Pascal & Sabine- Asbury Park, NJ
French cuisine comes to the Jersey Shore! Pascal & Sabine is a real hit that resides on Bangs Ave. in Asbury. This restaurant stands out in the up and coming town, and I promise you that there is no other comparable place within Asbury that offers unique, quality food and a chic, adult ambiance. This place is a MUST!
Both their Sunday brunch and dinner menu is off the hook. Here is a quick synopsis for brunch which will be followed by dinner. Of course I drink the mimosas regularly at brunch, but I ventured out here to have their bellinis as well. Both very good! Paul enjoys their bloody marys and sometimes even ventures into their liquor options. Drinks are great; no complaints here! On to food! The very first time we went, we started off with the $25 cheese plate. This is no longer on their brunch menu and is only available on the dinner menu. Please bring back the cheese plate for brunch! The variety of cheeses includes full servings of all the cheeses on their menu which includes a goat cheese, sheep’s milk cheese, cow’s cheese, and a bleu cheese in simple terms. It is so awesome! If you go for dinner and appreciate cheese, get this plate. I promise you will not be disappointed. All of the bakery items on the brunch menu are great as well. The sea salt and sesame croissant is my favorite, but the plain croissant and pain au chocolat croissant are perfectly made as well. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
The entrees we have experienced at Pascal & Sabine in our multiple visits were all very good and the presentation on the plate was very clean and unique looking. If you are in the mood for a breakfast sandwich, I would suggest the croquet madame, which is ham, fried egg, sauce mornay on sliced ciabatta. Wow, it is delicious! My only complaint is that it took me a little longer to eat and the ciabatta was a little tough to bite into while keeping the rest of the sandwich neat and together. Maybe that’s just me… But the sandwich was awesome. Paul also likes the croquet monsieur, which is the same as the croquet madame minus the fried egg. I’ve also had the dippy eggs, which is a light option if you are eating a lot of appetizers. They are soft boiled eggs with pieces of pointed toast that you can use for dipping. The country omellete du jour is very good as well and comes with brioche toast. So many good items on this menu!
All of the desserts we have had are very tasty, but the one that stands out to me is the milk chocolate pot de crème, which has caramel and sea salt. All of those flavors combined are pure heaven. This one is very popular. The creme brulee is also great.
The atmosphere here is adorable. You walk in and to the left is the bar and to the right by the hostess stand is an area that looks like a quaint library. There are tables and comfortable couches and another smaller drink and espresso bar. It is a really cute area to sit for a drink pre or post brunch. Behind this area is the dining area. It is a little on the small side, but the elegant booths and ambiance makes up for that. To me, the place doesn’t look kid friendly, but I don’t think you would want to bring your kid to dine here anyway.
For dinner, we started off with the cheese plate and a bottle of La Ferme de Suzon 2013, a red wine from the Rhone Valley. The cheese plate was phenomenal as always! We had an apricot jam and honey to go along with the bleu cheese, creamy goat’s milk cheese, cow’s milk cheese, and sheep’s milk cheese in simplistic terms. They were all delicious. You can get the cheeses separate for $7 each, but I recommend the plate for $25. For our appetizers, Paul had the French onion soup and I had the oak leaf salad. The French onion soup was perfectly made. You could taste every flavor within the soup and the swiss cheese was perfectly melted. The oak leaf salad had a shallot vinaigrette with chives and tarragon. It had the perfect amount of dressing and the vinaigrette was perfectly flavored. You could taste the oak like taste very faintly after each bite.
For my entrée, I had the coq au vin, which is chicken legs stewed in red wine with mushrooms, pearl onions, and bacon with a pomme puree (mashed potatoes). It was very flavorful. I actually loved the mashed potatoes! The chicken was perfectly cooked and the sauce was excellent. The chicken is still on the bone though so don’t expect it in any other form. The escargot is great as well. Paul had the steak frites. While the steak was not filet mignon grade, it was angus pan-seared bavette steak and was just as good, tender, and savory as filet mignon. The French fries were hand-cut and perfectly seasoned as well. They were the type of fries that were a little darker on the outside and have that perfectly salty and natural potato taste, and they are addicting! Also, the veggie burger is something that is amazing, yet simple if you’re not in the mood for something too over the top!
For dessert, I had the milk chocolate pot de crème. This was milk chocolate gelato like consistency (but actually just cream) topped with salted caramel. The salted caramel was delicious and very rich, and I would’ve been happy just eating the top of this dessert. Paul of course got the crème Brule, which he stated was one of the best he ever had, made with bourbon vanilla bean. We were so full by this point, but these desserts were worth it. Our dinners here since this first time have been consistently wonderful.
I want to mention Pascal & Sabine offers a prix fixe menu all night Mondays and 4-6PM Tuesday-Thursday. Their happy hour is great as well. You won’t be disappointed.
