Chez Catherine — Restaurant in Westfield

It's rare you eat at a restaurant with perfect execution of dishes, but a flubbing on flavor profile. Tarragon and Asparagus in Risotto, but not enough cheese to balance out the bitterness.

Tomato butter with basil which overpowered the filet.

Small mistakes, but at almost $600 for a table of 4, this starts to build as a strange experience.

Coupled with the overly stuffy room, where the flower arrangements attack your sense of smell to divert flavor away from dishes, and the aged decor make you feel like you've visited a place you're likely not old enough to appreciate.

Though, the execution of the dishes was phenomenal. The foie gras ganache (Which is a new preparation to me) was as light as a cloud but a bold enough flavor to lift you out of your seat. Though again, the accompaniments weren't sweet or spicy enough to live up to their host.

The crust on the filet was sharp enough to cut yourself on, and the seasoning was spot on. But tomato butter and basil overpowered it, or the duck's blakcberry port I had substituted on my plate (while I saw the coming disaster of the tomato butter on the horizon, my company didn't.)

The dejour corn soup was brilliantly flavored, though. Even when heavy on the basil oil, the corn stood its ground, and maintained its presence as the star of the show.

Dessert was absolutely the winner. The airy and perfect coconut souffle raised tall and light. But the real hidden gem is the Chocolate Mousse.

I have had chocolate mousse 250 times in a myriad preparations, but let me say with a clear mind and without a doubt: This is the absolute best chocolate mousse I've ever had. It's not even close. If I could, I would skip the dinner entirely and just eat this perfect quenelle of the most amazingly airy yet dense mouse.

The restaurant is too expensive to frequent, and honestly too stuffy and awkward to really want to return. But if they ever decide to serve this mousse alone, or they open a bakery, since it seems dessert is their strong point, I'd be possibly their best customer.

Finally, the service was great. Our waiter was fun, read the room well, recommended when asked. Though, it was a fair surprise to know we ordered 3 bottles of pellegrino, and wasn't warned before our glasses were filled.

All in all, a decent visit, but it's unlikely I'd return. If you're a young couple looking for a romantic date night, maybe...

Chez Catherine has a new summer menu and you don’t want to miss it! The soothing elegance of the dining room combined with immaculate service offered with finesse by owner Stephane Bocket, deftly aided by his helpers Theresa and Jewel, is the perfect setting for Chef Christine Migton’s new delectable entrees. Sweet, supple, summer-ripened cantaloupe melon provided a sublime counterpoint to imported French ham in the hors-d’ouvre Melon et Jambon de Bayonne. For the main course, I thoroughly enjoyed the Magret de Canard a l’Abricot: duck, cooked to medium rare perfection and dressed in a delightful apricot emulsion sauce, both tangy and sweet. My dining companion raved about the new Poulet aux Olives, a tour de force dish featuring roasted chicken breast that Christine ingeniously serves with a dill creme fraiche sauce atop a bed of olive tapenade; the three disparate flavors, combining to create gastronomic magic. As a delightful end to our perfect meal, and with the typical panache found at Chez Catherine, Stephane whipped up a light-as-air sabayon sauce tableside, that he generously ladled into a goblet of seasonal berries. Be sure and pay this grand lady a visit this summer. You won’t be...

Nice & friendly people in this place. There were few items that were really good: white chocolate cheesecake, muscles, the risotto. There were few things that are not acceptable for a place with prefix menu: 1. The wine was just poured without asking first for the customer to taste; 2. One of the desert was raspberry souffle and the inside of it was just... not even sure what word to use...unremarkable mushy consistency. To be fair the sauce was very good, but very little. This was a special and we were charged an extra $5 for it without telling us when the special was presented - just not wright! 3. Another item listed on the menu read as if you want a side table presentation it is $15 suplemental. We did not ask for it, but they came and did it (nothing spectacular) and charged us. I find those thicks to charge you more, very off-putting. It is not even about the money. Hi-end restaurants (this was $200/person) never use these practices. You got an extra $20, but lost a customer. So my real rating is...