30 replies to this topic

[xdrixn]

anyone know more? There was an article in the ny times mag written by patterson and he mentioned a new restaurant.

[robert40]

anyone know more?  There was an article in the ny times mag written by patterson and he mentioned a new restaurant.

Here.

http://www.nytimes.c...k_tyranny_.html

[Kouign Aman]

eje posted a link elsewhere saying Coi was open and giving a menu. Anyone been there?

editted to add: here it is:

Quiet pleasures at Coi

Daniel Patterson's new restaurant opens.

eje's link
Coi webpage

Edited by Kouign Aman, 16 May 2006 - 06:21 AM.

[ulterior epicure]

Oooo, thanks for xdrixn for giving birth to this thread! A number of chefs that I spoke with on my recent trip to the Bay area were really excited about Coi.

I'll be interested to hear what other eGulleters think and experience!

u.e.

Edited by ulterior epicure, 22 May 2006 - 09:33 PM.

[chuckyoufarley]

I have a reservation on Saturday the 3rd.
I am hoping with the blessing of my wife , to be snapping a few pics of the food for this thread.
I have checked our the yelp reviews and they have been very glowing.
http://www.yelp.com/...UcpMojb2RyB2ZJQ

Shaun

[eje]

Michael Bauer reviewed Patterson's Coi in today's Chronicle Magazine.

At Daniel Patterson's Coi, a complex interplay of flavors

Patterson is a master at execution, always letting the main ingredient shine. A sea scallop sashimi with Meyer lemon, olive oil, salt, avocado and radish, for example, is a combination in which all the elements are crucial background notes that elevate the creamy salinity of the seafood. He uses braised lettuces laced with pork belly and litsea cubeba, a fruity, lemon-like oil, as a platform for sauteed sea bream, a delicate white fish with a delectable skin that's seared and parallels the flavor of the meat below.

[Carolyn Tillie]

An unexpected trip to the city for the Divine Ms.W was a great excuse to talk her and Mr. B into heading to Daniel Patterson's Coi Restaurant, which I had been dying to try.

Stylistically, the design of the restaurant is warm and inviting, overt with warm brown tones. The entrance brings you to a lounge area - a banquet of booth seating with beautiful cocktails tables made from sliced, polished tree trunks and (regrettably) pillows that were a tad too furry for my taste. A turn around the corner found us in the main dining room. Obviously drawing on the Japanese aesthetic, the various shades of brown -- from the horizontal grass wallpaper to the leaf-laden paper ceiling -- instill a sense of calm and elegance. That calm was soon jolted as the tasting menu was shared amongst the three of us and a barrage of exciting and new flavors were beset upon us...

A glass of bubbly (sadly, name not known) accompanied the first few courses. There was an amuse of fresh roasted pepper and a foam and it was at this point I realized I was going to need to take notes.

The first official course was a pink grapefruit salad, but this was unlike any salad or presentation I had ever experienced. Served in an Oriental, rustic brown bowl was a deceiving mound of mousse. This was served alongside a drop of perfume and instructions were given to rub the oil on your wrists and inhale while consuming the salad. With ginger, black pepper, and three essential oils, at once multiple senses were heightened with aromas in the nose, a smooth and sumptuous mouthfeel, and exquisite layered flavors. This was also when we began to notice the service ware. There has almost become a preponderance of over-sized, Keller-esque white placesettings in haute cuisine restaurants. At Coi, the use of Japanese-inspired earthenware plates and bowls have the tendancy to bring the ethereal offerings down to earth and make them accessible to us mere mortals. Some give the appearance of an abalone shell, rough-hewn and mishapen yet with an inviting glisten in the interior glaze. Brilliant.

Next arrived a three-flavor composed plate with caviar, beet gelee, and fried bone marrow. The immediate reaction was simply the depth of flavor that came about through three seemingly divergent ingredients.

Almost to cleanse the palate - yet brighten it - the next course was a sea bream sashimi with white soy, yuzu, and a scattering of chives. Four bites total but elegant and refined.

At this point the bubbly was finished and we opened a half-bottle of 2002 Etienne Sauzet, Puligny Montrachet - stunning, simply stunning.

At the request of Mr. B, an additional course came out - a potato puree with Kapachi tartare, black truffles, and miniature haricot radish. This dish was all about the potatoes and the concentration of flavors that spoke the terroir of the potato.

This was followed with a soft-poached egg yolk which lied under some parmesan foam. Hidden amongst the yolk was a bacon-onion relish. This dish provided an amazing array of components; first the parmesan foam on top, but as one dug deeper, the bacon and unctuous egg yolk again displayed stunning depth.

A show-stopper arrived shortly thereafter -- Delicata sqaush soup was poured table-side over walnut brittle, cippollini onions, and cocoa mascarpone. The surprise of the walnut brittle juxtaposed with the elegant squash was neither too heavy nor too playful (it was brittle, after all). Just a tease of sweetness with the layered complexity of flavors.

A very odd dish was served next - Yuba 'pappardalle' with coconut milk and curry. Yuba is skin that develops from soy milk. It has an interesting tooth that is similar to pasta but reminded me or canned glutten. It was easily the most experimental dish of the evening and while the flavors melded together enough, the sci-fi nature of the yuba made it a bit difficult to get overly excited.

We were next served a seared scallop with apple jicama, mint, and a Buddha's hand emulsion. This was wildly successful and I would have happily consumed several of these. The citrus emulsion was more than the pure essence of the Buddha's hand but progressed the sweetness of scallop further.

The white wine being close to finishing, I ordered a 2002 Domaine Morey Coffinet Chassagne Montrachet, a soft and supple red from Burgundy.

With one more seafood course, we were presented with a sea bream atop several varieties of braised lettuce with a citrus/saffron sauce. The saffron was handled delicately (as so often it can be over-done and too heavy) and while the sauce was quite elegant, this might have been the one dish that suffered by virtue of the fact that the fish itself did not stand up to the sauce. Here was the first time we detected a lack of the profound depth we had been experiencing from the beginning.

Three "entree" courses were shared amongst the three of us as yet another potato explosion occurred with a pepper-seared shortrib 'steak' with potato foam, baby dandelion greens, and a red wine vinaigrette. While the short-rib steak itself was quite tasty, almost any cut of beef would have sufficed as this dish was all about the potato. It was the full essence and soul of a potato, concentrated and unyielding.

