... of the country's (maybe world's) top restaurants, lunch carts, and everywhere in between.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Bay Area Series 6: Manresa(04/15/09)

Manresa was the Michelin two star restaurant situated in Los Gatos, an hour of drive south of San Francisco. Many bloggers had suggested that Manresa was actually the best restaurant in bay area, instead of French Laundry. I made a 8:00pm reservation under a nickname of "David Sun" due to untold reasons. and it turned out "David" was a regular.
Manresa looked like an ordinary house with front porch leading to the door. To fully enjoy the Manresa experience, I went ahead with the 15-courses Spring Garden menu. Chef David Kinch started my dinner with a series of 6 Amuse Bouche, many of which shared striking similarities with the Amuse Bouch at Vetri Ristorante.
Amuse Bouche 1: "Red Pepper-Black Olive"
I couldn't quite taste the Red pepper in the gelee nor black olive in the madeleines. To me, they tasted just like ordinary petit fours at the end of a meal which my brain often tried to filtered out.
Amuse Bouche 2: Crispy Kale and Parmesan Churros
The parmesan churros was crispy and salty. It went perfectly well with the clean and crispy sauvignon blanc I had, though so would a bag of potato chips with cheddar dip .
Amuse Bouche 3: Garden Beignets with Vinegar Powder
Inside the soft Beignet was a mixture of greens such as mustard and kale.

Amuse Bouche 4: Carrot and Mustard Granita
The carrot flavor really jumped out: sweet, sour, and full of spring aroma.

Amuse Bouche 5: Strawberry Gazpacho
The granary salad on the right is composed of the traditional gazpacho ingreidients: onions, garlic, and tomatoes, while surrounding by acidic strawberry soup.
This was my favourite amuse .

Amuse Bouche 6: Aprege Farm Egg

The egg was topped with sherry vinaigrette and maple syrup, followed by the warm runniness of the egg yolk. Though delicious, the aprege egg failed to shine against the Sabayon from Providence or August restaurant.
Course 1: Shellfish in Crab Both
Clams, razor clams, scallops, and octupus(when did octupus grow shells) were floating on cold crab both. The crispy and chewy texture of the shellfish fully brought out the briness of the sea.
This was the best course of the night.
Course 2: Delta Asparagus with Bonito Butter, Toasted Seeds
Thinly sliced Asparagus submerged in a bonito broth with melted butter.
Course 3: Into the Vegetable Garden
The salad was composed of variety of greens from Love Apple Farm where the "black dirt" on right was made of seeds. The foam was generated from vegetable's natural juices. I did not like the dish, the vegetables were chewy and flavors did not match together. The salad at Chez Panisse was much superior.
Course 4: Spring Tidal Pool
The pool consisted of Abalone, Sea Urchin, Foie Gras, Shellfish, Mushroom and foie gras. The broth base was bonito stock with ponzu. It was tasty, but ordinary if one was famaliar with Japanese food. Course 5: Black Cod with Onions and Chervil, Sweet Onion-Marrow Broth
The cod was nicely pan fried with a crispy skin. As the herb butter slowly melt away in the marrow broth, a layer of richness and moisture was added to the fish.

Course 6: Suckling Kid goat with Curds and Whey
In this dish, the kid goat was slow cooked to a texture of pulled pork, while the curds and whey acted lik skin and fat. An interesting combination, but I preferred pulled pork with skin and fat.
Spring lamb, season's first ramps with peas
This dish was ordinary, tasted like sliced beef with spring garlic.


Dessert : Citrus and Fennel Compote, Olive Oil With Arugula
The olive oil ice cream was interesting, exhibiting a different consistency against milk based ice cream due to difference in fat content. The Arugula leave was a better garnish choice than mint leave.
Petit Four: Straberry & Chocolate
Overall, the experience at Manresa was better thanFrench Laundry, but worse than Chez Panisse. At manresa, the seasonal produce took central stage. At Chez Panisse, the seasonal produce played a complementing role with sauces and vingarette in orchestrating a relaxed and satisfiying meal.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bay Area Series 5: The French Laundry (04/14/09)

French Laundry, otherwise kown as the best restaurant in America, had owned 3 michelin, 4 SF Chronicle, and 5 Mobile Traveel guide stars.

The restaurant occupied a former french laundery hut at Yountville, California. Across from the restaurant, there was a garden where some of the restaurant's produce were grown.

Napkin tucked by wine cork was placed at the center of the serving plate.


The amuse bouche was just like ones from per se: salmon tartare in ice cream cones, followed by guerre cheese cream puff.





First course was another repeat--"Oysters and Pearls" . Oysters, Tapioca balls, and Caviar served in a rich creamy butter sauce.







Second course, "Foie Gras Terrine", was soft and creamy which paired exceptionally with resiling. The vinegar reduction served on the side was mixed with ager powder to form a shaving gel consistency, and such technique was repeated throughout the meal. I guess Thomas Keller was starting to embrace the molecular gastornomy trend



Third course was fried frog legs with meyer lemon dressings. The frog leg here was a disappointment, reminded me harsh browns from fast food joints with lemon juice.

