Cuistot Restaurant - Palm Desert

Restaurant Review – Cuistot Restaurant Palm Desert, CA

            When I knew that we’d spend New Year’s in the desert, I wanted to take my wife somewhere special for New Year’s Eve dinner. We had eaten at Cuistot five years ago on NYE, so I thought it would be fun to dine there again. I didn’t remember the restaurant being good or not, but I would have remembered if it had been exceptional or poor.

            I booked the table online, through OpenTable as I have in the past. It’s kind of impersonal, but convenient. I received a call about a week before from the restaurant confirming my reservation and asking for a credit card to secure the reservation (common practice on very busy nights like NYE, Mother’s Day, etc.). The reservationist who called was pleasant and efficiently handled what needed to be done.

            We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before our reservation and the valet took our car. To my surprise, we didn’t get a ticket from the valet; he said he’d take care of it. I hoped that when we were finished it wouldn’t take forever to get our car because there was no record of it.

            We entered the restaurant and found the space warm and inviting. The décor seemed to be inspired by a French country house, but updated and clean. We stood at the host stand and waited for a moment while the host was obviously busy with something more important than guests standing in front of him. When the other host returned a moment later, he greeted us and finally the host that had been standing there with his head down noticed that we were there. We were promptly seated in a booth near the kitchen, one or two away from where we sat five years ago.

            After a slightly longer than acceptable wait, a server greeted us and offered drinks. I ordered a glass of champagne, something non-descript, and my wife had only water as she’s 6 months pregnant. The drink arrived and it was fine. A food runner dropped in with an amuse-guele, that he described as potato with goat cheese. It was in fact a potato with smoked salmon, crème fraiche, and caviar. The potato was cold and undercooked, the crème fraiche runny and unappetizing. There was so little caviar it should have been omitted. I was concerned with the start of the meal, but hopeful that things would improve.

            Our waiter arrived with menus for a prix fixe menu with the only choice being the main course. The menu was as follows:

Terrine of Imported Foie Gras With Apple Compote and Calvados Gelée (optional course - $18 supplement)

Lump Crab Gratin with Celery Coulis

Consommé of Pheasant with Mini Pheasant Quenelles

Arugula Salad with Asian Pears, Baby Corn and Honey Vinaigrette

Venison Wellington with Grand Veneur Sauce and Chestnut Purée (the main course that I chose)

Fresh Chilean Seabass over Bamboo Rice with a Ginger Vinaigrette and Japanese Salad Garnish (the main course the my wife chose)

Hazelnut and Chocolate Gâteau with Pistachio Anglaise and Fresh Berries

Home Made Petit Fours

            We both skipped foie gras, as I like it sautéed and my wife doesn’t like it very much. The first course arrived on a small plate and it looked very plain and simple, like a small hockey puck though too large for a course in a 7-course menu. It was a crab cake floating in a pale green celery coulis. I broke through the over-fried crust of my crab cake with my fork and dove in. It was dry and flavorless. The celery coulis didn’t have much flavor of celery; it was just a watery pale green sauce. My wife had the same thoughts. We looked at each other and knew we were in trouble at this point.

            Following the crab cake was the Pheasant Consomme. [It arrived in a small bowl and the consomme was perfectly clean with two white quenelles of pheasant and a little bit of jullienned leeks floating in the broth.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The broth was perfectly seasoned and flavorful. The quenelles were light and tasty. It would turn out to be the high point of the meal.

            The Arugula Salad arrived shortly after we finished our consomme. It was simply presented: a medium-sized mound of arugula with a few slices of Asian pear around the sides. I eventually found the baby corn at the bottom of my salad. I wasn’t paying close attention when I took the first bite of salad that included one of the slices of pear. I bit into a pear seed, which got me off on the wrong foot for this course.  The seed was just the start of it. The arugula seemed to have been just washed and still wet. It diluted what might have been a good vinaigrette, but it was just watery and nearly flavorless. I’m not a big fan of the baby corn either. They remind me of something I would find in a grandmother’s [ap0ostrophe’S] stew. At this point I decided I needed a cocktail.

            I ordered a rye Manhattan. It was made very well, the only exception being the fluorescent red Maraschino cherry lying at the bottom of my otherwise perfect drink. I quickly consumed the drink in anticipation of the main course. I was hopeful that the venison would be delicious, but at this point not expecting much.

            I got just what I expected. The venison Wellington arrived and the meat looked quite rare. Normally that would be fine, but the puff pastry that surrounded it was nearly raw itself. The flavors on the plate were pretty good, the chestnut puree was flavorful and smooth. The sauce was well made and seasoned correctly. The puff pastry just ruined the dish! It was gummy and soggy. If the previous courses weren’t indicative of what to expect, I would have sent it back. I decided to cut my losses and suffer through so we wouldn’t have to suffer any longer than necessary.

            My wife’s dish was huge. The portion of the dish was as large as I’d expect to see at The Cheesecake Factory! It had a salad on top of the piece of fish. My wife tasted it and proclaimed that she couldn’t eat is [it] because it was gross. I asked her I she wanted to send it back. She declined as she didn’t want to protract the pain that was this awful meal any longer either.

            On to dessert! At this point we were just ready to go, but we had already made it this far, so we might as well stay for dessert. The dessert arrived and it looked like something an amateur baker would make. The cake was thinly sliced and had some sort of cream sandwiched between the layers. The pistachio crème Anglais was too thin and lacked any flavor of pistachio, only having a slight green tinge to indicate that it was, in fact, a pistachio sauce. Petit fours were supposed to follow. We usually bring the petit fours home for our girls, but we didn’t want them to think that our judgment in restaurants had declined! We just got the check and got out of there!

            We exchanged some niceties with the host on our way out and exited to find our car waiting for us! The best part of the whole experience was the valet service!

            The overall experience was poor. The kitchen is producing inferior food, even by low standards. The waiter was knowledgeable and polite, while the food runners need an education in what is in the dishes that they present to guests. I’m surprised to read so many good reviews of the restaurant: I guess the guests that enjoyed their dinner have more money then sense. It was a beautiful space, but that is the only redeeming quality of this over-priced restaurant with poor food and average service. The chef apparently trained under the famed Paul Bocuse. He needs a refresher course, at least, to get the restaurant to the level where they can justify the high prices that they charge (our prix-fixe menu was $109.50 per person!).