I was most enamored with Guinea hen roasted with Bhutanese red rice. Both Mr. B and I couldn't get enough of the rice but I got to finish the bulk of it. The hen was perfectly rare and moist and I regret that I didn't jot down the components of the seasonings.

Another course served was squab and foie gras with melted endive on a hibiscus reduction. This dish suffered only in that there was too little foie and too much sweet hibiscus. I adored the concept, but would have preferred a more balanced approach.

Finishing the main courses, a pseudo-cheese course was offered with a cheese tart that easily transcended my being. Naming the producer of the cheese, Rolf Beeler gruyere was melted on a simple rectangle of puff pastry so redolent with butter to have almost floated off the plate. Sitting aside some lightly dressed wild arugula, I discovered a new pathway to Nirvana through this simple presentation. Another show-stopper for me.

The dessert came with a glass of Sauterne (forgetting to get the exact name). Three desserts were shared and chef Patterson seems to have found a pastry chef with the same sense of adventure and daring. A single spoonful amuse was presented to sweeten our palate and comprised of huckleberry tapioca pearls with Malden sea salt. The juxtaposition of the salt and sweet was a miniature explosion of complex flavors that enticed the taste buds exactly as inspired -- wanting more.

An almost savory Manchego cheesecake with a hint of rosemary was served next to an apple sorbet. A baked Alaska with a gingerbread crust and creme fraiche sorbet was served with butter pears. And a brioche bread pudding was scented with lapsang souchong and served with a sorbet (unfortunately, I can't decipher my notes on the flavor of the sorbet). I enjoyed the baked Alaska tremendously, but found it a tad too sweet. I believe Mr. B prefered the cheesecake as it was decidedly the least sweet. Ms. W and I swooned over the bread pudding as the clear favorite.

In lieu of a mignardise, a final touch was offered in the simplest presentation of a single peanutbutter cookie served alongside a few sips of warm malted milk. This was a stunning culmination to the meal and all were shocked how seriously good and hearty the milk was but how it was so well complimented by the peanutbutter morsel.

The overall impact of the meal is that with very few exceptions, each ingredient is integral to the other ingredients. Nothing is over wrought or unnecessary. There is an intense purity of flavor and the word of the evening became depth. As opposed to a one-off, special occasion meal (as this was intended to be and many of these meals become), I look forward to returning to Coi to experience more of chef Patterson's brilliance.

[docsconz]

When I found out that Daniel Patterson would be presenting at Madrid Fusion 2008 in January, Coi (pronounced to rhyme with the French word for me - moi and not "coy" as I had previously thought) moved from a list of possible restaurants to visit during my brief business trip to San Francisco to one I had to visit.

Carolyn's report above presents an accurate representation of the ambiance and decor as well as the food styling, which is definitely Japanese/zen influenced with a French foundation but with a unique hand.


The front room is all warm and fuzzy. We waited for a great, old friend who lives in Oakland and was my best man at my wedding. Once he arrived we sat over a drink and traded updates until his guest arrived.

We opted for the full tasting menu.


Sunchoke Walnut soup along with Rapini and Sunchoke Salad - our amuse. The sunchoke in both preparations was the predominant note, but well balanced by the other elements of the preparations.


Valencia Orange Green Olive Sorbet, Pink Peppercorn, Litsea Cubeba. The instructions and sensations were very similar to what Carolyn described above in her first official course. This was unusual, but very enjoyable. It reminded me of the scent pillow at Alinea and the perfume desserts at Can Roca, though I have only heard of the latter.


Kampachi Sashimi, white soy, yuzu, shichimi togarashi Simple and delicious secondary to great product and balance.


Little Farm Heirloom Potatoes, McEvoy olive oil, sel gris, chicories I was beginning to feel that I was at Blue Hill at Stone Barns West and that is not a bad thing.


Charred Eggplant, Piquillo Peppers, cumin, cilantro My wife's dish - she loved it.


Smoked Artisan Foie Gras terrine, elderberry-sweet vermouth sauce, pickled fennel, grains of paradise - perfectly fine foie gras terrine, though not memorable over a host of other top foie gras terrines.


Oxheart Carrots and young artichokes braised in our butter, green cardamom, flowering cilantro Silky and delicious without being overly sweet.


Delicata Squash-brioche Pudding, pine nuts, shiso leaf and bud, szechuan pepper oil This was the dish of the evening, subtle, delicate, delicious with a hint of spice and perfectly balanced with great textural contrast - spectacular flavor and execution.


Hokkaido Scallop Grilled on the Plancha, braised and grilled cabbage, bacon, crimson gold crab apple superb.


Whole Wheat pasta handkerchief, ricotta, chanterelles, full belly almonds, nettles My wife's dish in lieu of the scallop. I was tempted, but couldn't forgo the scallop. She liked it.


Anderson Ranch Lamb Loin and Shoulder, la tercera fresh cannellini beans, roasted tokyo turnips, dino kale, sage This dish ws good, but relatively the most disappointing of the evening for me. I would have liked my lamb a touch more rare, but I am splitting hairs and looking for something to criticize. If this was my most disappointing course, and it was, then I Had an outstanding meal, and I did.


Guffanti Moncensio, comice pear-endive salad, honey vinaigrette Nicely affineured cheese and a good accompaniment - satisfying.


Dessert amuse a carbonated smooth beverage, but I don't recall the specifics and it is not listed on the menu.


Caramelized Apple farm Newtown Pippin, thyme, westcombe cheddar ice cream - a reworking of a classic apple pie combination that continued the zen minimalist aesthetic of the meal - very nice.


Michel Cluizel Chocolate ganache, hazelnut, huckleberry, tarragon Delicious even for a filled belly.


Post Dessert


We emptied the restaurant. here is a view of the dining room after all the patrons but ourselves and another couple left. The restaurant was full all evening, but the service was not in the least rushed even as they tolerated us waiting for the last of our party for a half hour. Daniel Patterson came from the kitchen once and spoke briefly with some people known to him though he clearly looked to be uncomfortable in that situation. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet him, though I would have liked to. The meal was truly elegant and sophisticated in a very understated way. I would be very happy to return.

