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| Holiday Greetings from Chef Jacques and Paul |
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Happy holidays from all of us at L’Auberge Chez François and Jacques’ Brasserie. As we kick into high gear for our busiest season of the year, I am thankful to have such an excellent team, whose hard work and dedication have allowed us to be a Washington-area institution for sixty years. Many of our regular customers request a favorite server when they come in for lunch or dinner and we’re always happy to oblige when we can. But our customers only ever meet a fraction of the people who keep everything running in perfect time during their meals. We have over eighty employees, many of whom are hard at work in the back of the house. Behind the copper doors that lead to la cuisine, an ensemble of pot washers, line cooks, chefs, and pastry chefs staff stations around our large kitchen to ensure that the French fries at the Brasserie are pleasingly crispy and the lobster upstairs is sauced just right. Customers may view the goings on in the kitchen through a window adjacent to the main entrance of L’Auberge. If you’d like a closer look, feel free to ask your server for a tour of the kitchen.
We have team members in the kitchen who have been with us since we opened in 1976. And, of course, we have many loyal customers who have been dining with us for just as long. Thanks to all of you for your patronage in 2014 and we hope to see you here during the holidays and in the New Year. |
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Champagne Celebration
Cooking Demonstration |
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| Join Chef Jacques on Saturday, December 13 at 11:00am for A Champagne Celebration Holiday Cooking Demonstration. Chef Jacques will share his passion for classic and contemporary French cuisine, and teach expert cooking techniques and tricks of the trade. His entertaining cooking style will delight the audience when combined and served with a perfectly prepared five-course luncheon. Guests will start with an appetizer of Champagne Poached Oysters with Salmon Caviar. The courses are paired with three fine wines selected by our sommelier. |
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New Year’s Eve Gala
Dinner & Celebration |
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| There are still seats available for our New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner Celebration on December 31. The gala, for reservations seating between 8:45 to 9:15pm, includes a six-course dinner with a wide selection of special menu offerings, party favors, a DJ, music and dancing, a balloon drop, and – mais oui, but of course – a champagne toast at midnight to bring in the New Year with the L’Auberge Chez François family. If you’d prefer to join us for our traditional dinner, you can reserve for our first seating on New Year’s Eve, which seats between 4:30 and 5:30pm. |
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| Gift Certificates |
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| Purchase gift certificates online or download an order form. They are available in any denomination, and can include a personal message. Gift certificates may be used for food and beverage at L’Auberge Chez François & Jacques’ Brasserie or for Chef Jacques’ cooking demonstrations or wine dinners. |
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| A Local Landmark |
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| We are honored to be featured and would like to share Félicitations à Chez François, Part 1: Humble Beginnings of a Counrty Inn by Karen Washburn in the December issue of Élan Magazine. A retrospective history of Papa François Haeringer’s life and Chez François’ beginnings in Washington DC. Papa was a pioneer when he opened the original Chez François on Connecticut Avenue in 1954. François’ goal was to operate a restaurant with “a nice ambiance and good honest food at affordable prices.” The restaurant’s enduring popularity is a testimony to his success with this approach. |
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| Our Head Pastry Chef |
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| William Sobalvarro, our head pastry chef has been working for us since 1977. He and his assistant chefs are responsible for the pastries and soufflés, the chocolate truffles and cookies, and every other sweet treat that we offer. And, if you’ve ever ordered a cake for a special birthday or celebration it was probably made by William himself (yes, you can do that, for any special orders please contact me at chezlauberge@aol.com). William is one of our many long-serving employees and I salute him and the rest of the staff for their continued hard work and loyalty all these years. |
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| A Traditional Christmas |
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| It wouldn’t be the holidays at L’Auberge Chez François without our Mocha Bûche de Noël. Of all the delights that grace the French Christmas table, probably nothing inspires more childlike joy than this dessert. Our Mocha Bûche de Noël showcases a light-as-air chocolate Genoise cake rolled into a cylinder with the richest of mocha buttercream filling and frosting, and finished with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy with a glass of Chapoutier’s Banyuls Rimage 2012, our Wine of the Month, or your favorite tea or coffee. |
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| Wine of the Month |
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Our December Wine of the Month is the Chapoutier Banyuls Rimage 2012, a vin doux naturel from Roussillon, France, near the Spanish border. Made from mostly Grenache noir grapes, grown on steep, stony hillsides overlooking the Mediterranean, the wine is fortified by adding grape brandy before fermentation is complete, preserving some of the grapes’ natural sweetness. The result is a rich, concentrated mélange of ripe berries with hints of cacao and mint. What better way to accompany our seasonal Mocha Bûche de Noël dessert?
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| Holiday Gift Ideas |
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| Looking for that perfect holiday gift for the foodie in your life? Stop by L’Auberge Chez François and pick up a box of our decadent chocolate truffles available in one pound or half pound gift boxes, they are sure to please your chocolate lover. I also recommend tickets to one of my upcoming cooking demonstrations, wine dinners or wine festival luncheons. For other gift ideas including holiday gift certificates, one of my signed cookbooks or DVDs with my collections of recipes with step by step instructions, visit Jacques’ Store. |
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| Monsieur François Compétition |
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| I want to congratulate Ruth H. of Fairfax, VA for winning the November Monsieur François’ Profile Embellishment Competition. Ruth will receive a $200 gift certificate to L’Auberge Chez François. |
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Be sure mark your January calendars and save the date for my Winter in Alsace Cooking Demonstration on Saturday, January 24. Watch for the announcement and registration.
As is my tradition each year, I leave you with my poem, “A Chef’s Christmas,” written by yours truly.
Happy New Year and best wishes for 2015.
Chef Jacques
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| A Chef’s Christmas |
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T’was the night before Christmas, and all through the kitchen
Chefs scurried about while groaning and bitchin’.
The sauces were simmering and seasoned with care,
Because soon the reveling hordes all would be there.
The tables were set, and not a moment too soon;
Both waiters and hosts looked ready to swoon.
Will we ever be ready? It’s so hard to tell;
Our chances are as good as a snowball in hell.
The pressure was on. The geese were a-roasting,
As partiers began all their holiday toasting.
With bags full of presents, dressed in festive apparel.
Our guests made such a racket that drowned out the carols.
In the kitchen waiters shouted, while cooks swore through their teeth.
The scene was pure bedlam, not a moment of peace.
The chef, he bellowed, to the cooks on the line,
“Move your derrières, make those plates look sublime.”
“I want everything hot, let us make haste,
Move onward you cooks, there’s no time to waste.”
The chef looked about, then said with a shrug,
“To all a good supper and a hearty bah humbug!”
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L’Auberge Chez François
332 Springvale Rd Great Falls, VA 22066
Mail Us : chezlauberge@aol.com
Call Us : 703-759-3800
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L’Auberge Social
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL |
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