- 整體 5
- 食物 5
- 服務 5
- 氛圍 5
An exquisite meal all around. First and foremost, the food is excellent. I mean that. Some of the best tasting food around. That can be lost in a meal with so many aspirations as this. Not here.
I had the abbreviated eight course menu, and even the shortened format had several home runs, starting with an intensely flavored mushroom broth. I do think the short menu might interfere with the storytelling element of the meal, though,which was a little lost on me.
The salt-baked shaved celery, granola and tartare dish was phenomenal and had a perfect pairing with a gunsmokey orange wine.
The puréed apple and squash with truffle dish was one of the best things I can remember eating. A dish where you not only smell, but really taste the truffle, with a smooth texture and soft warmth. This dish was winter in a bowl. Fine as can be, but ultimately nourishing and comforting. Earthy and sweet. And the pairing here was ringing all the bells. An Alsatian grand cru field blend from Diest. This dish and pairing were like apples and honey, but the truffles and the squash made it rich and earthy.
The “obvious” squab was perfect, and the dessert… I won’t go on, but I could.
Like so many tasting menus, this is inherently formal, but there’s a breath of relaxation in the place. You walk in to a quiet courtyard that you wouldn’t know is off a busy street. You enter the kitchen through sliding glass doors as you would someone’s house from a back patio, and someone greets you warmly by name. You’re immediately in the kitchen locking eyes with the chefs, eyes that quickly return to their focus. To the side is the maitre d’ and then the dim and luxurious dining room hewed in rich Prussian blue, with walnut tables, and blue and ivory tufted blended-back armchairs . The walls feature large format John Chao paintings— for the most part provocative without being too distracting with one notable exception.
This restaurant swings for the fences. The food and hospitality are there.