[ulterior epicure]

Super, doc! Thanks for the report and the excellent photography. I'm pleased to see that the cuisine is a lot less hyper-modern in presentation than I had thought it might be (which is a good thing for me). The apple and cheddar ice cream sounds awesome. Was the ice cream savory at all?

[docsconz]

Super, doc! Thanks for the report and the excellent photography.  I'm pleased to see that the cuisine is a lot less hyper-modern in presentation than I had thought it might be (which is a good thing for me).  The apple and cheddar ice cream sounds awesome.  Was the ice cream savory at all?

It was indeed savory. This was apple pie a la mode and with cheddar cheese all in one. This was a good example of a deconstruction/reconstruction that worked well even if there is nothing wrong with the original.

The presentations were not hypermodern in the Alinea, elBulli, wd-50 way, though I suspect that Patterson uses modern technique in his preparations. He is adventurous with ingredients with a very strong Japanese ingredient palette amongst other areas of influence. The restaurant minus the decor and atmosphere reminded me of Blue Hill at Stone Barns more than it reminded me of any other single restaurant.

[tinnitus]

I just got back from a casual lounge dinner at Coi, as opposed to 16 course with wine pairing extravaganza that we did a couple of months ago. It's hard to find a good restaurant in SF that can serve reasonable food on a Friday evening without being unpleasantly loud and packed, especially when one hasn't planned ahead with a reservation. The lounge area of Coi was comfortable and space was not a problem when we arrived at 7:45 (did call ahead but didn't reserve), although it did fill up by about 8:30 or 9pm. We ordered mostly from the simpler lounge menu, including the pork rillet (homemade, I'm sure, rich and unctuous with cornichons on the side), the grilled Gruyer sandwich (a reason to come back by itself, according to the other half), the slow cooked pork with cabbage and mashed potatoes (slow cooked for 15 hours and yet somehow completely juicy and delicate, an amazing feat really). We also got one dish off the tasting menu, the charred eggplant one that's been documented above and the apple dessert; the a la carte versions we received were both about twice the size of what's pictured in the photo, although I can't promise that it wasn't a result of preferential treatment. Aside from what we ordered, we also got the sunchoke amuse, an extra greeting from the kitchen of roasted baby beets with a pomegranate sauce (?), and a palate cleanser of creme fraiche ice cream with persimmons (I think). To drink we had an open glass of sauvignon blanc and one of Oregan pinot noir, followed by a recommendation of a half bottle of a 2001 Amarone, which was a gorgeous multi-layered wine.

I would really recommend the lounge if one is local-ish and not feeling up for the full tasting menu experience, as everything on the tasting menu plus the lounge menu is available to order separately in the lounge at very reasonable prices, and the service was absolutely professional and thoughtful. If it's your first or one time visit though, do get the long tasting menu as it has a number of highlights that you might not think to order individually.

[eje]

Great report and pictures, docsconz!

Wow, I am quite pleased and somewhat surprised to see the number of vegetable courses offered in the tasting menu at Coi! That is very cool.

[tupac17616]

I had the chance to visit Coi for the first time last week. My thoughts on the meal are below, and the photos can be seen HERE.

“Suck it up,” a friend and fellow blogger told me. “I think Coi has the potential to impress us.” Quite a reasonable reaction to my unreasonable hypocrisy. You see, I was just back from a trip to Paris, and suddenly I was Mr. Popular. I’d gotten mail from MasterCard and Citibank on the same day, and they both wanted to know how my trip had gone! Suddenly it seemed everybody wanted to talk to me, and I let it get to my head. These financial… souvenirs made me wonder if perhaps there was a better time to try a restaurant that carries a $120 minimum tariff. Any time I spend that kind of money in the Bay Area, I tend to play it safe and head back to my happy place.

But Chuck was right this time. What did I have to lose? If I’d cross the Atlantic to go to dinner without the slightest consideration of the associated consequences, there’s nothing that should keep me from the same sort of exploration closer to home. And so it was that we found ourselves at Coi last week. We sat down and filled in our ballots for the dishes on the 11-course menu that had an A-or-B choice. We ordered a bottle of 1997 Max Ferdinand Richter Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese (for a mere 240% of the retail price!). And the parade of plates began.

The first bite was called MILK & HONEY, and it was exactly that. The two ingredients made up a small liquid-filled sphere surrounded by a thin membrane. We were told to first smell the star lily flower, since its honeysuckle-like aroma was a preview of the flavors in the sphere. It was a sweet and creamy beginning to the meal, deftly balanced by just the slightest touch of salt.

Visually, the next course was like a pumped-up version of the first, but the flavor and texture were quite different. The combination of PINK GRAPEFRUIT ginger, tarragon, black pepper was sweet, tart, bitter and slightly spicy. Pink grapefruit gel was topped with a thick foam spiked with ginger and black pepper essential oils. I loved not only the taste of this, but also how it felt in my mouth. The combination of the gel and foam had a textural character that really made the flavors linger. There was also a dab of Coi perfume — no I am not kidding — on the plate. We were told to rub it on our wrists before eating this course, but I didn’t feel like it added much to the experience. That quibble aside, I really enjoyed this.

We were in for a pleasant surprise now, since we had both chosen the other menu option for the next dish. But the waiter smiled when he set the KAMPACHI SASHIMI white soy, yuzu, shichimi togarashi in front of us. The chef would like for us to try the whole menu, he said, so we would be having everything. Sweet. The fish here was fresh and well-seasoned. A small radish on the side was a crunchy, piquant palate cleanser. There was nothing wrong with this simple course, but for me it wasn’t as compelling as the ones that preceded it.

As much as I badmouth my new home state of California, it’s nice to live in a place where Spring actually begins in March. And the next course was a vibrant reminder of that: ASPARAGUS PANNA COTTA coconut milk, makrut lime leaf, cilantro. Under a layer of creamy coconut milk panna cotta was a purée of asparagus juice, blanched asparagus, olive oil, and vegetable stock, all set with gelatin. The shaved ribbons of asparagus and radish on the side tasted as bright and refreshing as the panna cotta. And though the lime leaf and cilantro lifted the flavors of those vegetables, I think an extra hit of acidity in the panna cotta itself would’ve made a nice difference.

