Best of 2000: Best Foie Gras Napoleon

Tapenade
7612 Fay Avenue, La Jolla
(858) 551-7500

Foie gras is a taste that you acquire. It's a goose liver, strong in flavor, but never gamy, and there are as many recipes for foie gras as there are chefs. Jean-Michel Diot at Tapenade does a foie gras napoleon that's more seductive than the best dessert. The goose livers come from a Hudson Valley farm (in New York). Each portion is five or six ounces and is poached in duck stock and port wine. When the liver is cool, it's cut into slices about a quarter of an inch thick. A napoleon consists of a series of layers. In this case, a confit of yellow onions is assembled; they are cooked in duck fat. The onions are placed at the bottom of the pan followed by thin slices of green apples and then the goose livers. This is repeated twice. Before serving, the portion is sprinkled with sugar and caramelized with a torch. This isn't liver and onions.