The Buttock

Unbeknownst to me until the tail end of it, last week was Bethesda Restaurant Week. (I am perpetually out of the loop.) My roommate brought it to my attention Friday night, so we went out to dinner at La Miche in Bethesda to take advantage of the deal. In French, a miche is a round loaf of bread, but in slang it can also mean “ass cheek.” I’m thinking the restaurant owners were going with the first definition when they came up with the name…

La Miche was overall very pleasant – its interior was quaint, intimate, and very traditional. I thought the French music in the dining room was a nice touch, too. For $28 (a RW special), we got three courses. (When it’s not RW, you can get the same menu for $35, typically, which isn’t a bad deal.) For appetizers, we shared the baked brie and the escargot. The brie was mediocre at best – served with apple compote and toast, it was lukewarm and bland. The escargot was swimming in garlic butter – very tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We both ordered the cuisse de canard (duck leg confit), which was served with potatoes and mushrooms. It was delicious, albeit a little greasy. This could have something to do with the fact that it's SOAKED IN ITS OWN FAT before being cooked in fat. Yum. Fat. The skin was perfectly crisp and golden, and the potatoes were cooked to perfection. I cleaned my plate.

For dessert, my roommate and I split the raspberry crème brûlée and the blackberries with fresh whipped cream. The crème brûlée was heavenly – delicate and buttery, with the raspberries adding nice little pockets of tartness. Loved it. The blackberries and whipped cream were nothing special; the cream was a little vanilla extract-heavy, and there were only about 6 blackberries in the dish. I should have ordered something a bit more exciting, but after the duck I was feeling like quite the heifer and didn’t feel like anything too heavy.

My feelings about the service were very mixed; it would best be classified as amiable but inefficient. Everyone was very friendly, (even the water guy beamed at us and asked us how we were doing) and the chef visited each table to make sure everyone was enjoying their meal, which is always a plus in my book. However, our main course took forever to come out even though the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and we had to wait an absurdly long time to get our check because our waiter was chatting with his friends who happened to be dining there. Slightly annoying.

I would recommend La Miche if you are looking for relatively inexpensive, traditional French food in an upscale setting. If you're willing to pay a bit more, I would recommend La Chaumière in Georgetown, which has slightly better service and a little more inventive take on French cuisine, although I suppose that’s another entry.

Mangez bien!