the Little Chalet - Boca Raton

The Little Chalet Restaurant in Downtown Boca Raton is a Sophisticated Experience

Aptly named for its decor and personality of the staff and food. We really felt comfortable upon arrival, as if we was in Switzerland all-be-it, a bit warmer weather. Once inside, it is very warm and charming. The atmosphere is classy, the bar area is cozy and the drinks are well made with a great selection of wines and spirits. At the bar we ordered the house specialty, a Whistle Pig Fig Old Fashioned. This well-crafted imbibement is concocted with Whistle Pig 10 Year Bourbon, Fee Brothers Angostura bitters, muddled fig jam and orange slice served on the rocks garnished with orange peel and filthy cherry. Ahhhhh... an awesome start.

We then moved to our table for dinner and first sampled a variety of appetizers - nice plates with awesome presentation. The Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Chorizo sausage and beets were amazing. As enjoyable, were the Pan Seared Scallops with lima bean succotash, crispy pancetta, lemon jalapeno butter. Lots of flavors to enjoy. The fresh bread and olive oil dipping sauce was delicious as well.

For the main course, they delivered a Bone in Filet served with crisp potatoes, Syrah sauce, Maitake mushroom tempura. The filet was cooked perfect medium (just the way I like it), to the bone and throughout the filet. Our table also tried the [huge] Braised Short Ribs - featuring fall-off-the-bone meat with goat cheese smashed potatoes, beef gravy, wild mushrooms were cooked to perfection. Another table favorite was the Confit of Duck Leg, cauliflower puree, broccoli rabe, port & cherry sauce, fried duck egg. Generally, I am not a duck fan but I will say, this was exquisite... We agreed that the dinner experience was great and next visit I would venture to try the Sea Bass or Faroe Island Salmon which had great presentations.

They provided a nice desert fondue that included a variety of sweet flavors and treats - milk and dark chocolate, peanut butter, S'mores, cookies and cream and for dipping lots of fresh fruit and assorted sweets for dipping.

Overall it was a great culinary experience. They offer much more of a selection of house and menu specialties than we can present in this review. The management and staff are friendly, involved and provide exceptional, impeccable service. We would recommend you try out this place.

In additional to all that, they have a pianist (Richard) playing live in the bar area, and his music can be heard over speakers through-out the restaurant at a very nice level of volume adding to the ambiance. He may wander around the restaurant on break and stop by to say 'hi' at your table. And does take requests.

The Little Chalet can be found at 485 S Federal Hwy., Boca Raton, FL 33432 - For reservations - (561) 325-8000. Their menu and more information can be found on their web site, http://www.thelittlechalet.com