Would you ever pay $38 for bread and butter? What if it was really, really … really good? We know that even something simple can be bougie. Celebrity chef Ina Garten likes to top her morning toast with a flavorful French butter that runs $35 per pound or more. Even so, seeing bread and butter on a restaurant menu with a price tag nearing $40 is enough to drop one’s jaw — and make one curious.
At Quality Bistro, the item is called Butter Service Garni. It’s a literal mountain of butter in a crock, which is taken and spread onto a marble serving vessel alongside bread and various other accompaniments. It’s couched under a section titled “Les Snacks” on the dinner menu and under the heading “Pour La Table” on the lunch roster (the category is simply “For the Table” at brunchtime.
“We were inspired by Restaurant Allard in Paris, which has a huge mound of butter under a glass dome in their dining room,” said Chef Craig Koketsu, Chef Partner at Quality Branded. “We wanted our guests to experience the awe and delight of seeing a large vat of homemade butter roll up to the table. And we complemented the butter with all the things we love to eat it with.”
As one would expect for such a flashy price, this bread and butter is anything but ordinary. An astounding amount of upscale butter and hearty slices of artisan bread are the feature pieces of a unique and lavish culinary experience.
Quality Bistro’s Butter Service Garni is the rich granddaddy of bread and butter
The star of the platter is that ritzy whipped butter. It’s made using cream from the award-winning Battenkill Valley Creamery in Salem, New York, and yogurt cultures are incorporated for over-the-top richness and tang. The vehicle for the main component is Filone bread from NYC’s famous Sullivan Street Bakery. The bread itself is a white sourdough coated with wheat bran, touted on the bakery’s website as having “mature fermentation” and “deep seductive, slightly tart caramel flavors and a buttery interior.”
Various garnishes accompany the bread and butter. The server prepares the butter tableside with toppings like shallots, piment d’espelette (a hot and fruity chili powder), fleur de sel, and freshly cracked black pepper. To the side are things like jambon cuit (French for “cooked ham”), watercress, radishes, and cornichons (those little French pickles).
If you’re looking for a sweeter experience, the restaurant also offers a birthday buttercream service for dessert. For a brunchy twist on bread and a healthy heaping of dairy, check out the cream cheese service with bagels.
While the spread is certainly fancy (and restaurant butter does always taste better), is it worth the eye popping price? Visitors to the restaurant seem to think so. Commenters online call it “incredible” and the “best bread and butter [they]’ve ever had,” stating, “the experience justified the cost.”