The DAIRY FRESH GOAT CHEESE TART beets, dill, caraway was a refreshing spin on a dish that sounded kind of boring on paper. The tart crust was made with dehydrated and ground pumpernickel, ground caraway, and rye flour. A layer of fresh goat cheese inside was topped with goat cheese mousse, so the range of textures was fantastic. Red beet purée and roasted golden beets, fresh dill, and caraway seed all went really nicely with the tart.

The intriguingly titled OCEAN AND EARTH lobster in two textures, sea palm, cauliflower, borage came next. There were small pieces of lobster cooked sous vide with lobster oil, and noodles cut from lobster consommé gel infused with konbu and a little bonito. There were a few types of both raw and cooked seaweed, pickled cauliflower, borage, and a cauliflower-seaweed purée. My favorite part of the dish was the delicious purée, but I wonder if the textures of the lobster wouldn’t have been better appreciated without it. The subtle sweetness of the lobster was given more richness by the dashi-like infusion in the gel, but I’m not sure the cauliflower was enough to hold up the “earth” end of the title here.

The next dish was new to the menu, the waiter said, so he wanted our honest feedback on the CHILLED ENGLISH PEA SOUP creamy ricotta, lemon, nasturtiums. It turned out that my only complaint here was with myself — both for the Puritanic restraint I showed in not asking for a second bowl, and for lacking the healthy curiosity one should always have about whether or not the second bowl could be quite as delicious as the first. The flavor of the soup was exactly like the color — vibrant and green. The housemade ricotta was delicious and the lemon brought a bright top-note to every spoonful. Chuck and I both agreed this was the highlight of the savory portion of the meal.

This was followed by a course I wasn’t as crazy about: WARM SALAD OF SHAVED ARTICHOKES, FAVA BEANS AND LEAVES carolina gold rice, green garlic, baby leeks, mint. I did enjoy the fact that it was served warm, and I liked the texture that the rice lent to the dish. But I guess for me the flavors didn’t really come together how I had expected they would. The taste of the artichoke became a kind of one-note tune, not really changing or developing with the other accompaniments. I should point out that Chuck disagreed with me on this one, so maybe he’s got more of a predilection for artichokes than I do.

I was excited about the HODO SOY YUBA ‘PAPPARDELLE’ chantenay carrots, baby fennel, flowering bok choy, vadouvan. I know that tofu skin may conjure up some scary images for people, but a restaurant in Tokyo I visited a few months ago taught me that it can be a beautiful thing. Long wide ribbons of yuba were floating here in a vadouvan-scented broth, along with pieces of very flavorful baby vegetables. I loved the yuba “noodles”, which had the delicate texture of fresh pasta. And I thought the broth and the vegetables made for a very tasty soup. Chuck disagreed, since he didn’t think the vadouvan flavor really came through. But I think my only complaint with the dish was in the naming. Seeing the word “pappardelle” on the menu had me expecting a plate of pasta; not noodles floating around in a broth. But honestly if that is not nit-picking, I don’t know what is.

If I had wanted traditional pasta before, we got it anyway with the BLACK TRUMPET RAVIOLO celery root, flowering chervil, hazelnut, perigord truffle. I thought for a second about how not too many years ago, before the attempts at Italian cuisine in this country and before even your local neighborhood restaurant had a chef’s tasting menu, most people wouldn’t have known the singular form of “ravioli”. Then I realized I am a food nerd, and I should really get a life. In any case, it turned out the menu description here was like a USDA-approved food label — the ingredients were listed from most to least prominent. The mushrooms in the filling were flavorful, the celery root foam made a nice condiment, and bits of chopped hazelnut brought a very welcome bit of crunch. Unfortunately any truffle flavor or aroma was AWOL, granted it was late April so a look at the calendar could have predicted as much. Overall, another course that was good but not great.

Next we had a cooked fish course: the SAUTEED MADARA manila clams, agretti, red endive, smoked oil. Madara is another name for Pacific cod, and here it was cooked pretty well. The flesh was fork-tender and flaky, though a much crispier skin would have been nice. The fish rested in a small pool of tasty clam broth-based sauce dotted with smoked oil. The salad on the side was acidic, salty and slightly bitter, and I thought it went well with the fish. I don’t think Chuck was too thrilled with this dish, but I found it to be pretty tasty.

Another sure sign of spring was the MORELS slow cooked beck farms partridge egg, spring onions, pea shoots. These mushrooms are among my favorites: spongy in a good way, and a fantastic vehicle for the flavors around them. The morel broth they were served with here was given some extra thickness and richness from the runny egg yolk. A few tiny croûtons scattered around the plate brought some much-needed crunch, and the onions and greens were tender with a subtle natural sweetness. Still, I’m not sure all of this amounted to anything more than the sum of its parts. Don’t get me wrong — it was good, I just wasn’t crazy about it like I thought I might be.

Next we had two different cuts of POZZI FARM LAMB baby turnips, bloomsdale spinach, chicory. There was a slice of loin meat (probably cooked sous vide judging from the uniform pink inside) and a fat chunk of braised shoulder meat. The shoulder meat was really dry and kind of bland, although I thought the chicory sprinkled on it was a nice touch. The loin on the other hand was quite good. Very tender and flavorful, I only wish there had been more of it. I also thought the sautéed spinach, chicory and flame raisins were nice as a sweet counterpoint to the rich lamb jus.

Looking at the menu, I didn’t have a clue what CAVATINA (SOYOUNG SCANLAN) peppercress sprouts was going to be, but it turned out it was a cheese course. Soyoug Scanlan is the cheesemaker at Andante Dairy with a penchant for giving her cheeses musical names like nocturne, minuet, and in this case cavatina. I don’t remember the waiter’s description of this cheese, but if I had to guess I’d say it was goat’s milk. It had a semi-firm paste, an ashed rind, and a slightly tangy flavor. Not life-changing, but pretty good.

Pre-dessert came as a tall shot of ORANGE SODA. A simple housemade soda made with orange juice, sugar, and a little salt. It was topped off with crème fraîche that had bubbled up like an ice cream float, so it was a little difficult to get the drink out without a spoon. But once I did, it was a refreshing transition to the sweeter end of the meal.

