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August 8 - 15, 1997
[Food Reviews]
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Chez Claude

How could we have missed it?

by Jim Johnson

5 Strawberry Hill Road, Acton
263-3325
Lunch Wed.-Fri. noon-2 p.m.
Dinner Tues.-Sat. 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Major credit cards
Liquor license
Handicap accessible

In nearly five years of reviewing area restaurants, how could I have missed Chez Claude? After a delightful evening of exquisite dining, I unflinchingly place it on my list of top 10. Make that my top five.

In many ways, Chez Claude Restaurant is a French version of the Inn at Harrington Farm. The food is superb, the service is gracious, and the setting is charming -- a 200-year-old red farmhouse resting on a wooded hill.

Although the cuisine is decidedly French, it's accessible to American tastes. Chef Claude Miquel avoids both the eccentricities of nouvelle cuisine and the excesses of traditional sauce-laden Gallic fare. Instead, he attracts a loyal clientele with what he calls "classic countryside French cooking."

More than a third of his entrées take various approaches to filet mignon. There's filet mignon on its own, filet mignon with béarnaise sauce, filet mignon with black peppercorns and a cream-and-brandy sauce, and Chateaubriand, the famed preparation for two. For fish, there are filet of sole in apricot brandy butter and poached salmon with Dijon mustard sauce. Moving up the evolutionary ladder, there's cuisses de grenouilles a la provençale -- frog legs. And what French menu would be complete without a crêpe? In this case it was stuffed with shrimp, scallops, and lobster. With the exception of the Chateaubriand, entrées average $17 to $18.

Our threesome arrived just as the sun was setting, and our server reached across to light a small oil lamp that sat at our table which also had a ceramic pitcher filled with fresh-cut flowers. Antique prints and posters adorned the ancient walls. The plank floors were well-worn by the centuries.

The house's many rooms and crannies lent an air of intimacy, and we felt warm and welcome. In our room, a giant red brick fireplace was ready to take on next winter -- or at least the day's baking. And, with that thought, fresh French bread arrived, warm and doughy. Our glasses filled with Sonoma Country Clos Du Bois 1994, we toasted our good fortune and the fine food to come.

Our feast began with escargots de Bourgogne ($6), tender snails cooked in butter thick with garlic. They came six to a tray, with special holders and tiny tined forks. They tasted, as one tablemate said, like mussels in snail shells, but with a hint of musky sweetness.

We continued with smoked salmon ($6.50), cut wafer thin. Each delicate slice was tender and delicious and was accompanied by the traditional chopped onions and capers.

For French onion soup ($3), we chose the "plain" version without grated cheese. The slivered onions offered sweet depth to the meaty broth.

It's not surprising, we found out later, that Monsieur Miquel simmers filet de porc farci ($16) -- stuffed pork tenderloin -- in the onion-soup broth as preparation for both dishes. The soup gains richness, while the broth adds a fragrant dimension to the meat. The pork is first pounded, stuffed with mushrooms, thyme, cheese, and tomatoes, and then rolled up. It then simmers in the broth before being completed in the oven. Unlike many stuffings, this one had no filler. Meaty mushrooms overflowed onto the plate.

I was torn between the roast duck and the rack of lamb and impulsively switched to venison in red wine sauce ($19). The meat was buttery smooth and tender with just the right hint of gaminess. The velvet sauce was a reduction of red wine simmered with bones and onions.

The salmon ($16) was as good as it gets, gently poached in a half-wine, half-water mixture. Despite the large portion, the fish was cooked perfectly throughout. On the side came a Dijon sauce consisting of heavy cream, roux, and just enough mustard to lightly complement the salmon's delicate flavor.

Desserts, prepared at Chez Claude, tasted even better than they sounded. Somehow, "choux a la creme glacée" sounds better than "ice cream puff." In any language, it was great: a buttery moist pastry shell scooped full with vanilla ice cream and lathered in homemade chocolate sauce. I heard no complaints about the almond pastry with apricots or the three-berry (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry) tart either.

Throughout the evening, service was nicely paced and appropriately attentive, and we felt quite welcome to linger over coffee and conversation. As we sat, we watched as Claude's wife, Gertrud, greeted other guests. ("She the boss," Claude told me by phone the next day. "I call her that because it's true.")

Without beverages or tip, dinner came to just under $100 for three. You can also enjoy lunch at Chez Claude Wednesdays through Thursdays with soups, salads, and quiches, as well as smaller portions from the dinner menu. Warm-weather fare features cool choices like vichyssoise and poached salmon.

The Miquels have run Chez Claude for nearly 27 years. I'm sorry it took me five years to find it.

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