After the disappointment we had at Barley Mow on Monday night you'd think I would have avoided pub food again. Not so! When I have a craving and it goes unsatisfied, I try to quench it again...and again until my tummy and brain let me know my mission has been accomplished. One of the closer spots was Chez Lucien on Murray Street, only a couple blocks. Even though the weather had taken a turn yesterday, giving us the 77 degree heat I was overjoyed to find GONE last week, there seemed to be a cool breeze as we made our way down.
Unfortunately I couldn't do much recon on them in respect to their menu or background because they don't have a website that I could find and no menu available to look at. So when we finally made our way to a table I had to sit and study it for a while. The first thing we were informed was that our stroller "can't block the jukebox". That was random... We weren't offered a high chair either, in light of it being a problem to block the jukebox I went ahead and assumed they don't have highchairs. But, to be fair I am not sure.
I had heard from people before we went that this place is always horribly "busy" and the service was even worse. When I eat anywhere downtown I try to arrive before the dinner hour...between 4:30-5pm. This worked out GREAT here. I definitely can see where their service could be improved, but it wasn't the worst service I've had either. When I didn't see a hostess at the door, I assumed it was a "seat yourself" situation and did just that, with the Sprout in tow I wasn't about to wait for someone to notice we were waiting.
I asked what their better starters were off the menu and our waitress indicated that they were ALL good and asked us how hungry we were instead. We were starving... She said the nachos were a large portion. We took the bait and added chicken. For my entree I went with the Bourgoise Burger...it really piqued my interest. It came with fries so I asked for a side of sour cream to go with that. (If you've never tried sour cream with french fries...DO! It tastes like you're eating a baked potato!!) With our orders in, I set to work looking around.
By the time I was done looking around our starter was ready. I was starving, so that worked out well.
Nachos with Chicken
As nachos go, they were the best nachos I've had since I have been in town. The chicken was grilled before it was diced up for the top; it was still moist. The chips didn't do the typical flimsy, floppy thing once they had been exposed to the salsa and cheese. I was glad for that, after my dinner Monday night I don't think I could have handled another disappointment. The jalapenos were a good kick and the cheese was mild. Halfway through eating these we recalled that our waitress had never come to take our order for our main entrees. Based on information we'd been given before we went, I wasn't about to wait for her to come to me. I went to find her to let her know we were ready to order our entrees.
Bourgoise Buger w/ Fries & Side Salad
That burger IS as great as it looks. With pear, melted brie and grilled onion this HUGE, beautiful burger really hit the spot. The pear was soft and sweet; paired with the brie it was just magical! The lettuce was crisp, the pickle was awesome...even the BUN was perfect! It had obviously been toasted a bit before it was loaded with the guts....fabulous! The burger patty was cooked medium well, which I FAR prefer to the hockey puck "well done" version that a lot of places serve these days. I could go on forever, but that would only get annoying. I'll just tell you that you HAVE GOT to try this burger! Their french fries were great, even better dipped in the FULL fat sour cream that I ordered on the side rather than ketchup. The salad was lovely; it has been a long time since I've been given alfalfa sprouts on my salad. It was a pleasant surprise. It all played well with the dressing which itself had a perfect balance of oil and vinegars. The whole meal was put together very well.
Our Sprout of course was getting wildly out of control, being that we were on the tail end of this venture we made for the check and to go supplies. We had great food and we were in and out in an hour. We noted this in particular because we were parked in the Embassy...had we not been back by 6pm we wouldn't have been able to get our vehicle out easily. In Chez by 5, out by quarter to 6; just a 5 minute walk from the Embassy, we got our truck just in time.
I'd go back to Chez Lucien ANY day, but...no later than 5 pm. Activity DID start to pick up at 5:30 and wasn't showing signs of slowing down any time soon. If you're looking for a great experience with pub food, stop in at Chez Lucien. Let me know what you get and how you liked it, love hearing from other customers!
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