The first dessert was a tasty wake-up call. Raised eyebrows and smiling faces were our first reactions to the CARROT CAKE carrot ganache, celery sherbet. This was fabulous — the carrot ganache, the moist cake, the celery sherbet — everything. Just the right level of sweetness, and a surprising show-stealer. This was my favorite course of the meal.

I’m not really a chocolate guy, but the MICHEL CLUIZEL “LOS ANCONES” GANACHE albion strawberries, wild licorice anglaise was great, too. The bittersweet ganache had rich chocolaty flavor that really lingered. The texture was almost like a thick mousse, keeping it from being too heavy. The strawberries tasted like actual strawberries, which is a big complement considering the flavorless watery impostors by the same name that one might find at the local supermarket. The licorice-spiked custard sauce was delicious.

But even those two delectable desserts were almost trumped by the McEVOY OLIVE OIL MILKSHAKE chocolate truffle. A non-custard based vanilla ice cream was blended with sweet buttermilk, vanilla-infused olive oil, and salt. The result was truly fantastic. After each sip was the buttery olive oil was what coated my mouth, rather than the lingering creaminess that you might get from a typical milkshake. The chocolate truffle on the side was nice, too, with a few coarse grains of salt on top to tame the sweetness. I can’t say enough good things about the shake, though, except to say that we asked for a second round posthaste.

The meal, I’ll admit, was a bit disjointed. Many dishes seemed to be on the cusp of something great, but few made the leap over the edge. And I’m not sure there was a unifying sense of direction in what we’d tasted. But honestly, maybe there didn’t need to be one. Chuck had insisted that Chef Daniel Patterson’s food had the potential to be impressive, and in the end, I found myself impressed by its potential. I have a lot of respect for the handful of Bay Area chefs with enough ambition and imagination to eschew being just another Chez Panisse derivative. Coi has the same great ingredients, even listing their provenance on a menu page of their own. But Patterson has the audacity to take these foods and do something beyond putting raw vegetables on a plate and calling it salad, or fresh fruit in a bowl and calling it dessert. His food has flashes of simplicity and flashes of technology, but both suggest a chef concerned not only with extracting flavors, but also with accentuating texture and exposing aroma (he wrote the book on it, in fact). And that suggests to me that Coi is a place well worth revisiting.

[Lenski]

I was in SF and Napa for the last week of 2008 (I had been in SF earlier in the year). I went to many restaurants but only two made me really want to write something about them.

COI/Chef Patterson


I was not prepared for this menu. I had been there once before and I enjoyed it. However, this time it was incredible, one of my best dining experiences of the year for me.

We had everything on the menu. The favorites were the Oysters, the Crab melt, the Earth and Sea, the Matsutake and the two desserts.
I did not care much for the "Abstraction of Garden in Early Winter." I thought the plating was too full and the chocolate did not do anything to enhance the vegs. THe "Abalone" and the "Fromage Blanc Tart" were pretty standard for my taste. The Cheese plate was also fantastic (big fan of Scanlan here).

Great service, great room and an outstanding meal. I am planning a one-weekend escape just to go to COI. It is worth 3000 miles and more.


Questions, ask.

l

[docsconz]

Based on our shared experiences and the restaurants you enjoy, I am not surprised that you enjoyed Coi. I would say that Chef Patterson's food is the closest thing stylistically to Andoni Aduriz' that I have seen in the US.

What was the other restaurant?

[Lenski]

How well do you know me!

I think Chef Patterson entered my personal pantheon of great Chefs. It was a perfectly executed meal, it is top five for me. The variety of the menu, the permutations of the very different ingredients into a plate never ceased to amazed me. The "quince and huckleberry parfait," for example, does not sound very appetizing but it was phenomenal.

You are absolutely right that he works in a manner not too different from Chef Aduriz. Different elements and techniques but similar culinary philosophies.


l


Michael Mina was the other one.

[docsconz]

How well do you know me!

I think Chef Patterson entered my personal pantheon of great Chefs. It was a perfectly executed meal, it is top five for me.  The variety of the menu, the permutations of the very different ingredients into a plate never ceased to amazed me.  The "quince and huckleberry parfait," for example, does not sound very appetizing but it was phenomenal.

You are absolutely right that he works in a manner not too different from Chef Aduriz. Different elements and techniques but similar culinary philosophies.


l


Michael Mina was the other one.

The latter surprises me a little. I found the food to be a little uneven when I was there. You must have ordered well. Did you try Canteen? That is one that I would guess that you would like as well.

[Lenski]

It was a very, very good and solid meal. Classic yet with interesting twists. I could not get into "Canteen" but I am going to SF as soon as I can....and I really do not care much for the city to tell you the truth.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I really do not care much for the city to tell you the truth.

What a shame -- can I ask why? (As a resident, I'm curious if it is something we can rectify).

BTW, I agree with you on Patterson but not on Mina... I would eat at Coi any day of the week but can't be encouraged to return to Michael Mina.

[Lenski]

I was actually expecting not to enjoy Michael Mina at all. Not only because the night before I had eaten at COI and it was such a wonderful and surprising experience, but also because it is not my kind of place. I went there to do a "been there" kind of check. However, it was a very, very good experience.

About San Francisco, I have traveled to SF 10 times approximately and I do not seem to connect with the city at all. I must be the only European who does not enjoy SF. I find it messy and dirty. I do not get North Beach at all for example. However, I am sure that it is me. If it were not for professional reasons and restaurants, I would not go there again.

But, next time, we will go to COI and Mina (and many others) and you tell me where to go.....

L, in Frankfurt

[Carolyn Tillie]

Thanks, Leski -- I can understand not getting North Beach; it has become mostly a tourist trap filled with mediocre restaurants, crowds, and rudeness (akin to Fisherman's Wharf with only *slightly* better food).

We have had an influx of homeless which is not helping the cleanliness of the city but having traveled extensively to more than a handful of European cities, I would challenge that we tend to be a bit more on the friendly side with pockets of delight that you have yet to experience.

Drop me a PM during your next visit and I'll be happy to introduce you to some of the charms which I have discovered since living here in the past three years, including little-known eateries that stay off radar.

