A small group joined this month, but nonetheless we had a culinary feast diving into the chef's tasting menu at Baker and Banker. This new restaurant occupies the former space of Quince - one of our all time best dine abouts. This place had a lot to live up to, and it did!
This month diners included Phu, Winnie, Jon and Mollie. A mighty foursome, we had an intimate and enjoyable evening with superb food, pleasant atmosphere, and friendly, if not top tier, service. We all said we want to come back!
Food: 91
The tasting menu was filled with fresh ingredients, . We started with a panko crusted mozzarella ball with basil and some type of tomato puree. Very nice way to get our palates going! This was followed by a dish of asparagus, with poached egg, and watercress - a very nice mix of flavors and textures. We then moved on to one of the highlights of the evening a snapper lightly grilled with a crispy exterior over a tart curry noodle dish. Lots of flavors that all meshed well together. We then added an extra course - we had to have the pappadelle with short ribs and English peas, even though this wasn't part of the tasting menu! We were so glad we added this - it was probably our favorite dish of the night (along with the snapper.) The meat course let us down a bit. They served us dishes of the rabbit wrapped in bacon and two dishes of the new york steak (they mixed the steak in because they ran out of rabbit.) We were happy to be able to try another dish, but neither really impressed. The gnocchi on both dishes was great, and the rich sauce on the steak was really nice, but overall they fell flat. Finally, the baked Alaskan for desserts was extremely good - a great mix of textures and again, flavors, but very rich and the portions were really too large. All in all, the food was very strong, a great mix of ingredients and flavors and very creative. Jon ordered the wine pairings which were decent, but nothing special.
Atmosphere: 87
Nice, inviting, allowed for easy conversation, but nothing that knocked our socks off (let's just say it wasn't the chef's table in the kitchen like at Quince!) Kind of a '40s French feel.
Service: 87
We enjoyed our waiter - he was very attentive and very friendly. But, not very refined. I asked about one of the ingredients in a dish (I think it was yuzu) and he had no idea what it was. Phu had to inform him, nicely of course! But, that said, they made sure we were taken care of, all plates were cleared promptly and new utensils appeared just when needed. I did think the pacing was fairly slow, and I especially didn't like how they brought Jon's wine pairing up to 15 or 20 minutes before the course came that it was pairing!
Value: strong
A tasting menu for $55! By the time you add in all the extras it's not a bargain. But we felt like the quality of food, along with the inviting atmosphere and attentive service made this a very enjoyable experience for a fair price.
Hope to see you all in June!
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Saison: a 9 course delight
Phu once again keeps us on the cutting edge of culinary innovation. We dined at Saison last month, a little gem tucked away behind a skanky bar in the mission. Doesn't sound inviting. . . don't be fooled! You walk through a gravel driveway past the aforementioned bar and step into a small but charming kitchen. You are literally in the kitchen. You walk through and enter into the dining room. The whole room is probably 16 x 16 feet with maybe 9 small tables lining the room and one gigantic table occupying the center. This was our table!
Dining this month were the Phan's, Carter's, Lehmann, Jason, Tim and Laura. It's been a month and we're actually off to our May Dine About in a little while, so I'll do my best here. . . overall, we had a top rate experience and would definitely recommend this place to those who appreciate culinary adventure & excellence.
1. Food - 94
outstanding - one of our best. Very creative, unique and fresh ingredients paired beautifully. Really original and expensive ingredients (e.g., wild caviar en gelee, asparagus roasted with bonito & sea urchin, etc.) A few standouts: the caviar, the farm egg with smoked butter and golden trout roe, the asparagus were perfectly cooked, the scallops with green peas were divine, and the point reyes inverness and sun toasted walnuts would make a cheese plate for dinner lover out of anyone! The biggest hit, though, was the lamb. To give you a sense for how good it was. . . Winnie said that while she really can't stand lamb and has "never liked any lamb I've tried, but this lamb I wouldn't give it up. It wasn't gamey at all." 9-courses that kept us guessing and salivating all night!
They paired each course with a different, complementary wine. The wine was very good, and the pourings were very generous.
2. Atmosphere - 85
This is a tiny place, did I mention it's stuck behind a bar in the mission? I love that you walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room and can casually say hi to all the staff., Very intimate. However, as charming as all this was, there was a big problem in my opinion. The table was just too big. Yes, we originally reserved a space for 10 and we ended up with 8, but the table was just too wide, making conversation extremely difficult.
