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October 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 
We’re celebrating fall this month at L’Auberge Chez Franҫois and we have an exciting line-up of special events on the calendar. Coming in October are two wine dinners, a beer tasting luncheon, the next installment of our popular Musique et Cuisine series, and our final Garden to Table dinner of the year. 

The Louis Latour Grand Cru Tasting and Wine Dinner on October 18th hosted by Louis Fabrice Latour himself promises to be historic. We start off with a glass of fine bubbly and then will taste 20 Grand Cru wines and you’ll sample two more with your dinner. Maison Louis Latour is the only winery in the world capable of presenting 22 Grand Cru wines at a single tasting. We’re thrilled to be able to offer this extravagant tasting and dinner to our patrons.  

We still have plenty of greens, haricots verts, cabbages, a few tomatoes, and other produce coming in from the garden for the final Garden to Table Dinner on October 20. You’ll find our garden produce featured on the regular menus at L’Auberge and Jacques’ Brasserie but the Garden to Table dinners are a special chance for me to create a full dinner featuring the very fresh items that come from the garden. If you haven’t been to a Garden to Table this year, now is your chance.

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September 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 
Throughout the year there are local, seasonal delicacies that I eagerly await. There are morels and shad roe in the spring, heirloom tomatoes and softshell crabs in summer; and, in September, there are fabulous local plums for our famous plum tart. Popular in Alsace, my father put plum tart on the menu at the original Chez Franҫois in Washington D.C. when he first opened. Sixty years later, it is still one of our best-selling desserts.

Although I’m able to import excellent plums throughout the year, in late August and September our plums come from local growers in Virginia and Maryland who grow varieties for us that are similar to the quetsches grown in Alsace. The local plum season is short, so join us in September to try a slice of local plum tart, served as always, with our cinnamon ice cream. 

Also this month, is our next installment in the Garden to Table series. This month’s event, Harvest to Table, will feature lots of home-grown fall vegetables, including heirloom tomatoes, haricot verts, and garden herbs. We will also have another in our Musique et Cuisine series. This month features the versatile and talented pianist and chanteuse, Jennifer Scott.

Come enjoy the beginning of fall with us. 

Chef Jacques, Paul and the L’Auberge Chez François team

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Open Table Diners’ Choice Best Overall

We are honored that BOTH Jacques’ Brasserie and L’Auberge Chez Francois have been named as Open Table Diners’ Choice Best Overall Washington DC Winners, based upon thousands of Open Table diner reviews. Merci Beaucoup!

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August 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Summer Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 
In mid-September, I’m leading a group of foodies and wine enthusiasts on a ten-night Rhône River cruise with Tauk River Cruising. The itinerary is packed with cooking lessons, wine tastings, and delicious meals. Tauk just opened up three more cabins to our ever-growing group, so there are now a few spaces available for those interested in joining this culinary adventure. I’ve just put the finishing touches on the menu for a special dinner I’m hosting in Paris the night before we depart on the cruise. For more cruise details and registration, please click here; registration closes on September 1st. 

The tomatoes in the garden are ripening as fast as we can use them. All of the tomatoes in our tomato salads are coming directly from the garden and we never harvest the tomatoes more than a few hours before they arrive on your table. I’ve been asked by several diners about my secret for growing such vigorous plants. Here are two tips: First, mix your coffee grounds into the soil. The coffee grounds add minerals and acidity to the soil, which tomatoes love, and the grounds attract beneficial earth worms to aerate the soil and create nutritious compost. Second, when you first put your seedlings into the ground, put ½ teaspoon of Epsom salts around the base of the plant. The salts also add minerals and discourage fungal growth. We have a lot of the booming tomato plants, as well as a video explaining how to make our simple but ever popular tomato salad. A fresh, vine-ripened tomato and a good vinaigrette are key to making a good tomato salad.

We continue to have a full slate of special, summer events here at L’Auberge Chez François. In August we’re hosting the next installments of our popular Musique et Cuisine and Garden to Table dinner series, in addition to a wine dinner and cooking demonstration hosted by me. You can view the latest schedule of special events here. Stayed tuned for more events coming this Fall, including a Grand Cru wine series and Latour Wines!