[daisy17]

It looks like I have one dinner and possibly (hopefully) one lunch in San Francisco next week. Coi sounds fantastic. Can I eat at the bar w/o a reservation? I'll be solo and bar dining is my preference. Is that the "lounge" menu? Just as good as the dining room or not? Any guidance would be very much appreciated. thanks.

ETA: I just called the restaurant and its closed till Jan 13. i'm so sad.

Edited by daisy17, 04 January 2009 - 03:27 PM.

[Carolyn Tillie]

It looks like I have one dinner and possibly (hopefully) one lunch in San Francisco next week.  Coi sounds fantastic.  Can I eat at the bar w/o a reservation?  I'll be solo and bar dining is my preference.  Is that the "lounge" menu? Just as good as the dining room or not?  Any guidance would be very much appreciated.  thanks.

ETA: I just called the restaurant and its closed till Jan 13.  i'm so sad.

Sorry you'll be missing Coi. Consider Canteen for your lunch, though. What are some of your other dinner thoughts?

[daisy17]

Sorry you'll be missing Coi. Consider Canteen for your lunch, though. What are some of your other dinner thoughts?

Canteen was on my list (and it's a short list)! Go there for lunch and not dinner? (Not sure when In N Out is happening. maybe breakfast?) I need to hit Alembic on the one night I have in town (Thurs) for cocktails. Any suggestions for dinner after cocktails?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Sorry you'll be missing Coi. Consider Canteen for your lunch, though. What are some of your other dinner thoughts?

Canteen was on my list (and it's a short list)! Go there for lunch and not dinner? (Not sure when In N Out is happening. maybe breakfast?) I need to hit Alembic on the one night I have in town (Thurs) for cocktails. Any suggestions for dinner after cocktails?

The only In-N-Out in the city is at the tourist-trap area known as Fisherman's Wharf and it is not a good enough reason to venture into that neighborhood. Further discussion continued over in this thread on one-nighters...

[rancho_gordo]

About San Francisco, I have traveled to SF 10 times approximately and I do not seem to connect with the city at all. I must be the only European who does not enjoy SF.  I find it messy and dirty. I do not get North Beach at all for example.  However, I am sure that it is me. If it were not for professional reasons and restaurants, I would not go there again.

It might be the very things that you don't like are the things that attract talented chefs (and talented people of all kinds) to San Francisco. It is the wild west. There are unattractive pale people here. There's an incredible history in this town that failed as a mission and yet thrived during the gold rush. We have an incredible history that is acknowledged and then ignored. I would argue it can be anything you need it to be and you can come here and reinvent yourself better than almost anywhere else. And you can eat like almost nowhere else.

[Mhirby]

It might be the very things that you don't like are the things that attract talented chefs (and talented people of all kinds) to San Francisco. It is the wild west. There are unattractive pale people here. There's an incredible history in this town that failed as a mission and yet thrived during the gold rush. We have an incredible history that is acknowledged and then ignored. I would argue it can be anything you need it to be and you can come here and reinvent yourself better than almost anywhere else. And you can eat like almost nowhere else.

[/quote]


Well said! I love this city.

Also recently enjoyed a 4.5 hour meal at Coi which ranks with some of the best food I have eaten in the gastronomic genre, although the pace of the first few courses of the meal was extremely slow when considering the size of the portions. We were all still famished by the third course! Great, great food though.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

It might be the very things that you don't like are the things that attract talented chefs (and talented people of all kinds) to San Francisco. It is the wild west. There are unattractive pale people here. There's an incredible history in this town that failed as a mission and yet thrived during the gold rush. We have an incredible history that is acknowledged and then ignored. I would argue it can be anything you need it to be and you can come here and reinvent yourself better than almost anywhere else. And you can eat like almost nowhere else.

Woohoo, Rancho! My man!

[Carolyn Tillie]

Dinner on Thursday night -- my first visit in some time and my first since Michael Bauer gave Patterson four stars, so I was curious if it had changed much since my initial visit. Of the four of us dining, two of us had the wine pairings, but we all shared.

Amuse. Milk & Honey. A mouthful of concentrated milk flavor and honey flavors. Lovely.

1. Pink Grapefruit. This is the opening dish, served with the essential oil and paired with the Coi Cocktail. No change and still a nice palate cleanser for what is to come.

2. Earth and Sea. New harvest potatoes, cucumber, borage, sea beans, ice plant flowers. Served with Domaine de la Fruitiere Muscadet, France 2006. An interesting dish which was colored with squid ink. Creamy potatoes and grassy greens were brightened with the ice plant. Fabulous wine, but I'm not sure it did anything for the dish.

3. Inverted Andante Dairy Goat Cheese Start with black olive, vadouvan, preserved lemon, and wild arugula. Served with Gutzler Blac de Noir, Germany 2008. This was a beautifully-prepared dish and exciting to eat. The vadouvan was barely detectable as the goat cheese predominated in flavors. Creamy and well-complemented with the tang of the preserved lemon, the paper-think black olive start provided an exciting crunch. The wine pairing was too strident to work well with the goat cheese.

4. Winter Into Spring. Chilled English pea soup with buttermilk snow and mint. Pired with Ostatu Rioja Blanco, Spin, 2007. Heralding spring, what could be better than a bright green, clean pea soup? The soup itself was delightful but it was studded with almost frozen fresh peas. I thought it distracting and masking the flavor of the peas. They did "pop" in the mouth, which I imagine is what Chef Patterson was striving for, but I think it shut down the flavor of the peas. The buttermilk snow added a nice tang and was light enough to not fight the creaminess of the soup.

5. Fried Chicken Consommé. With artichokes, fava beans, radish, and green garlic. Paired with Coenobium Blanco, Italy, 2007. This was a very odd dish; four round fried "fritters" which I can only assume was aspic. Breaking one open, I half expected it to be liquid on the inside, but it was not. Not a very memorable dish for me and the wine pairing made the entire dish taste a lot more earthy than I believe was intended.

