Sage of Ft. Lauderdale: they say they have the #1 best selling duck. There’s good reason.
We had gone to Sage, a French restaurant on route 1 near the Whole Foods. We recall that the Coq Au Vin and the bouillabaisse was quite good, but the latter had too much saffron in it which overwhelmed the dish.
Now a few years later, we went back. We figured it was time to give it another chance. And while the service was contradictory (the waitress was delightful, fun, smart, informed, but the wait between the appetizers and main course was nearly 30 minutes with no explanation which is borderline unforgivable), the food, especially the entrees were very very good.
The appetizers, while good were eclipsed by the entrees. We had a Caesar salad, above average, and buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, sprinkled with a light balsamic drizzle. Good, but better was to come…after a long wait.
Now, when we reviewed the menu, they had several duck dishes; I am a lover of duck and believe it is hard to do well, so to me, it is a test of a chef and kitchen. The main duck dish had next to it “#1 best selling duck in Florida” which I found hilarious and ultimately stupid. How did best selling equate to best tasting? It seemed so…retail. So we ordered it. The other entree was a special, rack of lamb.
The duck, when it finally found our table, was perhaps one of the best we have ever had; and to be clear, we have ordered duck from Paris to New York, San Francisco to Hong Kong, and this was the best. The skin was incredibly crispy and this had burnt off the excess fat that usually mars a duck breast. It was, as duck should be, cooked through but not dry — another difficult feat. Ok, the #1 best selling was in the mark.
The other entree, the rack of lamb, was perfectly done, slightly pink sitting atop a sweet potato mash. Perfectly prepared, but what made it was the dipping sauce, which when we asked, was a brown sauce with raspberry. Sweet but not. The waitress commented she used it by the gallon and fooled friends telling them she made it. The sauce was unique and added an extra something to the perfectly prepared lamb.
Sage…if they get the timing right, a great meal.
#sageofftlauderdale, #ftlauderdaledining, #floridadining, #floridafinefood
#frenchfood
Outspoken Traveler 