The next course was sweet butter poached lobster with green asparagus and truffle sauce. The lobster meat was a bit too soft for my likings.


The fifth course is Pekin Duck salad, which consists of granny smith apples, heirloom beets, and swiss chard. This dish reminds me of salads from fast food joint with chicken being replaced by duck breast.



Last protein course was steak with turnips, fava beans, and paloise reduction. The prime rib was perfectly cooked to a medium rare. The fava beans and turnips were sous vide; though very sweet, I wish they were firmer texturally.

For pre-dessert, appenzeller chesse was served with french toast, pearl onions, arugular, and prune gel.


For first dessert, yogurt sorbet with oatmeal and apricot sauce .


Last dish was caramelized bananas and hazelnut sorbet. While the banana flavor was interesting, nothing else catched my palates.


Peitit four




The food at French Laundry was ok, but wasn't able to match my expectations. Probably due to my jet leg, I couldn't enjoy my dinner as much as my companions. Last but not the least, I deeply missed the buttered sauce I had in Per Se a year ago instead of the molecular gastornomy driven "gel" served at the french laundry.

Bay Area Series 4: The Dining Room at Ritz Carlton SF

The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton was San Franciso's only Five-Diamond restaurant. Chef Ron Segel who worked in France Laundry in the 90's was best known for his wining performance in Japanese Iron Chef. My dinner companion and I ordered the 9 course chef's tasting menu for $125 a person. Amuse 1: Spotted Prawn

Amuse 2: Caviar and Quail Egg
The glass container was masked over by a thin plastic film to perserve the ceddar wood smoke inside. The waiter instructed us to tap the container to let the smoke out as we were enjoying the caviar. The flavor profile of the caviar changes once the smoke was inhaled, very interesting. Comparing to the quail egg at Bo Innovation, the egg here was barely cooked.


Course 1: pea soup with caviar, crab, and creme fraiche
While the pea soup brought memories of the spring, the combination of creme fraich and caviar is a killer at anytime. Luxury at any mouthful.



Course 2: Fried Soft Shell Crab


Course 3: Sable Fish
The sable fish was fatty and nicely seared.
It is interesting to see the nice progression of flavors and textures, from the very refreshing pea soup, to the crispy crab, now to a fatty white fish.

Course 4: Lobster with Veal Cheek in Red Wine Sauce
If the previous courses were prelude sensing something dramatic to happen, then this dish was definitly the climax of the night. Tender yet firm butter being topped with slow cooked and fatty veal cheek, all round up with a tangy buttered red wine sauce. A moment of indulgence and perfection.
Course 5: Foie Gras in Vanilla Sauce
The Foie Gras was nicely seared with medium-rare center. At this point of the dinner, the meal was on the verge of surpassing our experience at Per Se restaurant. However, something went terribly wrong after the Foie course. The guests of the other table came half an hour later than ours, and ordered the same chefs tasting menu too. It seemed that the chef tried to sychronize the meals of the the two table together in order to save work. After a good 30 minutes wait, came the sixth course.
Course 6: Pork Belly
Course 7: Quail

Course 6 and course 7 are nicely prepared, but didn't stand out comparing to previous entrees. Plus the long wait in between really set our mood off.

Course 8: The rhubarb sorbet
Course 9: The dessert
At $125 a person, the tasting menu at Ritz Carlton was one of the best deals in fine dining, as hotel Ritz Carlton would cover up any loss in profit at the restaurant. The food of chef Ron Segel was delicate and sumptuous, led one to believe the course was prepared just for him. The whole dining experience could have approached that of Per Se if the service would be smoother.

Bay Area Series 3: Boulevard (San Francisco 06/04/08)

Restaurant Boulevard, occupying the 1889 French-style Audiffred Building by the bay, has been voted as #1 San Francisco Restaurant on San Francisco Chronicles for serveral years. Inside the restaurant, it is antique and cozy, like an old bar.

The deco


Bread and Butter



DAYBOAT SEA SCALLOPS
The scallops are succulent and nicely seared.

CRISPY MARYLAND SOFT SHELL CRAB paired with , Pickled Armenian Cucumber, and ginger miso mayo.
The fried crab was crispy and delicious in a street food kind of way.



Alaskan Halibut

The halibut was a bit dry.


Beef Burgundy
The beef was quite dry and the carrots were tough.
Overall, the appetitzers at boulevard were better than the main dishes. However, the overall quality of the food was disappointing.



About Me 关于作者

Well, It's should be more of a "About Us". Afterall, This blog is a combined effort of a group of foodie's attempt at partially capturing their experiences of exploring the dining cultures of various culture and cuisine. Our Team are as follows:

Trading Dweeb - A self-proclaimed bastard-ish trader who's interest in food often outshine work.
势利小人 - 职业股票操作者,也就是广东人口里的“扑街”。对食物的热情往往比工作要炽热。

Dr.T - A student of food.

TechMoGeek – An explorer of culinary delights who’s love for food is the sole motivation to be employed.
TechMoGeek -一個只愛美食,不愛江山的老饕