Les Chefs de France

Les Chefs de France is a very nice restaurant. Bob & Linda recall having eaten here before, and Becky and I did on our honeymoon, but the memories are vague enough that this will seem like a new experience for all of us. This may be the nicest place the boys have been to. The niceness doesn’t stop us from deliberately mispronouncing the restaurant’s name for fun: “LeSS CHefs DEE France” in a nasal twang, instead of “lay shef deh frahnse.”

This we do quietly, to ourselves, to avoid offending the many French CMs nearby.

We’re seated outside to wait for less than ten minutes when we are called inside and escorted to a table for six at the front corner of the restaurant, with windows on two sides. Nice.

As part of the Candlelight Processional Dining Package, we will be paying a flat fee per person and each getting an appetizer, entrée, and dessert! Given that even the youngest among us is an adult by Disney standards (10), it won’t be a cheap meal, but we will not go away hungry.

Although we’re not planning on any further meals today, we’ve talked about going to Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club and splitting a “Kitchen Sink” monster sundae after the program this evening. We’ll see about that, I guess.

For our appetizers, I try a cheese plate, thinking that I really need my appetizer not to be too heavy if I’m going to have an entrée and a dessert to myself. Plus, I figure the cheeses will be good. It is exactly what I needed it to be, small wedges of four different cheeses: brie, camembert, port salut and chevre. Each is tasty in its own right, but I think I like the port salut best.

Bob orders escargot. Becky and Linda each order the lobster bisque, which is very good, but Benjamin’s onion soup beats it, by popular acclaim. (We’re each sampling the other’s choices – except for Bob’s snails.) The real winner, hands down, is Brandon’s tarte de chef alsacienne, a flatbread with onions and bacon, which Benjamin realizes too late is like pizza! There’s plenty to share, though.

The window seats are perfect for people-watching as we enjoy our upscale courses. Before too long, in fact, a couple of performers began roping off a viewing area just outside the window and begin an acrobatic show. We can’t hear their patter, but we can marvel as they stack chairs in a column and balance atop them, climbing higher and higher. Dinner and a show!

For our entrees, Brandon and Linda each try a salmon filet served on a potato pancake with red pepper sauce. I put my seven years (!) of French classes to use and order the noix de Saint Jacques et gambas sautees flan d'epinards, sauce a l'oseille, which is sauteed scallops and black tiger shrimp served with spinach flan and sorrel sauce.

Hey, all I took away from those classes was the ability to pronounce French words correctly. I might as well use it when I can.

Bob and Benjamin each get the filet de boeuf grille, sauce au poivre noir, gratin Dauphinois et haricots verts. Or as they call it, “the beef.”

The entrees are just as delicious as the appetizers.

Between bites we chatter about plans, about the trip so far, and watch people pass by on the nearby pathway. At one point a man with a long white beard, wearing a bright red hooded outfit trimmed in white fur, passes right by our window. This is Pere Noel, Father Christmas, the French Santa Claus. I must say he’s much thinner than our American Santa. Don’t know how he does it with all the rich food and wine he has access to. Pere Noel cheerfully waves to those of us in the restaurant as he walks to his storytelling location.

The acrobats make a second appearance as we eat our entrees.

Dessert time! Bob loves his crème brulee, which he has with a cup of espresso on the side. Brandon and I each get a chocolate tart, layered with banana, served with a praline sauce and a scoop of freshly made chocolate ice cream, that is, the tarte au chocolat, banane et noix de coco, sauce praline. (And with that, I file away my limited French for the foreseeable future, with the exception of a few “mercis” to our servers.)

Linda has the cinnamon apple crepes, while Becky enjoys a puff pastry filled with vanilla ice cream and served in a pool of decadently rich chocolate sauce.

Benjamin really loves his choice, a selection of freshly made sorbets, one scoop each of kiwi, mango, and raspberry!

Okay, now we are full. We knew this would be our one big meal today, and we took that seriously! Consequently, we decide that we will not be going to Beaches & Cream for the “Kitchen Sink” later today.

This was a nice relaxing meal – more gourmet than we are accustomed to (remember Benjamin wanting McDonalds as we landed yesterday?), but a very nice start to the dining part of our vacation.

As the acrobats set up outside the window for a third performance, we know it’s time to go. Our server presents us with stickers to wear for the reserved seats at the Candlelight Processional, and we make our way out of the restaurant with a final merci.