We had a cocktail before heading to the restaurant and were seated immediately. Peta went with a French 75 (this link shows the "original" which we'll actually have today and blog about in a taste test, but hers was a modern version with cognac replacing the gin) and Jim went with a Dark and Stormy. With dinner we shared an Aviation, our first, which was great, but did not go with any of the food. A strictly drinking cocktail. The cocktails were great, but over-priced.
We ordered the following:
- Chilled lambs quarters (a spinach-like green), pickled wild ramps, radish, crispy shallots, soy-olive oil vinaigrette
- Roasted baby artichokes, la quercia prosciutto, capers, tarragon aioli
- Cauliflower gratin, cheddar cheese, caramelized onion, breadcrumbs
- Pan roasted Alaskan halibut, sweet corn, bacon, fava beans, aleppo pepper butter
- Creekstone new york steak “tuscan style“, arugula, grana, fiordolio olive oil
The artichokes were, in our opinion, fried and not roasted and were a bit greasy. It's mean to treat a tasty, delicate artichoke in this rough manner. Meh.
The cauliflower gratin was super slutty with cheese and cream, very tasty and the only thing on the menu that was priced fairly.
The halibut and everything in the dish must have been cooked in the rendered fat of the bacon which made it one-dimensional but slutty (which is good) and, after having cooked fava beans last week (LINK), we were dismayed to see and taste so few of them in this dish.
The rare steak that we ordered came out rare but PRE-CUT. Jim has had Tuscan style steak before. Jim has seen Lidia cook it on TV (Lidia's Itlay) with her son. He understand this dish and he and Peta were appalled when it came out tiny and, again, PRE-CUT. We don't really want to write about this dish anymore. Hiding six thin slices of OK steak under argula and cheese and charging $31 is insulting. Then again, we walked out with a guy who got into a Maserati. Clearly, more money than brains or taste. But isn't that always the way?
Our server brought out what appeared to be soft served ice cream with a candle. Luckily, we were full.
So it turns out that Marin Mondays is the hyper local day and the rest appears to be a semi-seasonal, semi-local smorgasbord. Maybe, but doubtfully, we'll check it out. We thanked the barman on the way out personally.
Rating:
Cocktails
- Flavor 9/10
- Price $$$
- Flavor 6/10
- Price $$$
These would be better with photos. The report, while literary, lacks the visual reinforcement a grainy pic might have.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I hasten to mention I can solve simultaneous linear equations, balance a redox-equation and explain the causal relationship between GDP and national welfare, what the hell is 'ramp'?
Would it be fair to say that your reaction to the meagre description of Lamb's Quarters is one of the early signs of your powers turning to the dark side? You're judging people for not knowing information you probably only found out a year ago. It IS a close cousin of spinach, and to say to a client "it's a annual herbaceous pseudocereal of the goosfoot family" would have rendered her less effective at selling the dish.
London