Maison - Helena
Author: The Traveling Diners
Traveling Diners
Maison French Restaurant – Helena
Last February, the Traveling Diners decided to try the Maison French Restaurant in Helena. Maison is located in the historic Odd Fellows Retirement Home building on the west side of Helena. It is a Restaurant, Inn and Event venue focusing on a Farm to Table experience with locally sourced ingredients from the Odd Fellows Farm. The Oddfellow was originally built in 1928 as the Montana Home for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, playing host to retirees, widows, and orphans.
Maison delivers a classic French Bistro experience, but with Montana roots. The restaurant offers an “ala-carte menu” featuring steak, pork, chicken, fish and pasta. They also offer a “Multi-Course Experience” with 6 courses and an optional wine pairing (at an additional cost).
We decided that we would make the evening an Experience and enjoy the 6-course meal with the wine pairings. Each course was served with a different wine, selected to go well with that course.
It was a chilly evening with temperatures below freezing. When we entered the historic building, it was warm and inviting. We were seated in a room in front of a wood-burning fireplace with a nice warm fire already started. After coming in from the chilly outside it was a terrific start to the evening.
Our first course was a raw oyster “shooter” in a specially selected beer (an exception to the wine pairing).
The next course was an intriguing choice: a deep-fried poached egg with a crispy outside served on a large mushroom. The egg was cooked perfectly with a light crispy coating on the outside. The mushroom went extremely well with the poached egg and the white wine pairing was excellent.
Roasted pig tongue was the next course. Thin slices of tongue were oven roasted and paired with white wine. The tongue was perfectly cooked but none of us really cared for the texture and the tongue was somewhat bland.
Following the tongue was a serving of trout, again paired with white wine. All of us agreed that the fish was the best trout we have ever eaten. I personally would go back to Maison just to have their trout.
Next was lamb cooked 3 ways and all 3 pieces of lamb were cooked perfectly and served with red wine. The lamb curry was excellent – well seasoned but not too spicy.
The meal ended with a chocolate dessert paired with red wine. We had a mousse, a truffle and a piece of chocolate. All were excellent.
The “Six Course Experience” at Maison will challenge your culinary tastes and your wallet! As a one-time event, the meal with the pairing was a unique experience and well worth the expense. We are all looking forward to going back to Maison and trying the “ala carte” menu.
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