Intercourse - Tofu Mousseline with Mushroom dashi, yuba, kelp, pickled daikon, and ginger. Paired with Hitachino Nest White Ale. The last time I had Chef Patterson's yuba, I was not that thrilled as it was a bit too thick and gummy. He has certainly got it down significantly better, but I found the dish a bit overall too salty. There was barely any detectable ginger and I never did find any tofu mousseline. The pairing was spot on and made me chuckle a bit; the only other time I've had this ale was at a pairing at Bin 8945, by David Haskell.

6. Sautéed Monterey Bay Abalone. With Escarole, caper berry-sea lettuce vinaigrette. Paired with Domaine Tariquet, France 2007. My dining companions made a point of saying that Chef Patterson Twittered about getting the abalone that day so they were excited about the dish. I found it intensely mediocre; chewy and unbalanced, it tasted incredibly salty and almost unfresh in its overt "bottom-of-the-ocean" flavor.

7. Morels with burnt rice, ash, smoke, and pine. Paired with Louis Latour Marsannay, France 2006. I was most excited by this dish as I am quite the mushroom fan. And, sadly, it was the most disappointing dish of the evening (with the abalone a close second). In an opportunity to showcase morels in their whole, glorious state, they were chopped up in to small bits. The rest of the ingredients provided no color so the dish was muddy looking. The texture was pasty and many at the table indicated that the dish was too reminiscent of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup -- thick and gloppy. Great wine though!

8. Marin Sun Farms Goat in Different Forms with sprouted seeds, nuts, beans, and wheatgrass. Paired with Chateau Rayas 'La Pialade' France, 2005. Very well executed protein; rare and tender, showcasing the gamy quality of the goat. Quite frankly, though, I'm not sure how preparing the meat four different ways really showed off Chef Patterson's talent or the ingredient, as they were all piled together on the plate. We had no way of knowing which piece was prepared in which fashion.

9. Comte (Marcel Petite) with spring lettuces.

10. Olive Oil Shortcake with strawberry rhubarb, lemon balm, and long pepper, paired with Elvio Tintero Moscato d'Asti Sori Gramella, Italy, 2008. I could eat TONS of this cake. Moist, light and delightful.

11. White Chocolate, semi-frozen with Brooks cherry, lime, and thyme. Paired with Mas Amiel, France, 2006. I would like to think that even those who are not white chocolate fans would appreciate this dish. Creamy and rich without being too cloying, it lied on a bed of "crumbles" which were mostly indeterminable, but added a nice crunch. The wine pairing worked with the cherry elements in the dessert.

Vanilla Milkshake -- I guess this has replaced the much-loved warm malt drink. The new offering is topped with olive oil which made for a very bright mouthfeel.

Petit Fours - Chocolate truffles with finely ground cookie crust. I could eat these all day.

Now, reflecting on this meal a few days later, I am more unimpressed than impressed. It is the mediocrity of the abalone and the morels that I am remembering more than the successes (which, quite frankly, were the desserts). By and large the meal was too heavily salted and a bit ponderous in its seriousness. There seemed no attempt at levity in the intent of showcasing fresh, raw ingredients; uncooked items were mere garnishes or -- in the case of the peas -- frozen as a "trick." Too many bells and whistles without letting the ingredients speak for themselves.

[Food Snob]

Hi,
this is the write up of my meal last April.
Please click here for the full post and photography: HERE

Events unforeseen and the United States government conspired to delay my arrival in the city by four hours. I had set aside sufficient time to unpack, undress, put on my suit and make it to Coi for an early dinner, but instead, I had to make my way straight from San Francisco International to the restaurant.

The comedy of my consequent enforced, cinematic-style change of clothes in the back of a cab admittedly assuaged some of my annoyance, but I also took comfort that Coi – an archaic French term for tranquil, but today commonly used to mean speechless/quiet – implied that it could be the perfect antidote to the day’s aggravating events.

Chef-patron Daniel Patterson opened the restaurant almost three years ago to the day (14 April 2006) and it is fair to say, it has gone from strength to strength since, winning two Michelin stars along the way. The chef, whose interest in cuisine was fostered by childhood summers spent in France, began his career in the kitchen at fourteen back in his native Boston. After a couple of years at Duke studying literature, he moved to California in the eighties, working at Zola’s then in Yountsville at Mustards Grill and Domaine Chandon, before setting out on his own with Babette’s in Sonoma in 1994. Five years later, Patterson moved back to the city with Elisabeth Daniel, where he made a name for himself with an experimental if not fashionable style. The restaurant eventually closed in 2003 with Patterson taking a two-year break before returning as the debut chef at Frisson – a sort of contemporary supper club. It was during this time that the chef started using essential oils in his cooking and co-authored a cookbook on the topic with perfumer Mandy Aftel, ‘Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance’. However, only a year after starting at Frisson, he left to open his third restaurant, Coi. His subsequent success here has encouraged and allowed him to extend his interests, for instance, he is now consultant chef at Bracina, a new restaurant in nearby Oakland. In his spare time, he is still very interested in literature, writing for various publications, including the New York Times, wherein he wrote maybe his most popular piece, ‘To the Moon, Alice’, in November 2005 (shortly before Coi was unveiled). This article caused a lot of controversy. Although generally assumed to be an affront to Alice Waters of Chez Panisse popularity, Patterson was in fact chastising the Bay Area chefs who chose to merely mimic her food steps and rely on the region’s prime produce for results, in stead of showing any creativity or technique. When the chef is not writing, he plays keyboard in a band – Syd’s Last Trip; in his own words, ‘think Sonic Youth meets Pink Floyd’.

Although Coi is found in San Francisco’s financial district, the strip clubs and adult video shops that litter the neighbourhood are enough to inform even those unfamiliar with the city that Broadway must be a forgotten fringe. The restaurant, which inhabits a nearly hundred-year-old historical building, resides adjacent Centrefolds – one of said strip clubs and the hottest entertainment in San Francisco (so says Google). The interior, designed by Scott Kester, who previously also collaborated with Patterson at Frisson, is split into three: there is the informal lounge with room for twenty; a smarter space seating twenty-nine; and private area for up to eight guests. To reach the main room, one enters into a small reception bay before passing through a corridor past the lounge, which is filled with burled walnut tables, furred Flokati pillows (made by the chef’s girlfriend) and photography from acclaimed local Catherine Wagner. The dining room, drawing on a Japanese aesthetic (where the designer has worked and chef eaten) is less adorned. The narrow room is bordered by two banks of banquettes of bouclé-like earthy beige yarn, white linen-layered tables and mossy-brown chairs. The carpet is a light woody brown, whilst the ceiling is covered in wagami, laden with leaves. The main lighting in the windowless space comes through this paper panelling and from recessed spotlights behind the tall banquettes. Most of the earthenware crockery is made by Edith Heath; the cutlery is Italian; and stemware, Spiegelau. Some colour is provided by two large bouquets that sit in black vases on a wooden stand opposite the entrance. The room reflects an organic, earthy and hermetic sentiment with little to distract the diner.