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June 2015 Newsletter

 

 
 
Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 
My brother, Paul, and I are happy to announce that Jacques’ Brasserie will open daily for lunch, beginning on Tuesday, July 7th. Many patrons have asked about the possibility of lunch service at the Brasserie and I’m happy to offer this more casual lunch option to our customers. The lunch menu at the Brasserie will feature our popular bistro classics like beef Bourguignon, steak frites, bouillabaisse, and onion soup. You can also choose one of our three tarte flambées (an Alsatian-style pizza): there is the classic with bacon and onion, our vegetarian option with wild mushrooms, or the seafood tarte flambée with smoked salmon and trout. Of course, the full LAuberge lunch menu will continue to be available in our formal dining room upstairs. Reservations for Jacques’ Brasserie can now be made on OpenTable, you can click here to reserve.
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Outdoor Dining

May 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 
The kitchen gardens are in full flush. Last week we began serving the first salads of the season made exclusively from greens grown right here on the property. You can’t beat the freshness and flavor of organically grown greens that have traveled only a few yards to reach your plate. Each year we refine the varieties of lettuces and greens that we grow to create the perfect salad. We hope you’ll come in and tell us what you think of this year’s selection of Bibb, arugula, and mesclun lettuces, as well as spinach..

Spring also means fresh herbs for making stocks, sauces and (best of all) signature cocktails. Those of you coming to this year’s first Garden to Table Extravaganza on May 18th will be sipping on the first, fresh mint juleps of the season and enjoying a refreshing citrus sorbet made with home-grown tarragon. The Garden to Table Extravaganzas will happen monthly from now through fall and each month’s menu will be inspired by what we’re harvesting from the gardens.There is a full calendar of wine dinners, demonstrations, and special events in May and our terrace is now open for outdoor dining. I invite you to enjoy a meal outside and tour the gardens.  

The upcoming months are going to be delicious at L’Auberge Chez François. 

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zagat

April 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul
 

Breaking news! L’Auberge Chez François is honored to receive another outstanding Zagat rating by our customers. In addition to the great Zagat news, L’Auberge Chez François has again been awarded the monthly OpenTable Diners’ Choice! Thank you for your patronage and taking the time to provide reviews and comments on your dining experience at L’Auberge Chez François and Jacques’ Brasserie. Merci beaucoup! 

We spent much of March spring cleaning and preparing for the warmer weather. We have painted the terrace chairs and tables and purchased new outdoor cushions for your dining comfort. We are mulching, landscaping and planting so that you may enjoy our beautiful scenery. We invite you to walk the grounds and visit our two large organic vegetable gardens. We are already harvesting ultra-fresh spinach to add to our salad mix and featured in the grilled shrimp and goat cheese salad. This is our Recipe of the Month and one of Chef Jacques’ favorite healthy, leafy green vegetables (see below).

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Open Table Top 100

L’Auberge wins 2014 top 100 restaurants in America for second year in a row

The results are in! These are the OpenTable 2014 Diners’ Choice Top 100 Best Restaurants in America. The list of honorees are decided after analyzing more than five million reviews of nearly 19,000 restaurants across the country — all submitted by verified diners.

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Open Table Diners' Choice

Diners’ Choice 2015 Winner

We are honored to win in 14 categories for the Diners’ Choice Awards by OpenTable diners in the Washington DC area and Virginia -DC Suburbs, including Best Overall. 

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Art Contest

March 2015 Newsletter

 
 
Jacques’ Springtime Wishes
 
Enough of the winter wonderland, we’re thinking spring! I have been happily leafing through the various organic seed catalogs, calculating how much to purchase to ensure a bountiful harvest for our guests. I have several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, green beans, French radishes, spinach, sorrel, squash and the list goes on (to name a few). We also have six types of lettuces to combine into a special green salad that we’ll serve in the spring. Even with the ground still partially frozen, we’re conditioning the soil with organic compost and coffee grounds in anticipation of spring planting. I can’t wait to get my hands “dirty” again in the gardens!

I was delighted to see L’Auberge Chez François mentioned in a recent Washington Post article featuring a prominent financial advisor and long-time customer, Stephen Cassaday, who hosts regular dinners for his prospective clients at L’Auberge (you can read the full article below). We are honored many people already think of us when they’re celebrating an anniversary or birthday, we also host corporate parties, special events, and weddings at L’Auberge and downstairs at Jacques’ Brasserie. You may email us directly at chezlauberge@aol.com to discuss holding your special event with us.

Stay warm, and if you can make out, please join us for a cozy meal near the fireplace.   

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