By Audrey Elwood, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Colette is a self-described “mostly French” concept restaurant nestled on the outskirts of Washington Park. With exquisite food and a fancy environment, it lives up to the hype.

Colette is the date night restaurant in Cincinnati. While there is no possible way you can get reservations for Valentine’s Day at this point, so make sure to keep it on your radar. Your date will love the food—maybe even more than they love you. 

I made a reservation around three weeks ahead. We could not get anything on Valentine’s weekend, so we settled for a weekend ahead. The location is good, as there is a parking garage under the park, which makes it convenient, quick, and easy to get there from Xavier.

We were quickly seated in a romantic two-seater by a window, with a tealight placed in the center. The most important thing quickly became, not my date, but the view of the kitchen. Colette has open seating, in which you can see its small but mighty kitchen. I was able to see my whole course forged right in front of my eyes. This gave the atmosphere of a Parisian grandmother’s kitchen, rather than a well-oiled machine.

We ordered all our courses at once, which I would normally hate. However, the timing between the dishes made me fully able to enjoy my meal. We ordered their bread-and-butter service; the butter supposedly comes from a hand-selected twelve cows (which may be a myth, but I want to believe it’s true). The bread was chewy, forming a paste in your mouth while retaining its flavor. The butter was good, however, it was served cold, which made it hard to spread.  However, it had the exact right amount of salt to make its flavor shine.

The star of the show and my favorite dish, was the Brandade de Morue: whipped cod spread with brown butter and…Trout roe? Now, I am not one for bulbous toppings — I hate boba and peas—but the roe was spectacular. The base of the dish, the whipped cod, had the consistency of mashed potatoes, but with more salt and more butter. It made for a great mouthfeel while giving you the needed flavor. 

Keeping with the seafood theme, I ordered the Icelandic cod, their most ordered dish. I grew up in a fishing family, so I am very particular about my fish, and cod is my favorite. This was cooked to perfection and melt-in-your-mouth buttery. The crispy brioche on the top added a texture depth that was unique—almost a crunch.  

The sauce was very creamy and included a dash of caviar. I am uneducated when it comes to caviar, but I couldn’t really discern its flavor, so it added very little. The sauce itself had a white wine sort of zing, and umami from the shallot. This made it worth it with the cod. I tried to like the kale in the dish, however,  cruciferous veggies and I sometimes have a hard time. I ended up leaving most of the kale untouched and had a problem getting down the parts I did eat. 

“My ravioli was good; I like how it was served as a full sheet and not in pieces,” sophomore math and economics major Andrew Schmidt said. “The filling was very cheesy and rich, but I wish there was more in terms of the size of the dish.”

The final round was dessert. I am chocolate obsessed, so of course I ordered the chocolate mousse. I was expecting a consistent texture, but it was layered. The fluffiest mousse on the top and the middle and bottom layers increasing in richness as you go down. While all the layers were good, the bottom was simply too rich for me to conquer. I skimmed the top and the crunch. This is a dessert for two, so bring a buddy willing to scarf it down with you.