Samantha Wohlfeil photo
Really? A lavender arrow pointing at the whipped cream? Yes. This is important. It may be the best bite you have during Inlander Restaurant Week.
It's kind of ludicrous to think that a spoonful of flavored whipped cream could be the lingering takeaway from an entire meal of rich, buttery French cuisine.
But it's been days since we went to dinner at Lorèn for Inlander Restaurant Week, and I'm telling you, the bite that is STILL resonating with me today was the very last of the night: the lavender whipped cream. You would think this delicate cream, topped with a honey tuile, would merely be the elevating accompaniment to the crème brûlée. You would be wrong.
When my boyfriend tried it, his immediate reaction was "You have to try this!" When I tried it, I couldn't help but nearly shout "Oh, my GOD!" (which is embarrassing when you're in a very full, very classy dining room with a cave-like interior).
For your sake, I wish I had the kind of palette that would allow me to divine what other flavors could possibly be intermingled with the lavender and cream, because there truly seemed to be some kind of magical MSG-like quality to this whipped cream. It felt like it was dancing across each of my tastebuds as it induced a blissful reverie.
The good news is that you still have until Saturday, March 8 to try to squeeze into Lorèn to try this for yourself from the bistro's $45 Restaurant Week menu.
Honestly, it's a good thing that this amazing treat comes at the end of the meal, because it leaves so strong an impression that the rest of the meal sort of gets lost once you enter that happy daze.
Still, I started with the Chef's soupe du jour, a tomato soup with goat cheese cream, and at first, I was convinced this would be the bite I would rave about. This soup was similarly complex, mixing a symphony of tart notes from the goat cheese with a savory and heartier than expected tomato/vegetable base. My boyfriend went with the parmesan frites, which were decent, but didn't come close to how good the soup was.
A word to the wise for those who, like me, may not be paying very close attention to the symbols denoting something "V" for vegetarian: the coq au vin is an entirely vegetarian and unique rendition of the classic French dish, which traditionally includes poultry of some kind in a red wine sauce with mushrooms. For their unique twist, the team at Lorèn took the dish in a far creamier direction, with a white wine béchamel coating a medley of root vegetables, lentils, mushrooms and a creamy lemon polenta. This was still plenty hearty and filling, even if I poked around for a bit longer than I should have looking for the chicken. This dish probably felt the most "French" to me, because it was extremely rich and buttery.
The short rib was tender and juicy, but an appropriately smaller size for the three-course menu, so I didn't get to taste much of this one before it was devoured.
By the end of the night, we were both very full, so my dessert, the bête noire, came home in a to-go box. The super decadent chocolate treat was coated in a blueberry white chocolate ganache, with lemon brittle and a blueberry gastrique.
Lorèn is serving its Restaurant Week menu from 5-9 pm today, as well as from 4-9 pm on Friday and Saturday.
