At Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder, the food is 'tres bon'

When we planned our early March trip to Colorado, I anticipated several meals featuring either beef or lamb. Turns out, I only had lamb once in any of the restaurants where we ate. But wow! It was great.

The restaurant was Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder. We picked it based on good reviews on Trip Adviser and when we looked at the menu online, it looked very appealing. When we arrived for our 7 p.m. reservation (on a Thursday night), the place was jam packed. But our table was open and waiting for us.

When we took our seats, we worried a little about how noisy it was. We asked about another table, and in short order, a manager appeared and escorted us to another table. Now honestly, it still was quite loud. But to me it showed how committed the restaurant is to keeping its customers happy.

We ordered a round of drinks while chatting and deciding on what to eat. The top item on the cocktail menu looked good to me. It was called the Metropolis - vodka, cynar, Cointreau, and bitters. I'd never had a drink made with cynar previously. I knew that one ingredient was artichokes. That's true. But it really doesn't taste anything like artichokes. To me, the cocktail tasted like a variation on a Negroni with the cynar being the bitter alternative to Campari. Since I like Negronis very much, I enjoyed this cocktail as well.

So like I said, the menu is great. Before dinner, as we strolled along Pearl Street, when shop keepers would ask us where we planned to eat, when we said Brasserie Ten Ten, we got lots of encouraging approval for our choice and lots of advice on what to order.

My wife and I started out by splitting a 'hache' salad. Hache, I found out, is the French word for chopped, but this wasn't really like any other chopped salad I've eaten previously. This salad had shredded Brussels sprouts and chopped frizee greens topped with black currants, toasted walnuts, shaved Parmesan and dressed with a lemon vinaigrette. It was very good.

Braised lamb shank was a highlight

For my entree, I couldn't resist ordering the braised lamb shank. The meat was braised to perfection, very moist and tender, releasing effortlessly from the bone (which was decorated with a sprig of rosemary). The shank was served on vegetables, I assume from the braising liquid. On the rim of the bowl were three dollops of mustard. Wow! The mustard was very pungent and provided an excellent complement to the lamb.

My wife ordered steak frites. The steak was lean and nicely cooked. The potatoes were thin and crisp. Delicious.

Very appropriately, Brasserie Ten Ten has a good wine list populated with lots of French wines and supplemented with some very good California and Oregon wines. I ordered a Bordeaux red to go with my lamb. It was very enjoyable.

I was very pleased by our meal here and would readily recommend it to other visitors to Boulder.