Our October Dine About was Scott Howard, a restaurant that shares the same namesake as its talented chef! This month's DASF was a good come back after a Senseless DASF in September. Scott Howard occupies the space that used to house the Cypress Club and Jackson 500. It is an attractive space with an open kitchen and the place was packed with beautiful people the night we were there. They sat us in the center of the dinner room next to a large round table that has an impressive flower arrangement. Overhead is a huge wrought-iron chandelier.The Group: We had a first timer in Lehmann Koo, a foodie in her own right! Jen and Errol, making consecutive DASFs!!! CC, you and Victor are lagging behind in attendance. Our newlyweds Ken and Maureen and the Phans.
The creative foods were well executed and all tasted fantastic. To start, we were all treated to an amuse bouche of intensely flavor carrot broth. I am almost tempted to put Scott Howard up there with Winterland but the service was only average for DASF standard. The staff was pretty attentive overall but we had to ask our waiter 3 times before he brought Winnie's drink.
Ratings:
Overall value - 85 (same caliber food as Frisson but at a much more reasonable price)
Atmosphere - 88 (nice warm open space with just the right accents)
Food - 92 (excellent Smoke Trout Truffle Egg Salad & Tuna Tartar; the Artic Char and Sea Bass were both perfectly cooked; the long braised Short Ribs was rich and silky; all three deserts were solid but the S’mores is a must try)
Service - 85 (Our waiter deserves a lower score but the rest of the staff help raise it by at least 10 points. Lehmann asked about a particular wine but all he would say was that “it’s good”. Luckily someone else was able to help out. The rest was the staff was very attentive throughout the evening).
Prior to opening his own restaurant, Scott Howard was the Executive Chef at the highly popular Fork Restaurant in Marin. I for one am happy that he has opened his own place in the city.
No "Jon On the John This Week" since both Johns were out.
