Cenadou — Restaurant in Town of North Salem

I visited Cenadou with my wife and two more family members recently. Having read reviews we had high expectations, set also by the relatively high prices of menu items. Such high prices set a high bar, so whilst my comments may appear overly detailed and nit-picking, if Cenadou and its sister restaurant La Bastide have hopes of a Michelin star one day then such feedback will be valuable to management. First, the restaurant is attractively decorated and has good ambience. The evening was pleasant and warm so we chose to eat in the outdoors seating area, which again is very well appointed. I would encourage the team to invest in technology to rid the area of mosquitoes and other pests, which became more problematic after sundown, but overall the dining areas are well-designed and appointed, so 5 stars out of five. Likewise, the wait staff was excellent. All the servers were young and attractive, but very well trained, as befits the quality which Cenadou aspires to, and service was efficient and accurate: again, five out of five. Both La Bastide and Cenadou have wine lists containing French wines only (the high-end wine list is shared between the two restaurants) which is entirely appropriate for restaurants serving Provencal cuisine (but see my later comment), but the prices are high, with high mark-ups. Trade tariffs have eroded the value advantage which the strong US dollar versus the Euro gave to European wines imported into the US, but nevertheless I think the restaurants could offer diners a better deal on French wines. We all enjoyed our appetizers; in particular the Tomato (marinated cherry tomatoes, watermelon, goat cheese espuma, gazpacho) was excellent, with the Terrine de campagne not far behind. A special for the day of sardines over a bed of scallions was good, but with a bit too much oil, and the scallions had been cooked to the point of disintegration, and were present in excess. The main courses were more mixed. My Moules a la provencale (actually an appetizer but big enough for a main course) were excellent, as was the Atlantic cod, served with charcoal grilled leeks, mustard greens and Sorrento lemon sauce. The Steak frites was OK but cooked to the “well done” side of medium, rather than the “medium-rare” requested, and the frites were over-cooked. The Lamb sirloin (also requested medium rare) could have been almost anything and was also overcooked. It didn’t taste much like lamb, nor have lamb texture. We then shared a cheese plate, and here is the most bizarre thing on the menu. I can understand why a restaurant based in the US and offering the best local ingredients might have US cheeses on the cheese plate – the US produces some very fine artisanal cheeses. Even more sensible for a restaurant serving Provencal cuisine would be to have French cheeses. Former French President Charles de Gaulle famously said “how can anyone rule a country which has 246 different cheeses” and he had a point. France is the cheese capital of the world, so why on earth does Cenadou have two ITALIAN cheeses (Taleggio and La Tur) on its menu? The Camembert offered was delicious, and the Tomme not bad, but I recommend that the chef replaces the others with Brillat-Savarin, Vacherin Mont d’Or, Pont l’Eveque, Epoisses de Bourgogne, Roquefort, or any of the other 239 varieties. Dessert at Cenadou is well worth saving room for. I particularly recommend the Millefeuille and the rum baba (which were both specials). The Lemon (lemon cremeux, sable breton and basil sorbet) divided opinion in our group. Two of us loved it, but the other two thought the basil flavoring the sorbet was overpowering. Such difference of opinion is what makes a market. We thoroughly enjoyed our evening at Cenadou (at least until the bill came – but in fairness, both restaurants publish their menus and prices online, so guests have fair warning). I would like to visit again to see if the chef has taken on board any of my recommendations, but I’ll have to...

