Chez Norbert (5/31/1983)

Monday, May 30, 1983

Found a 6-leaf clover on my way back from Stern im Ried.

Six-leaf clover

Marsha C and her parents arrived back in Biel today. Marsha came down to help out at aerobics! I was invited to have salad and raclette with them, and Mr. C also had pork chops.

Tuesday, May 31, 1983

Elisabeth J showed Marsha C a notice on the wall of the CP Station, announcing that Jan B had been made the chief P.T. I had assumed Elisabeth knew about it, since she was working that week, while both Marsha and I were gone. But Elisabeth learned about even after I did, and only by having read the notice! We got ourselves worked up, since we were the most effected by the decision but were the last to know about it. And then to learn about it from a notice on the wall!

I was invited to go out to dinner with Marsha C and her parents. I was very surprised to hear we were going to Chez Norbert in Saint-Blaise near Neuchâtel. It is the second best restaurant in all of Switzerland, according to the Gault et Millau restaurant guide, which gave it 15/20 points, good for two toques or stars.

Chez Norbert brochure front and back

Chez Norbert brochure inside

We got all dressed up and left at 19:30 to drive along the Bielersee/Lake Biel. We arrived on the dot at 20:00, Marsha told the maître d’ in German that we had a reservation, but he heard the rest of us speaking English, and spoke to us in English. We were seated under a framed golden key given to the restaurant on May 19, 1983 by Gault & Millau. The linen tablecloth and napkins embroidered with the name, and real silverware are sure signs of a good restaurant. The front area had a ceiling made with Chianti bottle bottoms and straw mats. Our area had a plain Swiss painted ceiling.

We decided on the 45 CHF/$22 Petit Menu, except for Mr. C who went with the 65 CHF/$32 menu. Marsha asked for wine recommendations, and we started with a chilled white Neuchâtel wine. Mr. C did the wine tasting, and after everyone was served we had a toast. I had my sip, but later Marsha finished my wine for me. A girl came with a basket of rolls, and the girls each took a poppy seed roll. Mr. C took a darker roll, that he claimed was chocolate and was better than ours! There was a round china butter tub on the table. The waiter brought the “whet your appetites” of a small Petri dish of marinated mushrooms. Yum! Everything was so exquisitely done, The service surpassed any other restaurant I have ever been to. Mr. Cotter was served his Tartare de saumon, accompanied by two tiny round toasts wrapped in a napkin on its own plate. The food was always on a plate or in a bowl sitting on a doily on another plate. The chopped raw salmon (we all had a taste!) appeared to be in a tartar mayonnaise. Then we were served soup; the girls’ cream of ratatouille came in bowls with tops. Two waiters set down the bowls, and on the count of three they lifted all three tops and took them away. Mr. C got a ceramic cup of cream of endive soup, that tasted like a chowder and had pomegranate seeds/fruits floating in it. Our next course was served with funny flat spoons. Mr. C got a little ceramic pot with chunks of rabbit, and the rest of us got agnolotti/like ravioli in a cream sauce. Meanwhile they had changed to a red wine from France, which came in a bottle chained into an iron holder. Now Mr. C was given a small scoop of sherbet covered with poppy seeds in a neat goblet where the top was cut at an angle. More rolls were served to us with tongs from the girl’s basket. Now for the main course! Mr. C had a butterflied lamb chop and a side dish of a few grins of rice in a folded crêpe. We all had side salads. Marsha had a rabbit leg (looked like a fat chicken leg), and Mrs. C and I had thin slices of veal in a light sauce. We each had two round slices of Tartalettes du Mais/cornmeal tarts that were a gluey consistency of dumplings. We had a long time between courses, all the better to make room for the next!

The group at the back of the restaurant had a huge fish, which the waiter then skinned and filleted in front of them before serving it, along with several bottles of wine followed by champagne. Several of the tables had the cognac cart wheeled up so they could choose from a wide array of bottles. The table at the back bought several whole bottles from the cognac cart. They also were offered cigars, and they bought not just a couple boxes, but a plastic case of them! That group went outside for fresh air after the first round of cognac.

The chef, Norbert Ziörjen, came through to greet everyone, and later came out to visit with people he knew. As he sat at one table, when the waiter poured the cognac to the marked line, the chef added a dash more!

The cheese cart came for Mr. C, and the choice of cheeses was diminishing and were widely spread out with a couple pears and a few bunches of grapes. We teased that we should ask the waiter for a pear. Mr. C chose Gruyère, gorgonzola, and brie (which he gave to Marsha). The waiter then offered him grapes, and cut them from the bunch with tiny scissors! Later we did see a man get a pear. The waiter cut it for him and gave him a quarter of it.

Dessert was two scoops of sherbet, one lemon and one grapefruit, served in great sorbet goblets. Mr. C got the surprise dessert, which was a strawberry purée with three whole strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The Cs all had coffee, and we shared the petit fours: four tiny cookies and four rolled pizzelles. It was 23:00 when we got the bill, a whopping 320 CHF/$160! The surprises were the red wine at 65 CHF/$32 (the white was 29 CHF/$14) and the tiny bottles of Henniez were 4 CHF/$2 each! (You can get a liter of Henniez for 50 Rappen/25 cents!) Mr. C asked for matchbooks, and was given 5 match boxes, plus four brochures on the restaurant. When we got up to leave the waiter and chef came over to shake our hands and say goodbye. We drove home fully sated! Marsha’s parents headed home the next day.