Chez Noir — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Chez Noir offered an exceptional dining experience from front of house to the kitchen. The dining room is an intimate setting with views of the kitchen at work. My only comment would be the choice of house music. Seemed off for the setting but soon blended into the background as courses arrived. Stand out food included the salt cod salad, Dungeness pasta course, and veal. The trout course was also delicious, though the visually appealing crisp skin presentation was challenging to navigate without smashing the delicate fish below. The pig head course excellently showcased the kitchen's skills in preparation, but the delicate pork was overpowered by the paired greens and another ingredient we could not identify, leaving a bitter taste at the end of the bite. It is the only course we did not finish. Two clear stars of the evening were the abalone skewers and halibut chips offered by the kitchen at the start of the meal. We could eat those all day. On service, front of house staff were knowledgeable about wine pairings, course preparation, table food allergies. The hostess was engaging and checked in throughout the meal. A few minor issues from our perspective. It did take roughly 10 minutes from seating to a service staff greeting/taking our cocktail order. My dining partner also was not asked whether she wanted something more to drink after her cocktail glass was removed. We had to flag staff down to order a glass of wine for the pasta course. We also observed staff forcefully remove something off a napkin that was being set at the table next to us. He threw whatever it was to the floor. Why not simply replace the napkin with another? To this observer, it gave the perception that caked on food was being removed as opposed to the fuzz he said it was when asked. There have been customer comments about the 20% service charge added to the bill with the option to add a tip. I think the goal of wage equity is admirable but muddled. We had multiple front house and back of house staff service our table. A service charge for all to split would make sense. Why not integrate this cost into a higher price per person for the food courses with the customary option of a tip (which could be shared among staff). Take away the ambiguity and awkwardness at the end of a nice evening. We also suspect that under the current practice customers might feel a 20% service charge adequate and not leave an additional tip which means lost income for everyone. This has been the case reported by several high end restaurants which have since decided to remove the service charge at the request of their service staff. Food for thought. Great evening overall!

Photo is of the tasty Dungeness crab...

Chez Noir has arrived. The food was done with care and honored each ingredient. If you’re looking for a great meal in Carmel, make a reservation stat.

Dishes:

Chilled Oyster 10/10 Must order: Fresh as the cold crisp sea, fat creamy little Blue Point (?) oysters with a super bright lime, perfect bite. We ordered 4 more after the first one.

Grilled Oyster 9.5/10 Umami, loved the passion fruit layer, gorgeous bite.

Fried Artichokes with pistachio aoli 10/10 Must order: crisp and tender. How I want to eat all artichokes in the future. Would love to see this dish with different aoli’s over different seasons as new ingredients are available.

Abalone Skewers 10/10 Must order: This bite will make you smile. We almost ordered another but knew we had to pace ourselves.

Brioche 8.5/10 Beautifully baked with a soft pillowy interior and really nice butter. Flakey salt on the butter would have been next level. Great to order for dipping in all the sauces.

Cauliflower Salad 9/10 The hazelnut purée was outstanding. Loved the freshness of the ingredients, all played together beautifully. Could have held its own without anchovy, but just a personal preference.

Dungeness Crab Tortellini 10/10 Must order: Perfect bite, sauce was absolutely divine and perfect for dipping extra brioche in. Would eat about 20 more of these.

Rack of lamb with sunchoke frites 10/10 Must order: first off, all the sauces at Chez Noir are all beautifully done. The olive tapenade held up to the lamb which was perfectly cooked and not too gamey. Sunchokes are not often seen on menus and a personal favorite ingredient. The sunchoke frites were perfect poppable bites, crisp on the outside but perfectly tender on the inside. Gorgeous.

Citron Tart 8/10 I love lemon tarts. Loved the slice of lemon on top, was the perfect bite with the side of cream. Would have preferred a slightly mellower level of tart but again that’s a purely personal preference and each lemon tart has a different personality.

It was hard to pick a favorite dish as each one was outstanding in its own way. The beautiful town of Carmel needs beautiful food and I’m grateful to have experienced it at Chez Noir. There was a built in 20% gratuity which I thought was fair as it has to be sustainable for the staff as well. Michelin worthy. Would travel again...

First impression, beautiful atmosphere. That’s where the “wow” peaked. Small room, very loud, and unnecessarily loud music makes everyone at every table talk louder to be heard. I asked the manager to turn the music down slightly, as a speaker was right above our table. He seemed annoyed and I swear he actually turned the volume up. If we return, we would sit outside and brave the cold weather - much quieter, relaxing and promotes conversation. We were early, and only 4 tables were occupied when we ordered, but I counted 9 employees constantly swirling about the small dining room apparently looking for something to do; it was a little distracting, and made for an edgy atmosphere that felt strangely impersonal, like we were non-member visitors at a club. Menu was exciting, presented on an attractive menu that was crisp and well organized. However, the food did not quite meet expectations. Visually appealing, the temperature of several plates arrived lukewarm, which seemed to betray the efforts of the kitchen. The food: bold flavors of the abalone dish were great, but completely robbed abalone of being recognized… 3/10. Similarly the fried Tiny Squid with aioli was lost in the breading and aioli, and breading fell off easily, remaining in the aioli even with the most delicate dip... 5/10. Lonely Mtn riff on Caesar salad with anchovies was fantastic, 10/10. Squab was good, but not warm 6/10. Jamon ham very good, 8/10. Vaca Vieja beef was very good, but had some inconsistency in quality of the cut, 8/10. $830 for four ppl included $160 btl of wine. The place is beautiful, the staff polite but not friendly. An opportunity was missed by the manager or owners to engage with the 10-12 tables and create a more intimate atmosphere. There seemed to be an air of City pretentiousness floating about, not sure that fits in Carmel village. 3/4 of our party have little desire to return. Too bad, as I don't mind spending $$$$ on fine dining in a beautiful setting where guests are made to feel appreciated, instead of lucky...