Le Grande Cascade

Best. Dinner. Ever.

A few nights ago we went to the Grande Cascade restaurant in Paris, located in a huge park where Napoleon used to go hunting. In fact, the restaurant is his old hunting lodge!

We had a seven-course meal that was amazing.  Here's what we ate:

1.  A cheesy gougere--that's a pastry made from a special batter called choux. I learned how to make these in my cooking class this spring.
2.  A cold pea soup with an almost buttery cream on top and a light and airy corn chip on the side.
3.  A tower of fresh crab topped with a lime foam and a little bit of caviar. 
4.  A macaroni stuffed with truffles and cheese and a bechamel sauce with more truffles.  Truffles for days!
5. My favorite course-- a medium rare beef with a bordelaise sauce, mini potato souffles that were basically empty potatoes and cabbage-wrapped chanterelle mushrooms
6. Dessert #1 -- a puff pastry made in a waffle maker dusted with cocoa powder and powdered sugar, filled and topped with a homemade vanilla cream and a tiny bit of gold leaf.
7. Dessert #2 -- orange pastry "cigarettes" that were filled with orange cream and on the side, an orange sauce with candied orange.  The topping, the smoothest orange sorbet ever. Oranges for days!

We also got our menu signed by the chef!