La Nouvelle Bistro — Restaurant in Florida

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝐋𝐚 𝐍𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 - 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 — Situated in this historic home previously owned by the granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, this beautifully curated restaurant brings the tastes of the French countryside with their ambiance, imported wine, and French inspired cuisine. —- Michael Glinter has traveled to 68 countries and 36 states to get the flavor of some amazing foods. His view on reviews is simple – Taste, Presentation, and Service. He believes telling the reader a positive and negative unbiased look at the restaurant is essential. Let's take a look and see how this restaurant scored in these three categories during their lunch service. —- 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 / 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Starter – Gougeres (Gruyère cheese puffs with mornay sauce): The puff pastry was light and airy texture complimented the creamy rich flavor of the Gruyère created the perfect balance between the two. The pairing of the creamy mornay sauce added a bit of savory depth to the dish giving you a decadent cheesy warmth with every bite. This will open up your taste buds and set the tone for the rest of your visit. —- Appetizer – Soup A L’oignon (Veal Broth, Comte, Croutons): Chef’s spin on French onion soup really breaks the stigma of what one would expect in a traditional French onion soup with the Veal broth providing a very rich flavorful base stock for the dish. The cheese is very different from a traditional Gruyère as it’s creamier and not as overpowering. My only criticism is the broth masks the taste of the onions a bit, but not being a traditional French onion soup it really stands alone as a signature staple for the restaurant. —— Entrée – Steak Au Poivre (filet medallions, cognac pepper sauce, pommes aligot): The filet was cooked perfectly to temperature (requested Medium Rare) providing a melt in your mouth tenderness that is comparable to any high end steak house. The richness of the sauce was very complementary adding a smoky depth and sweetness from the cognac. The pommes aligot, is a traditional French dish with bring mashed potatoes together with cheese, butter, and creamy creating a velvety texture and a comforting balance of boldness from the sauce. The only criticism would be the whole peppercorn was a bit intense in ways taking away from the perfection of flavors on the plate. —— Dessert – Pot De Crème (dark chocolate, chantilly cream, sea salt): Speechless. That doesn’t happen very often. It was pure heaven. The best way I can describe this dish in lament terms is imagine a chocolate mousse coupled with chocolate fudge. Every bite was pure decadence. The chantilly cream’s smooth and fluffy texture brings a great balance with every bite of the chocolate and the sea salt flakes adds not only the saltiness but the crunch bringing a dynamic complement of textures and flavors that embodied the entire dish. —— 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 The restaurant offers both inside and outside spaces that took advantage of the historic elements of the building with a beautiful French flare making it a perfect place for couples, family, friends, and even for business. ——- 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 Stellar. Our waitress was extraordinarily attentive and provided detailed descriptions of the dishes and great recommendations that elevated the overall experience. —— Overall, this restaurant truly embodies perfection in every way, and I love how they have curated menus for both lunch and dinner which provide many options to enjoy the creativity and excellent execution of the chef’s work. I visit the Saint Augustine area every year and will surely keep this restaurant as a top preferred restaurant...

Every single item was at least excellent. We started with the cheese puffs, the pate trio, then the bisque, french onion soup, and the escargot as a second course, then got the bouillabaisse, the steak au poivre, one of their daily specials which was a salmon and pasta dish, and the duck leg, before desert of the chocolate mousse, the orange, the creme brulee, and the profiteroles. We ordered most of this all at once, and the waitress automatically started thinking through the best order to present the dishes, ending up moving the escargot starter to the soup course to avoid it overpowering the other starters. The cheese puffs were like a cheddar biscuit on steroids, the pates were all good but the mushroom one was the best, the bisque very much tasted like it had lobster in it, and the escargot were well made and standard. The french onion soup was a notable twist on normal restaurant french onion, as it forgoes the normal overpowering beef and onion broth for a strong but much more balanced beef and onion broth with distinct notes of rosemary and other herbs. All of our mains were very good, but the duck was the best- they advertise it as crispy, and crispy it is. Normally I dislike duck due to the higher fat content, but this was perfectly rendered, and the combination of the duck, potatoes, and grapes worked very well. Of the deserts, the profiteroles were, well, profiteroles, but with ice cream instead of pastry cream and with chocolate sauce. If you like profiteroles you will like this, but nobody in my family really likes profiteroles, so we found it decent, but better than normal profiteroles. The mousse was good but standard. The creme brulee was quite good, you can really taste the lavender. The best desert by far though was the one that mimics an orange, which was so good we ordered a second one. The service was very good, it’s not white linen so don’t expect that, but they could competently give recommendations and wine pairings, and the sommelier was quite good as well, they were very attentive and engaged, and they made sure we were comfortable on the cold porch with blankets and space heaters. Music was present but not overbearing, so the patio at least was good for those of us with sensory...

We walked by our first night in St Augustine and this restaurant looked great. The smell of the food was so good that we had to stop just to check out the menu. I likeed the menu so much that I took a picture to remember it, but we kept walking on our way. The next day was my wife’s birthday and really, the whole reason we were even in St Augustine. We had a ton or recommendations of where to go, but the thought of this place stayed with us. Should we go there? No one had recommended them. No one had even heard of them. We decided to try it anyway. I called to make a reservation and the person I spoke to said that they were not really taking reservations because they were not even open for business yet. I said, “Oh no, we’ve been by and seen the restaurant and thought it would make a great birthday dinner for my wife.” Turns out that they were just doing a soft opening for friends and family for a few days to work out any issues before really opening for the public. BUT!!! They said, come on by and they’ll take us. WOW!!! Not only did they take us without really even being open, we had one of the most fantastic dining experiences. The wine was selected for us and it was excellent. We had the escargot to start and it was the perfect beginning. Then my wife had the French onion soup and I tried the lobster bisque. You will have a very difficult time trying to decide which one of these is better than the other. For the entree, I had the filet done medium rare. It was an excellent cut of meat, seasoned and cooked to perfection. I could have cut it with a spoon. My wife was not wanting anything too heavy so she tried the quiche Lorain. I had to try a sample and ended up finishing what she could not finish for herself. It was excellent. To be clear, I’m not a friend or family of anyone associated with the restaurant. This is a real review that they earned. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. They went above and beyond to let us join them on a night when they’d not even officially opened. The food is fantastic and St Augustine has a new gem, no, a new crown jewel of...