When I heard they were opening in the neighborhood, I hoped for something more in line with Row 34 or ICOB where I could get a spectacular shellfish tower and leave happy. Les Sablons is definitely a different animal. The space is beautiful, relatively quiet and they are definitely aiming for fine dining.
We didn’t have a full meal at Les Sablons but rather stopped in for drinks and a few plates at the downstairs bar. Jackson was behind the bar, so the cocktails were fantastic and worth the price of admission ($14 for a negroni). We found the food to range from excellent to unremarkable. Some bites were fantastic, and some fell flat.
- Live scallop: As mentioned above delicious. I as well am a sucker for fresh live scallops.
- Seared white asparagus with anchovy and green garlic: the WHITE asparagus in this dish and accompaniments were delicious. Unfortunately, more than half of the asparagus on the plate was traditional and not white asparagus (and not nearly as tasty).
- Beets and radishes with quinoa and roasted greens: my wife who drives us to eat healthy described this as her perfect meal. I, who don’t mind healthy fare, found this dish to be very bland and under seasoned.
- King crab cocktail: delicious, but I would have required 2 portions to have enough to be satisfied.
- Oysters: they oysters were fine, however I found their selection of oysters to be trying a bit too hard to be unique in that they were purposely focusing on the smaller oysters. the east coast varieties we tried were fine, nothing special. I tend to save the west coast oysters for when I am on the west coast.
At the end of the day over $200 for a few drinks and small plates is pretty steep. I don’t mind paying for food, but I’m not willing to pay $300+ in this area for a meal that isn’t remarkable. Again, I’ll pay this at Cafe Sushi, and I’ll pay it at Tasting Counter once a year. It’s tough to think of other places in the area that justify this price point for a non business dinner. I’m glad the Harker group has their fine dining outpost, but for me the food at Les Sablons isn’t special or memorable enough to justify the price point.
