Orsay. A Dining Experience.

[undergroundgourmet]

Wonder if there are local sources of Beef, Chicken and Pork?

Stephen - try out the site www.localharvest.org
You will find all kinds of local products. Some of these vendors you can find at the beaches farmers market on Saturdays 2-5 (Jarboe? Park) and then in Fernandina 9am-1pm on Saturdays also. The best markets!

[David]

This thread's motivated me to give Orsay a try. StephElf, you're my guide!

[stephElf]

I can't wait till Saturday!  The pear martini, cheese plate, escargot and duck breast is calling meeeeeee!   

[Kay]

Darn it!  I was there for brunch on Sunday but only today saw Brian's offer.  Another time.

[iluvolives]

I was there on Saturday night...right after the crazy storm and just after they got electricity back on. I bought tickets for the Mixology Contest they are hosting next Monday. Sounds pretty cool- 15$ a ticket which includes drinks and apps. It's from 6-9:30 on the 28th- not sure whether or not they still have available tickets, but should be a fun time.

[Brian Siebenschuh]

Happy hour details (we call it "cocktail hour" for marketing purposes, but if you guys are calling it happy hour and it's denoted on the kitchen printers with an 'HH', let's call a spade a spade, shall we?)

4PM - 7PM Tuesday thru Saturday in the lounge, we offer a selection of our signature cocktails and wines by the glass, as well as standard cocktails featuring house-infused spirits, at a discount - the selection changes regularly and cocktails run 5 to 7 bucks.  House wines are three dollars a glass for your choice of sparkling, white, rose, or red and, as stated previously, this is real wine.  Draft beers are half price.  And we offer a menu of small, shareable plates - artisanal cheeses, beef tenderloin tartare, roasted oysters with Berkshire bacon, sauteed calamari with tomato and nicoise olives, plus our full battery of raw oysters, generally featuring selections from the gulf (get 'em while you can), the Pacific Northwest, and the Eastern seaboard.  Proper dinner service begins at five, so if you start in the lounge with a couple drinks and small plates but decide to stay for dinner, the drink pricing carries through all the way until 7PM.

In response to stephendare's comment about the local food event...

We did put on a farm to table dinner a few weeks ago in partnership with the First Coast chapter of Slow Food International - Cari published a great write-up for the RAP blog, which I'm sure you're all capable of finding without me including a link.  There's a great variety of local food available in North Florida - some of it takes more effort to get, and some of it you can't miss.  If corn (or strawberries, or blueberries, or watermelon) is suddenly all over the place at your local Publix and it's dirt cheap, it's probably local(ish) and as fresh as you're bound to ever get it - unless you're putting on a locally themed 12 course dinner for 85 people and you tell the guys at Black Hog Farm you want them to harvest the stuff in the early afternoon and speed it up to Avondale for service that night - the butter poached corn on the cob was one of the highlights of that dinner.  Get on the mailing list for Slow Food First Coast if you're interested in knowing more about locally produced fruits, vegetables, and meat...

[BridgeTroll]

Brian... Just want to say I really enjoy your posts.  In addition to being a fan of Orsay... I learn something new from every one of your postings!

[billy]

next event?

[Dog Walker]

Groan!  More food porn!  Just finished breakfast and hungry again reading Brian's posts.

[ChriswUfGator]

I'm glad to see this! There is nowhere to eat on Sundays in Jacksonville, except for the chain restaurants that we don't have in Riverside. It must be a throwback to some religious ideals, but everything is closed. Having a local place open on Sundays will sure be nice.

[ricker]

top tier service. derishus eats everytime!
I miss the valet service from the days of crush.
boofrickity-hoo, right? it IS a tiny gripe, I know.
wit, charm, AND humor with a talent in the hotline!?
you'll steal my woman if I'm not very careful.
see you again soon.

[fieldafm]

Dear Orsay,
You rock!

Signed,
Mike Field(aka fieldafm)

[Brian Siebenschuh]

Hey, thanks!  We all work hard, so it's always nice to hear that people enjoy the place.  Since the thread got bumped, I might as well do some marketing while I'm here :-)

We're open all day on Sunday now, so brunch from 11AM - 4PM (the best brunch in town according to Jacksonville Magazine, and me), cocktail hour from 4PM - 7PM with a limited menu from 4 - 5, and full dinner service from 5PM - 9PM.  We're also doing a cool thing with some specials on Sunday nights.  The idea started as a 3 course prix fixe for thirty bucks, the idea being that it would be whatever I felt like making, as long as it strayed from our French bistro concept.  Vietnamese, Thai, amped up retro throwbacks to stuff my mom made, etc.  But I have the most fun cooking Vietnamese, and the Vietnamese menus have gotten a lot of positive feedback, and - in my opinion - the food we're putting out is awesome.  So it's kind of become Vietnamese Sunday.

The full Orsay menu is available, too, of course, and there might be other off the menu specials that are more in keeping with our usual style.  Like tomorrow, time permitting, we'll run a repeat of a dish we made for the first time yesterday - an updated Beef Wellington, if you will - puff pastry stuffed with braised short ribs, Oregon chanterelles, and foie gras, sauced tableside with a reduction of the braising liquid that I threw a couple handfuls of sliced black truffle into.

The Vietnamese menu tomorrow is a Berkshire pork and roasted lobster broth with tofu, wild caught Georgia shrimp, tomato and some fresh herbs (I make some of this up as we go on Sunday afternoon).  Then bun (cold rice noodles) with caramelized pork, carrot, cucumber, cilantro, mint, nuoc cham, etc.  And star anise and Vietnamese cinnamon creme brulee.  Made the broth for the soup and a marinade for the pork today, and everything's shaping up to be pretty outstanding.