I have had the not-so-much-pleasure of tasting lambs tongue before, on my 13th wedding anniversary. Not really a fan. Actually, I only took one bite. That was enough.

But, that doesn’t mean that I should exclude ever tasting any other animal tongue out there. Does it?

Just a hop, skip and jump (all uphill) from Pike Place Market in Seattle, sits a trendy French inspired bistro, Marche. It was a fluke that we found it on the way back to the Mayflower Park Hotel. A fluke, in the greatest way.

“Marche serves food inspired by the tradition of French bistros, highlighting seasonal, full-flavored robust food and wines exceptional in value and quality”

We bellied up to the bar. As usual. I couldn’t resist ordering a glass of “seduction red” keg wine. Literally, the bartender poured it from a beer wine tap. Very seductive.

He then enthusiastically recommended the beef tongue and duck gizzards. Really? I wonder how many, prior to myself, took him up on this offer: a dinner of gizzards and tongue?

I actually considered it a bonus that there would be two new offals in one meal.

The beef tongue arrived to the table carpaccio style, sliced see-through thin. It lacked the gamey flavor of the lamb tongue that I had previously tasted. Phew.

Beef tongue could easily be mistaken for a dry roast beef.

Fried duck gizzards were a fine companion for the tongue. Did I mention fried? And we all know that just about anything deep-fried tastes good. These gizzards were reminiscent of the escargot that I had at sea, the flavor and texture of an ever-so slightly chewy, baked crimini.

The finale, to wash down the prior odds and ends, was the largest meringue I had ever seen. I took my fork and immediately stabbed the middle. Similar to the petite-sized version, it was crunchy on the outside with a slightly gooey center. We only made it through a quarter of this sugar-infested dessert.

The meringue did do its job of masking the taste of tongue and gizzard that was left in my mouth.

We enjoyed our experience so much that we went back the next night…but, just for the keg wine.

Have you ever had beef tongue, duck gizzards or keg wine?