This would normally be a two star review if it’s somewhere more established. But Cenadou has been the “hype” of the town for months. When we walked out of the reservation that we made weeks before for our anniversary on a Friday night, it was nothing much more than a displeasure. We arrived on time for our 7:30 appointment (together with another couple who also had a reservation). But I guess we drew the shorter straw because they were seated right away and we were directed to the bar to wait for our table. During the 10-15 minutes of waiting time, the bar hostess asked us twice if we were ready to order despite that we told her we were waiting for a table to get ready for us the first time she asked. Water was served on time while we were waiting. Right when I got too hungry and started to lose my patience, we were seated. Our server was generally pleasant. But then we were told that what we came here for was unavailable that night. So we went for Salmon and Steak frites instead, along with Aioli and Cantabrian anchovies. Food was served with good speed despite how full the house was. Aioli was good and creamy which went along quite well with soft boiled quail eggs. However, anchovies taste like oily canned cat food which totally wasted the good bread it was on. What’s worse is that the anchovy, oily by itself was paired with a thin strip of butter which made the whole dish unbearable for me. Salmon was crispy on the outside and slightly undercooked inside for medium. I am normally a big salmon person but it had a fishy aftertaste, possibly due to the freshness of the fish. Steak frites was a disaster in almost all aspects: presentation, taste and texture. We were told that they usually cook slightly under so I went for medium. But it turned out medium well and was chewy with parts of indigestible meat you would normally throw away. The sauce was brown and unremarkable. It grew on me but never reached to a point that I would like it. The whole dish was presented with dark brownish steak with brown sauce, together with your typical fries, which was not appetizing to me. Now to the dessert part, we did some homework but it wasn’t enough unfortunately. The cake business is apparently a “separate fair” which we need to call to preorder. When we inquired about preordering it, we were simply denied partly because the pastry chef was going on a vacation. So at this stage we just decided to walk out. The restaurant had new and trendy decorations. We were wearing cocktail attires but it was way too warm for what we were wearing. At the end of our dining experience, we were either too inebriated or too toasted to think straight. Overall the experience was like dealing with a host family that wanted you out the moment you walked in. It certainly refreshed our memory about our previous experience with Cenadou when we called to see if we could walk in to use the bar but were turned away. It was our first and most likely our last...

I went to Cenadou with my mom last night. We drove 34 minutes there and had planned to order the wagyu when we arrived. Unfortunately, when we got there, the waitress told us that the wagyu was sold out. Ok, understandable; we had a 9 PM reservation. So I ordered the duck breast instead. My mom ordered the risotto, and we shared the fluke ceviche to start and the mushrooms as a side with our entrees. The fluke was great. The mushrooms were great. My mom enjoyed her risotto. When I ordered the duck, the waitress asked me how I’d like it cooked. I said medium-rare. She said, “okay.” When the duck came out, it was medium-well. I had no interest in eating it. It tasted like rubber. Why drive all the way there for a 9 PM reservation to pay $46 for an unsatisfying, rubbery duck? I was not overly hungry, so I sat there, not eating the duck for about 30 minutes before the waitress came over. She never asked how the food was, despite seeing that I hadn’t eaten the duck. She simply asked, “Do you want this packed?” My mom then explained to her that the duck was overcooked. The waitress looked at the duck, confused, and said, “I’ll check with the chef.” No apology for the fact that we didn’t have a good experience. Then she went back to the kitchen. A couple minutes later, she came back to our table to clear our plates, but she didn’t say anything about the duck. So I said to her, “What did he say? What did the chef say?” She said, “He said this is how they always make it. It was medium-rare. It was bloody inside.” This is absolutely false. There is no way that duck was medium-rare. It certainly was not bloody inside; it was brown like a pair of leather shoes. Perhaps she was mistaking the sauce for blood, and perhaps the chef was unwilling to admit that the duck was overcooked, perhaps in part because they were closing the kitchen and it was probably close to 10 PM at this point. I didn’t want another duck anyway; that was not the point. Some basic courtesy would have gone a long way. This was my second time going to Cenadou. The first time, a few months ago, I recall having a great experience and the food tasting great. Unfortunately, not the case this time. I wish I had a photo of that duck. The fact that the waitress tried to gaslight me rather than apologize or try to make it right is egregious.

Edit: I’m looking at photos from other reviewers here of their duck breasts. Those photos look great, and indeed look medium-rare. Mine did not look like that, and all the waitress had to do was acknowledge it rather than rudely disagree with...