Cafe Matou

ok so, cafe matou. my friend kai, a fellow foodie and good friend, raved about it and i, being the food freak i am, got excited about it and we decided then and there, "we're going next week for prix fixe menu night!". i didn't really know what to expect other than what kai had told me-"it's awesome!" okaaay, i'm not entirely too certain what that means in kai world speak but i was finna find out...

originally, our plan was to have the prix fixe menu but once i took a peek at the regular menu and the prix fixe menu options, i chucked the idea of the prix fixe. besides, the prix fixe menu offered fish and i'm not a huge fish fan to start with. to be honest, once i saw venison on the menu, how was i to resist?

the name
i love it. a matou, in french, means a tom cat. i love cats and i call the ginger kitty boy i live with matou all time. well, that's not entirely true, i call him many cutesy names all the time. matou is just one of them.

the location
when you say wicker park, most people picture the six corners (damen, milwaukee & north) so i'll be honest when i say i half expected it to be what used to be Mod, a pretentious but mediocre nouvelle cuisine restaurant decked out in starck inspired furniture all in white on damen. i was wrong, it's a few blocks or more west of the six corners on a stretch of milwaukee in various stages of development, kinda quiet but beginning to look "cool". good food, i don't think, is so easy to find in wicker park. wicker park tends to be hung up on maintaining its hipster status-a place to see and be seen but never with much substance, or in our case, much flavour.

the decor
the look is utilitarian and austere, mostly earth tone colours-beige, brown and a bit of burgundy to provide contrast. the tablecloths were standard issue white with a small vase holding white flowers for accent. even the paintings reflected the same austerity-mostly white, black and grey paints coming together to create something close to cubism.

oh, and of course, if you pay attention, you'll notice the cat motif throughout the place, especially the iron wrought chandeliers. it's just not obvious like in a crazy cat lady kinda way.

the staff
from the moment we walked in, the maitre de maison smiled and was cordial. most importantly, once we were seated and asked our server "what's good?" she immediately volunteered some recommendations from the menu with verve and gusto (you know, making facial expressions when she mentioned something she really liked) like: chorizo stuffed squid with a wine and ink sauce, braised beef shank with breadfruit, and crusted fish served with a white wine and butter sauce.

the chef, charlie soucher, walked dishes out to the tables either to reinforce his presence or because the vibe among the staff is one of "everyone pitches in." i believe it was the latter because everyone in the place - waiters, bus staff, chef and maitre d' - were working the room.

what i ate
i started with a home-made lavender syrup champagne aperitif. it tasted as lovely as it sounds. i love anything flower flavoured, especially mixed with champagne. magnificent.

i started the meal with the raclette starter. this came with a slice of garlic saucisse, a triangle of smoked ham, potatoes, cornichons and a pickled green onion. the cheese came bubbling with that fantastic crust cheese gets on the sides when baked or pan grilled (anyone know the technical term for that?).

it was especially fantastic heaped on top of the garlic sausage. of course, the bread served with the cheese made a perfect compliment since its outside was crusty with a nice, soft center.

next came my main course, venison scallops with a red wine reduction, served with parsley mashed potatoes and fresh spaghetti squash. while the presentation was fantastic and the venison was grilled to a nice crusty consistency on the outside with a beautiful deep red on the inside, i felt the scallops were fried with too much oil. i had a hard time getting a handle on the actual taste of venison. venison is typically a nice gamey meat with a robust flavour of the "wild" which is exactly what i like about it. perhaps because this was farm raised venison it really means they managed to feed the "wild" out of the overall flavour, i don't know. i just know that i was expecting a strong, hearty flavour and instead, i got the taste of heated oil.

the mashed potatoes on the other hand? wow! the parsley infused mash reminded me of a dish my grandmother used to make, a simple poor farmer's dish of potatoes, milk, cream and chopped parsley with pepper and a bit of salt. the squash was more or less bland but i assume that was to counter what should have been the gaminess of the venison. i was a bit disappointed with the dish but it didn't stop me from eating most of it.

i had ordered a glass of Gigondas to counter what i thought would be a gamey meat and despite that missing factor, it still worked well with the dish.

finally, for dessert, i took the cheese plate because it's hard for me to say no to cheese. i know, i know, i started the meal with cheese and then ended it with more cheese but what can i say?! i'm french, we have more cheeses than there are days in a year! to boot, i was born in dairy country: normandy. good luck trying to find something in all of normandy that contains no butter, cream, milk or cheese.

the plate consisted of a slice of livarot, which comes from, imagine that, normandy - a raw cow's milk cheese high on the stink factor of the cheese slide; slices of manchengo viejo - a spanish sheep's milk cheese with a hard consistency, like parmesan; and a slice of valencay - a raw goat's milk cheese with a creamy consistency with a nice nutty aftertaste.

i paired the cheese with a Montbazillac because i did need a little sweet to balance the salt of the cheese but also a little alcohol is always good for helping to cut the fat in the cheese.

but what about what kai had? she started with the muscles in curried cream broth which was perfect for sopping up with bread, the braised beef shank in a syrah wine sauce - but the breadfruit thing was this wierd mushy, bland potato-wheat thing, and a dessert made of chopped walnuts and apples, kinda like a pecan pie but without the crust, served with a dollop of creme fraiche. THAT thing was, in kai world speak, "awesome!"

my opinion overall?
well, i hesitate to say it was not good or it was great. i was... umm... expecting more? yea, i wasn't horribly impressed with the food but conversely, i was marked by the effort to bring such a bourgeoisie touch to french comfort foods. and i can definitely say the service was impeccable: the server knew the selection of foods without having to look at her notebook (a pet peeve of mine, to be honest. KNOW your menu!), the chef himself served dishes, the presentation of the food was meticulous, the smells coming from the kitchen were inviting and the creativity of the ingredients (hello, lavender syrup!) definitely piqued my appetite.

the restaurant also offers a variety of special dinner nights: monthly five course dinners with wine pairings from different french regions; a biere night with a five course meal, each course prepared to compliment a different french regional beer; and the prix fixe menu features three courses Monday through Thursday for $20.

would i go again?
yes, if only for having high hopes that it was just an off night. over all, i enjoyed the raclette and the cheese plate but wanted more from my main dish. i think kai felt the same about her meal, having enjoyed the muscles and dessert more than her main dish.

plus i'd like to try the stuffed quail so i have to go back.

cafe matou's 411
http://cafematou.com/
1846 N Milwaukee AveChicago, IL 60647
Tue-Thu 5:00pm-10:00pm
Fri-Sat 5:00pm-11:00pm
Sun 5:00pm- 9:00pm
Tel: (773) 384-8911