La Salette in Sonoma – Update, dinner
Review date:   March 2011
(previous review appended below)

We ate lunch at La Salette on October 2010, and really enjoyed this Brazilian-Portugese restaurant. At that lunch, the cod fritters (made with bacalhau, the beloved salt cod of Portugal) were wonderful, the caldo verde soup was outstanding, and we loved their version of feijoada, the Brazilian national dish. 

We wanted to try a few different dishes, so I picked the special of cauliflower bisque, swirled with parsley oil and sprinkled with toasted sliced almonds. Carlos couldn't decide between the seafood stew (caldeirada) or the bacalhau no forno casserole made with salt cod, potatoes, onions and olives. 

Because he had such a substantial lunch at Bistro Jeanty, he decided on the seafood stew, and I suggested the cod fritters as a light starter. On our first visit I had ordered it as my starter, so he got one fritter and I got the other two (they're not large, two modest bites apiece). This time he could have them all to himself.

They're served with cilantro aioli, a small heap of microgreens, and smears of a Moroccan black olive coulis (paste). Most versions of this are heavy on the mashed potatoes, used to extend the always-expensive bacalhau. La Salette's version is the reverse, and is by far the best version of this popular Portugese dish we've had so far. Carlos loved the accompaniments as well, which were in just the right proportion and balance of flavors.

The cauliflower soup was delightful – a perfect, smooth bisque full of flavor, and the almonds added just the right touch. This is definitely one restaurant where if you love soup, it's usually a winner here.

I picked the pork tenderloin “Recheado” as my entree, pinwheels stuffed with an almond, fig, and olive paste, served with potato croquettes and a port wine sauce. The filling was not quite successful as the figs weren't seeded, but I liked the flavors especially with the addition of cumin and chile flakes to the stuffing. The 'croquettes' were mashed potatoes with topo cheese (a semi-hard Portugese cheese), browned to have a nice crust on one side. The port wine sauce was superb, a masterful rendition that left us wanting more of it.

Unfortunately, La Salette likes to serve food on really hot plates – and this was not taken into consideration when cooking the pork. They were probably cooked perfectly, but when set on a really hot plate, became overcooked and a little bit dry. There's nothing wrong with heated plates, but the kitchen stations really need to adjust their timing to compensate. The pork would have been much better if they'd undercooked it by about two minutes to allow for the plates and filling continuing to cook the meat.

Carlos' seafood stew was a little bit too heavy on the red bell peppers in the broth, and it was surprisingly tart, almost a little too much so. The seafood was very fresh, although he's not a fan of chorizo or linguica sausage with his seafood, even if it is traditionally Portugese (Carlos is half-Chinese and half-Portugese). Still, he enjoyed it – he's a lover of seafood in almost any form.

We were too full for dessert – a shame because they do them very well here. But I was seduced by a 15 year-old Verdelho Madeira from Henrique & Henrique's, which was a sublimely perfect ending to an enjoyable dinner. Carlos had his usual cappuccino, which was super-strong and a great blend.

La Salette is a charmer, one of those restaurants that even when it's not perfect, you're willing to excuse those minor flaws. They modernize their recipes just enough to give them a lightness and creative flair, without losing their soul (and taste). 

At this point we've eaten out so often in the last three years, we realize that our bias is very much towards the classic and traditional. It's one thing to eat a seafood stew when you're dining out; it's another thing altogether to have eaten it more than 15 times in the last two years, each time at different restaurants. 

La Salette reminds me of Girl & The Fig, just down the street on the Sonoma Square. Neither one is perfect, but they offer food that is both interesting and honest. We're lucky to live in an area where we have so many amazing choices of both good and great restaurants to eat in. 

Two starters, two entrees, two beverages, one after-dinner wine, with tip came to $106.

La Salette
452-H First Street East, Sonoma, CA
www.lasalette-restaurant.com
Review date:  October, 2010

We discovered this Brazilian-Portugese restaurant in early May but didn’t have time to try it. Returning home from the Pacific NW, we stopped in for lunch on a perfect fall day.

Maybe other restaurants are hurting, but La Salette seems to be doing just fine, at least with the locals. It’s not a large restaurant, but filled up quickly and stayed full, all the way through a leisurely 90-minute lunch.

There’s a lovely selection of sausages and cheeses available as tasting plates, but with only two of us we decided to stick to the dishes we were most interested in. I started with the bacalhau, the salted cod cakes that are so beloved of everyone I’ve met who has grown up with some variation of Portugese food. These were very good, crispy and greaseless, served atop a housemade tartar sauce with a sprinkling of micro-greens on top. There were a couple of smears of intense anchovy paste on the plate, but I always find salt cod, even when well washed and soaked, salty enough by itself.

Carlos opted for the caldo verde, one of the most famous Spanish/Portugese soups that has oddly never caught on. Made with a rich beef broth, thickened with potato, flavored further with linguiça sausage, onions and chopped collard greens, it’s far more flavorful than potato-leek soup and wonderful for cooler weather. La Salette makes a savory version that made me determined to recreate this one at home in the coming months.

The special of arroz valenciana that Carlos opted for was flavored with a lot of diced red pepper in addition to the sofrito that flavors the rice, but it was tasty with the sausages (two different kinds), chicken, clams, shrimps and mussels garnishing the rice. It was a softer, more brothy version than paella, and perhaps a touch salty from the shellfish but still quite good.

The Brazilian national dish is feijoada, consisting of rice and black beans, chopped collard greens and a lot of pork in various ways: braised butt cubes, meaty bacon, and sausage. Sprinkled with toasted manioc meal, it’s one of my favorite dishes. I’ve never liked any restaurant’s version before, but La Salette’s interpretation is wonderful. Just the right size, it’s generous without being overwhelming. I hadn’t encountered the addition of a spoonful of fresh tomato-onion salsa on top of the rice before, but it perked up the flavors without turning it into a Mexican dish as I’d feared it would.

The desserts sounded overly complicated, being all trios of various flavors. But when we picked one to share, it actually made a complementary whole, the kind of simple but elegant dessert we were expecting to encounter at Cyrus but didn’t receive.

A small milk chocolate mousse of foamy texture anchored one end. Tiny cubes of port wine gelee separated it from a steaming hot dark chocolate souffle, with a single tart cherry at the bottom. A single slice of caramelized banana was the surprise of a less-sweet plaintain, not the typical Dole banana, with a scoop of rich dark chocolate sorbet finishing the plate. All were a perfect 3-oz size, enough to satisfy us without being too much, too sweet, or too rich.

We really enjoyed our lunch at La Salette and would love to return with a couple of friends so we could order some of those interesting sausages and cheeses. It’s a friendly, casual place and perfect for Sonoma’s downtown Square. I don’t know that I’d want such hearty food when it’s 90+ degrees in the summer, but it’s a great fit for the remaining three seasons.

Two starters, two entrees, one dessert, two beverages, with tip came to $95