recently hosted a dinner party at Allechant in Ithaca, NY, for my daughter's bridal shower weekend…read more At the website it asks that parties over 8 please call, that it may be necessary to rent out the entire restaurant. Allechant is a small owner/chef run French Restaurant. They are only open for dinner Thursday-Sunday evenings and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. I did call and email. Patience is key, because owner/chef, Matt, is busy Thursday-Sunday at the restaurant and I'm sure the other days, he is planning, shopping, returning emails and calls. We did connect and he was just wonderful to work with. I did book the entire restaurant as our party was planned for 10-15 people. He offered several selections for entrees, appetizers and desserts for me to choose for our menu. Since I wanted to have a steak offering, he asked that make entrée selections in advance for shopping purposes. We worked out a wonderful menu. He even accommodated a wine tasting of two different flights of wines that would be offered all evening.
The evening started with glasses of champagne and socializing in the first room of the restaurant with has the bar area with a few seats and several small dinner tables. Matt had the second room set up with a large rectangular arrangement of the tables, so that our entire party could be at one table. This room adjoined the kitchen, so you could see Matt at work. After initially greeting all of us, Matt went to work and his delightful assistant served as hostess, sommelier and waitress all evening. She was positively amazing! We were pleasantly surprised to find out Matt had prepared our personal menus and placed them in the Allechant menu books. They not only made wonderful souvenirs, but it was nice to have a record of the wines we tasted.
After we were seated, we were offered the first of the wines in the white flight. What was very nice about the wine tasting, is that each taste/glass was brought out sequentially and each guest was asked if they wanted to try that wine. The appetizers started coming, and one by one the other white wines were offered for tasting. Both the gyoza and lamb meatballs were cooked perfectly, sauces were delicious. Entrees were coming when the offerings of the red wine flight started. I had the red curry salmon which was cooked to perfection, the sauce was generous and amazing and portion so large, there were leftovers. My mother had the coq au vin blanc, and said it was absolutely the best she had ever had. And those having the steak and the gnocchi raved as well. (entire menu in pictures with review). The food was incredible, portions generous and service was excellent.
Then came dessert; once again, very generous servings, perfectly prepared. It was an amazing evening. I can see why Matt asks patrons to book the entire restaurant when the party is larger. Since he is the chef, he wants to be able to prepare, serve and time every course and every entrée so that no one is waiting, everything is service at the right temperature and is cooked to perfection.
If you are looking to host a special, elegant evening in Ithaca, then Allechant is the intimate, friendly, 5-star restaurant for you.