East End Brasserie

Rochelle Koff12/6/2011

The Fort Lauderdale beach dining scene just got a little hotter thanks to chef Steve Zobel, whose East End Brasserie at The Atlantic Resort & Spa joins 3030 Ocean and Steak 954 as worthy draws for locals as well as tourists. Replacing Trina, which had lost its way after seven years, East End Brasserie is a new restaurant, remodeled and revamped, with a new menu concept from Zobel, the well-regarded executive chef at Manhattan’s Triomphe for 10 years. Open six weeks, the Brasserie is already impressive.

The brasserie cuisine is a bit more Provencal than Parisian, paired with a small but respectable wine list, including our $32 Terre d’Avignon Cotes du Rhone. There’s a full raw bar, artisan cheese cart and charcuterie plate. While it’s easy to splurge, particularly on lavish raw-bar tiers ($78, $135 with caviar), you won’t find the usual sky-high beach markups. The most expensive dish is a $36 beef Wellington (Saturday nights only).

Ambience: The decor is bright and casual, reflecting the French bistro theme, with red leather banquettes, teal hues, “deconstructed” French chandeliers and rustic-looking communal oak tables. And you can’t beat the sea-salty breezes on the oceanfront terrace.

What Worked

• A bread basket with homey walnut-raisin, sourdough boule or seven-grain batard served with butter flavored by truffle oil, chives, parsley and pepper
• Delicate porcini mushroom butter sauce served with a starter of perfectly seared sea scallops topped with terrine of foie gras
• A varied selection of oysters - bracing Dabob Bay, Fanny Bay and Kumamoto from the Pacific Northwest and satiny Blue Points from the East Coast
• Watermelon and tomato salad
• French onion soup
• Pan-roasted chicken livers
• Coriander-crusted rack of lamb, cooked in a port wine reduction, bursting with juices and served with prunes stuffed with foie gras terrine
• Decadent beef Wellington - a seven-ounce portion of ultra tender filet mignon slathered with mushroom duxelles and barely discernible foie gras, baked in puff pastry and served atop creamed spinach with a rich peppercorn sauce
• Moules-frites - a mound of mussels in a garlicky white wine broth
• Irresistible skinny fries
• Mustard-crusted lane snapper with braised white beans and sautéed spinach
• Gemelli pasta in a deeply flavored sauce blending chanterelles, criminis, hedgehog, a whisper of truffle oil and a dusting of Parmesan cheese
• Beets in ginger cream sauce
• Thinly sliced, caramelized brussels sprouts
• Creamsicle crème brûlée brightened by orange zest
• Elegant dark chocolate mousse bombe garnished with a tiny gold leaf, a hazelnut chocolate crunch and coffee ice cream