I visited Bonsoiree for the first time for a Valentine’s Day dinner two years ago. It was an eight-course meal – and it was truly amazing. And the restaurant was BYO, which made it even more amazing because that makes enjoying fine dining so much more affordable. I’d never experienced a fine dining restaurant that was BYO before boinsoree. At the time, the unassuming little restaurant was brand new – but Jeff and I knew we had stumbled upon something great.
Since then, Bonsoiree has been awarded a Michelin star and has received hordes of accolades from local press, as well as reviewers on Yelp (4.5 stars) and Open Table. Consequently, you now have to make reservations months in advance if you want to dine there on a Friday or Saturday. The tiny but elegant spot has a max of 17 tables, which also contributes to the difficulty in securing a reservation. But once you’re in, you’ll know it was worth it. The space is beautiful. The lines are simple and clean, the décor is minimalist without being stark. Creativity, an eye for the aesthetic and attention to detail is reflected in all aspects of the experience: from the space itself to different kinds of dinnerware on which the various courses are served.On Sundays, you commit to four or seven courses and the menu is fixed. Always. However, the host calls a couple of days prior to your reservation to see if you have any dietary restrictions or allergies – and if you do, they are happy to make accommodations and tailor your menu accordingly. Jeff and I kept it real and committed to the seven-course menu. (We didn’t realize that the courses for these two meals are not necessarily the same, but you should be aware that they may be. We thought that the seven-course menu just featured three additional courses. That’s not necessarily the case.)
Our first course was an unbelievable lobster bisque. But this was no ordinary lobster bisque. It came complete with crab, escargot (never had that in a soup before!), pumpkin caramel, a few pieces of caramel corn and some ground sumac. Somehow all of those crazy elements worked together and it was truly fabulous.
Our second course was a salad comprised of winter greens, golden and red beets, house-cured salmon, candied lemons, walnuts, ground pistachios, daikon (a type of Japanese radish) and lemon vinaigrette -- topped with half a white anchovy. The sald was an interesting blend of flavors and textures. I enjoyed it, but left half my anchovy. I mean, generally, I’ll eat them, sometimes those suckers are just too salty for me.
Our third course was seared pork belly with grilled Wagyu beef. It was served on a wooden board, with smears of a white chocolate barbecue sauce, drops of a wasabi mustard and a half gooseberry. Combined, all of the flavors were incredible. The gooseberry was an interesting foil to the rest of the flavors and provided a nice burst of cool in case you underestimated how much wasabi was loaded into that mustard. All in all, I loved this dish. (Sorry the photo for this was simply too dark to bother including.)
Our fourth course was both Jeff’s and my favorite: grilled Barramundi served atop melted leeks, with hanzu butter, tomato salt and edamame. (Barramundi is a mild white fish that’s making its way onto more and more menus. It’s a sustainable choice that I highly recommend. If you like halibut or mahi mahi, you’ll like Barramundi.) The fish and its accompaniments were served in a dish that looked like a hollowed out half log. Naturally, the engineer in Jeff was fascinated by what it was made of. Naturally, I have no idea, but it was a very cool-looking presentation. The dish was absolutely outstanding. 
Our fifth course featured lamb loin and lamb sausage in a spicy ginger sauce, served atop a melange of mushrooms and with a potato concoction that had multple creamy layers. It kind of reminded me of a really neat au gratin, housed in something that reminded me of the exterior of an omelette. Very interesting course. Tasty, but not my favorite.
Our sixth course was a palate-cleansing umami mushroom ice cream with a hint of thyme. It was an interesting twist on all of these ingredients, as I’d certainly never had them combined before. Though it seems kind of strange to have the savory flavor of mushrooms (tasted almost like truffle) combined with the cold, creamy texture of ice cream and the lemony pop of thyme, it wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t choose it at an ice cream parlor, but that’s not the point. It did its job and cleansed my palate.
Our seventh course was dessert. We’d noticed the couple next to us feasting on an amazing dessert earlier, so we were pretty excited about the prospect of something involving beignets and chocolate sauces. Suffice to say that when ours arrived, we were a little surprised: it was cheesecake made with exploratory cheese, topped with panna cotta and fresh strawberries, served aside a salted strawberry coulis, some crystalized honey – aaaaand a candied brussels sprout. What?! 
There are a few things that come into play here. Jeff hates cheesecake. Period. I am also not a huge cheesecake fan. But on top of all of this, they also incorporated the one (literally the only one) vegetable I cannot force myself to like, no matter what is done to it. I’ve heard it all and tried it all. I don’t care how you’ve roasted it; it doesn’t matter that it’s been slathered in butter and cooked with bacon. Each time I try one, I still hate the bitterness that invariably comes along with any and all brussels sprouts. Despite this, I tried the candied brussels sprout. And I was not shocked to discover it tasted exactly like a dried out, semi-sweetened brussels sprout. Boooo.
However, I do find myself hating cheesecake less and less each time I try it, and will certainly say that as cheesecake goes, this stuff was excellent. The ingredients were clearly high quality and the flavors worked well together. If I was a true cheesecake fan, I’m sure I’d have been in heaven. But I couldn’t stop wondering…
Where was the chocolate? What happened to our beignets? And then we heard the server tell the people who’d since sat down at the table beside us the difference between the four- and seven-course menus: the seven-course menu featured three more courses, but the portions were smaller and it included a different dessert. FAIL. Epic fail. Why hadn’t we asked? Why hadn’t we thought to mention an aversion to cream cheese? We could have had beignets and chocolate!
Oh well. Over all, the meal was stupendous and even my least favorite course was pretty darn good. I mean, I ate all of my cheesecake. And Jeff forced himself to eat most of his, too, because he knows from experience that if you don’t eat the vast majority of any of the courses, the server will ask you if you didn’t like the dish and offer to bring you something different. (Last time we went, we couldn’t finish all of the Kobe beef carpaccio in one of the courses and our server was very concerned that we’d been unhappy with it.) And the only thing Jeff hates more than cheesecake is the thought of offending a chef.
All of that said, Bonsoiree, we'll be back! Hopefully next time we'll find beignets and chocolate!
Bonsoiree is located at 2728 W. Armitage Avenue, between Washtenaw and Fairfield. 7-course "no menu" tasting is $75; 4-course "no menu" tasting is $45. Sundays only.
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