Kingfish Write-up

The July 2005 DASF was somewhat of a dissapointment!! DASF members were looking forward to some good New Orleans style cuisine but what we got was ordinarary food at upscale prices.

Eight people dined at Kingfish and gave the restaurant the following ratings (on a scale of 1 - 100):

Food - 73 – The oysters and cast-iron roasted mussels were decent but the Gulp Prawn Vietnamese Roll was a disaster! The rice paper was tough and the dipping sauce tasted like the cheap store bought immitation. I don't understand why a Cajun restaurant would serve Asian inspired food? Fusion is one thing but poor immitation should be avoided. The Jambalaya and the Seared Scallop Etouffee were ok but for the DASF members that have been to New Orleans all have tasted much better versions. Finally, Kingfish's own house-made beignets were nothing like the famous beignets from Cafe Du Monde. The cocktails were all excellent and help brought the score up a few points.

Atmosphere – 70, not sure what theme the restaurant is going for??? They have a giant screen TV on one wall, a water fountain in the center of the main room and a large array of folk arts adorning the walls. We were there on a light that the Giants were out of town but we can imagine the pre/post game crowd there.

Service – 75, the waitress did a decent job....nothing special.

For August, we are dining at COCO 500. COCO 500 took over the space that former house the popular French bistro Bizou (I for one was sad to see it go). COCO 500 is the expression of Chef Loretta Keller’s love of Mediterranean flavors, colors and textures. Her inspired cooking features the best local ingredients, meats and poultry from Sonoma farms and the freshest fish and shellfish.