Coretta Restaurant

Sunday Lunch by the Park

January 29, 2020By Heidi EllisonRestaurants
Beatriz Gonzalez behind the counter at Coretta.
Beatriz Gonzalez behind the counter at Coretta.

In my rush to find new (to me) restaurants to review, I rarely have the time to go back to previous favorites, so it was a great pleasure to return to Coretta for Sunday lunch recently with friends who make a habit of it.

For that reason, we were given a royal welcome and a complimentary glass of champagne by cheerful chef Beatriz Gonzalez and her charming husband Matthieu Marcant. The sun was pouring in through the big plate-glass windows looking out onto Martin Luther King Park (the restaurant is named after King’s wife, Coretta), illuminating the restaurant’s handsome blond-wood decor and creating a joyful atmosphere.

Squash, coconut and helianthus soup.
Squash, coconut and helianthus soup.

To stimulate our appetites, we were given small bowls of a lovely soup of marrow squash flavored with coconut and helianthus.

For my first course, I couldn’t resist ordering the daily special, mac and cheese, one of my top-10 comfort foods. This was not just any mac and cheese, however, but a luxury version that was more like baked ziti with foie gras, black truffles and meat juice instead of tomato sauce and ricotta. Tasty but too rich. I would have preferred a simpler version. 

Gravlax with citrus fruits.
Gravlax with citrus fruits.

One of my friends started her meal with a delightfully fresh salad of gravlax with citrus fruits, radish, tomato and herbs.

Pressed venison with wasabi-flavored potatoes.
Pressed venison with wasabi-flavored potatoes.

Then we got down to serious business. Two of us had the rich, tender pressed venison with wasabi-flavored potatoes, green mango and samphire. Just the thing on a cold winter‘s day.

Quail with almonds, celery and kiwi.
Quail with almonds, celery and kiwi.

Our other friend had the quail with almonds, celery and kiwi. It was good, she reported, but it “didn’t make me sing.“ She’s a tough critic.

Cinnamon brioche.
Cinnamon brioche.

My friends had the same dessert they always have because it’s so very good: the cinnamon brioche with salted caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. Imagine the best cinnamon roll you’ve ever had and multiply by 10. Talk about comfort food!

Vacherin.
Vacherin.

I tried the refreshing and perhaps slightly less fattening vacherin, a meringue-based dessert, in a fruity, deconstructed version with avocado cream, mango sorbet, passionfruit and pineapple.

The meal was nicely finished off with perfect chocolate truffles.

Coretta is what the French call a valeur sûre, a restaurant you can count on for an excellent meal, served with a smile, and pleasant, attractive surroundings.

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