[Newport Beach] [French] Tradition by Pascal

Tradition by Pascal
1000 N Bristol St
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 263-9400
http://www.pascalnewportbeach.com

Is it just me, or there are way more "restaurant weeks" this year?  Orange County Restaurant Week, Los Angeles Restaurant Week, now the city of Newport Beach also have their own restaurant week.  I love restaurant week.  We get to try new places with great prices.  After looking through the restaurant menus, I picked Tradition by Pascal to try.  I like restaurants that offer other than soup and salad as their first course.



The restaurant is located in a plaza near the intersection of Jamboree and Bristol.  There is a smaller cafe also named Pascal right next door.  I think the cafe offers bread, salad, sandwiches, and coffee.  It wasn't open when we were there, so I am assuming the cafe only opens during the day.




The restaurant wasn't too big.  There were two servers, two busboys, and one host working.  We saw the host turning away a lot of people without reservation.



I looked over the regular menu on their website.  Their entrees normally cost about $27~32 already.  So $30 for 3 course dinner is definitely a steal.


Bread and Olive Spread

Our meal started with some sweet bread with olive spread.  The olive spread was delicious!  I had 3 pieces of bread because of the spread.


House Pinot Noir ($13.00)

Dr. P ordered a glass of House Pinot Noir for us to share.  The waitress split the glass for us.  The wine was warm with a hint of spiciness.


Bread and Butter

More bread!  The bread with walnut was yummy.  I had two more pieces of bread.


Assiette de Charcuterie ($16.00)
Saucisson, Duck Prosciutto, Homemade Country Pate, Pork Rillette, Cornichons and Caramelized Onions

The first appetizer was Assiette de Charcuterie.  (I have included the original price on the menu for reference.)  Notice there were even more bread!  I enjoyed everything on the plate, especially the duck proscuitto and pork rillette.  I was good and only had 1 bread this time.


Escargot Cassolette "Christine" ($14.00)
with Toasted Pine Nuts, Raisins, & Garlic Butter

Escargot Cassolette "Christine" smelt soooo good!  Love the aroma of garlic and butter.  Yes, this dish also came with some bread, or toast more precisely.  The escargot was delicious.  We love the garlic butter sauce with pine nuts and raisins.  So.... I had one more piece of bread because it just tasted so good when dipped in the sauce.


Sauteed Beef Tendorloin Bordelaise ($32.00)
with Potato Gratin and Broccolini

One of the entrees we ordered was Sauteed Beef Tendorloin Bordelaise.  It costs $5 extra, and it was totally worth it.  It came with a side of potato gratin and broccolini.  The potato was cooked perfectly.  It was creamy and delicious.  The broccolini was seasoned to perfection.  It had that grill flavor to it.  So good!



And that piece of beef tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium, still slightly pink in the center.  The meat was juicy, tender, and full of flavor.  The shallot red wine sauce was super delicious as well.


Provencal Seafood Bouillabaisse ($28.00)
Steamed Bass & Seafood in Spicy Saffron & Tomato Broth (Clams, Mussels, Shrimp, Squid, Bass)

Provencal Seafood Bouillabaisse was the most popular dish of the night.  Every table had at least one person ordering this dish.  I haven't had too many Bouillabaisse before, but Dr. P has.  Bouillabaisse is one of his favorite dishes so he's tried it in many many different restaurants.  He said this was the best bouillabaisse he's ever had.  There were a lot of seafood in the broth, clams, mussels, shrimp, scallop, squid, and fish.  My favorite was definitely the bass.  The broth was too good.  I drank it, but that wasn't enough.  I couldn't resist and had another piece of bread.   Bread dipping in spicy saffron and tomato seafood broth was the best!


Dipping Sauce

The bouillabaisse came with a dipping sauce for the seafood.  It wasn't mustard.  It was more like a hollandaise sauce.  Love this sauce even though we had no idea what it was.



Service was a bit slow, but it is like that in all the French restaurant I've been to.  They never rush you even when the restaurant is super busy.  I noticed a "bell" on our table at this point.  I was like, "Hey Dr. P, look!  They have a bell on the table so you can call the waiter if you need something.  It's like those Korean restaurants with the bell button on the table.  How cool is that?"  I got really excited for a minute.  Then the busboy came to clear our table for dessert.  He took the "bell" and put it on top of the butter.  So... turned out that it wasn't a bell, just the cover for butter.  I am a dumbo!



For dessert, we got to choose anything we want from their regular dessert menu.



Or we can choose 3 cheeses for a cheese plate.


Small French Press Coffee ($4.75)

Dr. P ordered a coffee to go with dessert.  It was a very good French pressed coffee.  We both like the coffee a lot.


Cheese Plate

We ordered a cheese plate.  Dr. P picked the cheeses and I don't remember the names except blue cheese.  The blue cheese was very strong, and Dr. P loves it.  I like the soft creamy cheese with white crust.  The other cheese tasted kind of like a parmesan cheese.  All three were pretty good.  You see that basket of bread that came with the cheese plate?  Yes, more bread.  I had one more.


Warm Tarte Tatin ($10.00)
With a Strawberry and Champagne Shot

We also ordered Warm Tarte Tatin from their regular dessert menu.  We didn't really know what Tarte Tatin was and asked our waitress. She said it is an apple tart pastry that is cooked upside down in brown sugar so it is caramelized.  Sounded good to me, and it was!  The tatin came out hot, and it wasn't too sweet.  The warm cooked apple was delicious.  It also came with a strawberry and champagne shot and a piece of white chocolate.  The shot was made with fresh strawberry.  It was a little sour after I had the tatin.  Maybe I should've drink the shot before the tatin?



What a delicious dinner!  We just love all the food we had.  So glad we found this restaurant because of Newport Beach restaurant week.  10 pieces of bread later, I was beyond full, very happy, and very satisfied!



Dr. P's facial expression showed exactly how we felt!  haha....  We love Tradition by Pascal!  Definitely will be back again.  I highly highly recommend to try this restaurant this week for the Restaurant Week special!

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