop with an olive oil foam and shredded Brussel sprout, I have never had a scallop taste so sweet in my life! The texture and taste was incredible and not just while eating it but while we talked and waited between courses the flavors of each course lingered in a very pleasant way. Next up was the main event the wagu beef with a potato cake of sorts this was a perfect slice of potato and meat to tie the meal in a bow. My wife finished with the black cod in a bone broth and I have to say I may have enjoyed that even more than the beef! I didn’t realize a dessert was included in the Pre fix but was so delighted to have some sort of layered mouse strawberry deconstruction cake that was such a treat. My wife loves chocolate so we also indulged in a chocolate peanut butter cake with a side of ice cream that was incredible, I may come back here just for dessert some time! So good. And for her birthday if this wasn’t enough they brought out a blood orange cranberry gelatin and Carmel sea salt cream tart that mixed so amazingly I had goosebumps while eating it.

The executive chef was very friendly and we were able to complement him and his entire staff and thank him for the delightful meal.

We will be dining here again. Please enjoy my photos and video of...