Joey mentioned to me that he was interested in trying Chateau Lamothe in Burnsville. Well known for its highly rated wine list, we did the restaurant absolutely no justice by sticking to water. A cozy and family run restaurant, this location pokes its head out from behind several suburban hotels and is buffered by an entrance ramp to I-35 right across from Nicollet Ave in Burnsville. We’d heard many good things about the place including that it was a near diamond in the rough and really brought something special to an area which was generally devoid of any similar dining options prior to Porter Creek Hardwood Grill.

Chateau Lamothe really rolls out the red carpet for its guests and provides everyone with a great overview of the menu, special care to explain the history behind their most famous dishes, and even delivers water in a festive holiday pitcher apparently dug from the depths of the chef’s home one winter night. All wonderful touches which make any restaurant a nice place to escape for an evening.

I ordered what was sold to me as one of Julia Child’s most famous dishes–Boeuf Bourguignon. A classic meal which Oprah’s website proclaims, “one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man,” sounded like the absolute best entree on the eve of, “the worst snow storm since the famed Halloween Blizzard of 1991.” Seriously, what isn’t to like when a dish contains bacon, beef, and red wine? This dish had me nearly foaming at the mouth prior to its arrival at the table. Clearly I had been looking forward to this meal for weeks as I always enjoy an evening out with my lovely wife and good friends while The Rooster squawks angrily at someone else for a few hours.

After dinner we went home and flipped through the Netflix streaming queue. About a week before I blindly added Julie and Julia based on a quick recommendation from a Netflix streaming aggregator site. I knew nothing about the movie aside from the fact that it was about Julia Child. Turns out it’s about a blogger who spends a year going through Julia Child’s famous cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking recreating the recipes and writing about her experiences. At one point near the end of the movie a woman who was reading over a copy of Julia’s recipes to determine its publishing worth decided to cook Boeuf Bourguignon at home. After tasting it she was nearly brought to her knees–a feeling which I myself have experienced a few times and, like any addict, wish to repeat time and time again…always searching for a better high.

So Chateau Lamothe’s large and steaming bowl of Boeuf Bourguignon arrives at the table. Simple enough with whole mushrooms, bright and fresh green peas poking out from behind potatoes and carrots, and a hunk of crusty bread just begging to receive a hearty dunking in the stew. Their recreation of Julia Child’s famous dish did not bring me to my knees and unfortunately while all of the ingredients were there and done correctly, it just lacked something I was unable to put a finger on. The meat was extremely tender but not to the point of falling apart, the potatoes were perfectly cooked and the mushrooms had just the right texture. Unfortunately it all tasted the same–like many of the stews I make each winter and somehow fail to execute properly. While they were trying very hard and were clearly interested in closing the feedback loop as the server, one of the owners, and even the chef came out of the kitchen to ask us how everything was, I was left at a loss for words. While it was fine, it wasn’t worth the $19 I paid for it.

But even so there were some bright spots. My friends both had excellent soups. The lobster bisque was a smooth, creamy and hearty concoction which brought kudos from Joey. His wife’s French onion soup, while not served exactly how you see it everywhere else, was hearty and full of what she proclaimed were the most perfectly sized onions for the soup. My wife’s pork and Joey’s wife’s Beef Wellington were both cooked to perfection.

However the misses kept on rolling in. My wife’s carrots and wild rice were missing any distinctive flavors. Everyone complained that the potatoes were bland and without salt and pepper available on our table, or any table in our immediate area for that matter, there was little hope for improvement. A half tomato covered in cheese adorned the sides of the ladies’ plates and was just as ho-hum as the rest. Everyone seemed to agree that a simple shrug of the shoulders would suffice to explain the experience. This would have been fine if the average cost per entree hadn’t been $24.

While there were some hits and some misses, the evening ended on a great note with homemade peanut butter cookies delivered to the table with the love and affection that the rest of the food had been. The food may have not been as wonderful as we all had made it out to be in our heads but Joey noted that at least it was better than anything you would ever be served across the street at Chianti Grill.

Address:
Chateau Lamothe
14351 Nicollet Ct
Burnsville, MN 55306-4574

Phone:
952-435-7709

See all the pictures from Chateau Lamothe on Flickr here.

Following some recent searches on Google and the site, I did some digging and found out the Majors, a long time restaurant holding at the corner of CR-42 and Galaxie is now closed in Apple Valley. Owned by Premier Restaurant Group who also owns Stella’s Fish Cafe and the Molly Cool’s Seafood Tavern chain, this location had been open for at least four years but couldn’t compete with the likes of newcomer Wild Bill’s Sports Saloon.

After seeing the searches I checked their website which is empty, their Facebook page which you can still access via Facebook search (and which is riddled with spam and has been completely unused since 2009) but accessing directly just gives you a redirect back to your main page, and their phone which was only being answered by their answering machine. I sent me wife out to check the building which was indeed closed up tight on a Friday afternoon at lunch time.

Notes on the door include:

Out of business.

Apple Valley fundraiser canceled, sorry. No notice was given. Arrived and doors were locked.

Note retirement party for Judy moved to Enjoy!

There was an important notice from Dakota Electric slid under the door but being that there were lights on inside and their answering machine picked up it appears they still have their electricity on.

I recently spoke with a local restaurant owner who mentioned that Majors Sports Cafe was not doing well with the direct competition from sports bar juggernaut Wild Bill’s. Rumor has it that Wild Bill’s is so successful that they plan to open several new locations around the metro soon. I was told Maple Grove was one of those locations. My calls to Wild Bill’s about their expansion plans, if any, were not returned.

What do you think about Majors Sports Cafe closing? It was the most successful restaurant to open up in that keystone space in the Fischer Market Place right across from the Apple Valley mayor’s home office? What positive spin will she deliver on this closure? What restaurant would you like to see take over that cavernous space? Whatever you have to say about Majors in Apple Valley closing go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.