3. Service - 89
There were more waitstaff than diners. They swooped in like a coordinated orchestra serving each of the 9 courses. Phu and Winnie both thought it would have been nice for someone to greet us when we sat down and explain how things worked. Phu said, "with the large wait staff, I didn’t like the fact that there didn’t seem to be someone in charge of our table." There was a lot of confusion over how the wine would work and no one seemed ready to explain to us how the evening would flow. Apparently, though, Phu argued that we should have known by their website how it worked, and that people go there knowing what to expect. (in other words, you foolish novices! Do your homework.) One other addition to the ratings debate, Lehmann specifically felt like the service rating could go higher than my original rating of 87 - she felt like we had a great experience!
4. value - mixed reviews on this one. This place isn't cheap. But, then again, we got 9 courses including some very expensive, extravagant ingredients. A lot of the cost was in the wine, as usual, but as previously mentioned the pourings were very generous. I would have preferred to pair down on the extravagance and make it a little more reasonable. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. We got an amazing array of cuisine that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else except maybe from the likes of French Laundry (and pay beaux coup $$$$).
We're off to Baker and Banker in a few hours. But, I must mention that attendence has been down in recent months. We're expecting just 4 of us tonight. We hope to keep attendence strong in coming months so that we can carry on this tradition! Mark your calendars now for the first Saturday in June. Let's make it a grand coming back for all of you long time readers, been a long time since diners!
Dining this month were the Phan's, Carter's, Lehmann, Jason, Tim and Laura. It's been a month and we're actually off to our May Dine About in a little while, so I'll do my best here. . . overall, we had a top rate experience and would definitely recommend this place to those who appreciate culinary adventure & excellence.
1. Food - 94
outstanding - one of our best. Very creative, unique and fresh ingredients paired beautifully. Really original and expensive ingredients (e.g., wild caviar en gelee, asparagus roasted with bonito & sea urchin, etc.) A few standouts: the caviar, the farm egg with smoked butter and golden trout roe, the asparagus were perfectly cooked, the scallops with green peas were divine, and the point reyes inverness and sun toasted walnuts would make a cheese plate for dinner lover out of anyone! The biggest hit, though, was the lamb. To give you a sense for how good it was. . . Winnie said that while she really can't stand lamb and has "never liked any lamb I've tried, but this lamb I wouldn't give it up. It wasn't gamey at all." 9-courses that kept us guessing and salivating all night!
They paired each course with a different, complementary wine. The wine was very good, and the pourings were very generous.
2. Atmosphere - 85
This is a tiny place, did I mention it's stuck behind a bar in the mission? I love that you walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room and can casually say hi to all the staff., Very intimate. However, as charming as all this was, there was a big problem in my opinion. The table was just too big. Yes, we originally reserved a space for 10 and we ended up with 8, but the table was just too wide, making conversation extremely difficult.
3. Service - 89
There were more waitstaff than diners. They swooped in like a coordinated orchestra serving each of the 9 courses. Phu and Winnie both thought it would have been nice for someone to greet us when we sat down and explain how things worked. Phu said, "with the large wait staff, I didn’t like the fact that there didn’t seem to be someone in charge of our table." There was a lot of confusion over how the wine would work and no one seemed ready to explain to us how the evening would flow. Apparently, though, Phu argued that we should have known by their website how it worked, and that people go there knowing what to expect. (in other words, you foolish novices! Do your homework.) One other addition to the ratings debate, Lehmann specifically felt like the service rating could go higher than my original rating of 87 - she felt like we had a great experience!
4. value - mixed reviews on this one. This place isn't cheap. But, then again, we got 9 courses including some very expensive, extravagant ingredients. A lot of the cost was in the wine, as usual, but as previously mentioned the pourings were very generous. I would have preferred to pair down on the extravagance and make it a little more reasonable. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. We got an amazing array of cuisine that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else except maybe from the likes of French Laundry (and pay beaux coup $$$$).
We're off to Baker and Banker in a few hours. But, I must mention that attendence has been down in recent months. We're expecting just 4 of us tonight. We hope to keep attendence strong in coming months so that we can carry on this tradition! Mark your calendars now for the first Saturday in June. Let's make it a grand coming back for all of you long time readers, been a long time since diners!
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