roflhouse

600 La Torretta Blvd
Montgomery, TX 77356

http://www.latorrettalakeresort.com/texas-resort-chez-roux.aspx

071610 — I’ve been wanting to come to Chez Roux for a while, and for that reason the idea of Chez Roux built up more and more. Nick Salvatore’s previous trip here also confirmed that this is a restaurant that I shouldn’t miss. I patiently waited for a time when I could make the near 90 minute drive to experience Chez Roux. As Friday rolled round I met up the birthday girl, Camille, and we made out way to the LaRotetta Lake Resort to check into our villas and make our way to the gorgeous pool area. We swam around for an hour or so before heading back and getting all pretty for Chez Roux.

As our party of 8 strolled through the doors we all commented on how quiet the place was, almost too proper for its own good. On one side of the restaurant, the large windows overlook Lake Conroe, on the other a large wine room takes over. Another wall allows you to peek into the kitchen where the magic happens, and opposite side houses a small party room area where we sat down for the dinner. As we looked over the menu, nothing immediately jumped out at my girlfriend and I. I decided to order two appetizers and two entrees and a single dessert for my lovely girlfriend and I to split. For appetizers, we chose panko crumbled shrimp, spiced ratatouille, and seared hudson valley foie gras, duck confit pastille with port wine reduction flavoured with cinnamon. For main entrees, we chose wild king salmon, crispy hill bay mussles with white asparagus, and loin of lamb, braised shoulder, spiced lentils and braised fennel. At $26 for the shrimp, it was staggering how much the dish was for how little you receive, while the flavor was great and the dish well presented I couldn’t help but to feel a bit cheated after paying essentially $13 per piece of shrimp, I was thinking just how much tempura I could have gotten at a Japanese joint lol. As for the foie gras dish, at $29 it too felt like a dish that I overpaid for especially as compared to the massive portions I’ve received from Uchi in Austin at just a paltry $9 per piece of nigiri. The flavors of the duck were interesting as well, if you’ve ever eaten dim sum and had the bbq pork buns, the flavors were exactly alike. I had no real complaints about the main entrees other than portion size, two morsels of lamb and the dish was done, the salmon had some amazing flavors, but I didn’t want to eat everything my girlfriend had in front of her. As 11pm rolled around, we were finally presented with dessert options and a number of us decided to go with the raspberry souffle, white chocolate ice cream and raspberry sauce. The dessert was the highlight of my dinner, fluffy, airy, and just plain amazing.

Overall, the dinner didn’t live up to the hype that friends and other praises built me up for, I was left wanting more in terms of flavor and overall presentation. The service was great, a bit slow when it came time to presenting the check, but they were always attentive, however service can only go so far. Hopefully I’ll be able to go back someday and have an exciting meal, until then, I left La Torretta with a nice hangover, a nice sunburn and a decent meal.

3.5/5: Food didn’t match the hype.