The dining room has a semi-set menu made up of eleven courses with some calling for a choice between two dishes; there is also some flexibility as regards the final number of plates taken.

Amuse Bouche: Milk and honey. To start, a serpentine silver spoon was served within which a spherificated milk and honey bubble sat, topped with alyssum flower. The little ladle presented an introduction to Patterson’s multi-sensory methods; the small, sweet-smelling flower suggestive and prescient of the orb’s own honeyed creaminess.

Entrée 1: Pink grapefruit; ginger, tarragon, black pepper. A foamy white cloud of pink grapefruit encased icy sorbet of the same fruit and its supremes, steeped in cognac-tarragon gel and infused with essential oils of black pepper and ginger; upon the same plate, a speck of Coi perfume – formed from the same edible elements as adjacent – was supplied. Instructions included sniffing the scent – redolent with spicy and floral notes – prior to starting with the starter. Under the thick froth, the sorbet was sour and sharp, whilst the succulent citrus segments were sweet and tart. Some latent spiciness slowly came through from the warm ginger, aniseed-like tarragon and pepper. They left behind an interesting linger of contrasting savours, but I have to confess that I found the foregoing olfactory exercise ineffective.

Bread: Brown and white rolls. Two varieties of roll were brought – brown and white. Baked onsite, both were decent. However, although warm and soft, they lacked any real crust, with just a wafer-thin, spongy surface instead. The unsalted, milky light butter was perked up with Welsh sea salt.

Entrée 2: Shiny beets; citrus scented gel, vadouvan. A vibrant pair of smooth, but bumpy beetroot slices, bringing to mind pebbles gently eroded by the sea, were placed in the plate’s centre atop a smear of glossy vadouvan. Both beets, one regular red, the other golden, were olive oil-marinated, oven-roasted and coated with jelly composed from the beets’ own juices together with essential oils of Kaffir lime and wild orange. The vadouvan was subtle and warm at first, but with slowly increasing spiciness. Each beet – the red distinctively earthy and yellow, sweet – was cool, firm and almost crunchy, in contrast to the creamy, citric sharp gels that covered them.

Entrée 3: Inverted Andante Dairy goat cheese and black olive tart; chicories, green apple, mint. Large beads of goat cheese, enveloped by a ring of black olive and vadouvan vinaigrette, were hidden underneath a thin, crisp tuile of black olive, caraway and rye; cubes of jellied green apple, chicory and mint were scattered over the upside-down tart. The ersatz crust, crunchy and crumbly, had great flavour with slight sweetness and wholesome, mealy aftertaste. Unctuous and pasty, the cheese was gently tart and not at all overpowering, whilst the apple squares added sourness and leaves, a little tanginess.

Entrée 4: Winter into spring; early season asparagus, buttermilk snow, herbs. In an Oriental, earthenware bowl, a base of creamy purée lay beneath poached small spears and crisp shavings of fresh asparagus, all under buttermilk powder and herby fennel. This unexpectedly cold ‘snow’, which gave the whole dish a fresher, almost more natural impression, was rather sour, in contrast to the faint sweet flavour of the grassy vegetable, itself accentuated by the fennel’s aniseed. The buttermilk’s cold temperature and green savour of the asparagus personified the feel of winter and spring successfully and surprisingly well.

Entrée 5: Abalone/oyster; fennel in different forms. A mixed mass of diced abalone and oyster was accompanied by brittle flatbread that came smeared with bright green fennel purée, carrying lacy cuts of fennel and its fronds whilst peppered with its pollen too. The elemental aroma of the ocean was noticed first and at once. The shellfish had nice, subtle flavour with the chewier abalone complementing the more muculent oyster. Fennel’s delicate sweetness was a nice counterpoint for the rich, marine taste, just as the crunchy cracker was texturally. On a practical point, the bowl, whilst interestingly mimicking an abalone shell, made consuming the contents a little awkward.

Entrée 6: Fried chicken consomme; artichokes, fava beans and leaves, radish, green garlic. Four fried cubes of chicken consommé, crowned with mustard greens, came resting in green garlic mayonnaise and matched with skinny slices of radish, artichoke and broad beans. Chicken and gelatine soup, that having set had been rolled into bouncy cubes, then delicately deep fried, had crunchy coats and creamy centres, like melt-in-the-mouth croquettes. Buttery beans, crisp greens and peppery radish were all exceedingly fresh, but it was the sweet, mild garlic mayo that stood out. The connection between the chicken and vegetables, however, seemed almost tenuous, whilst some more sauce would have also been welcome and perhaps even solved the former issue.

Entrée 7: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter; glazed young carrots, burnt breadcrumbs, almonds, wood sorrel. A trio of glazed baby carrots, gently cooked in their own juices, were served sparingly with only a sprinkled line of wood sorrel on one side and a broad steak of burnt breadcrumbs, chicory and toasted almonds on the other. The straightforward and somewhat austere assembly of this vegan dish’s elements was evocative of the central vegetable as it would exist in nature – the crumbs, chicory and nuts symbolising the soil; the carrots, the taproot; and the sorrel, their leafy green tops. Firm in the middle, edges melting, the carrots were tasty and sweet; the crumbly ‘soil’ supplied the salty and bitter, as well as smoky, with the inclusion of chicory and sea salt especially effective touches. What surprised most though was the crisp, sour-lemon herb, which was strikingly strong and fresh.

Entrée 8: Earth and sea; steamed tofu mousseline, yuba, fresh seaweeds, mushroom dashi. Short, wide strands of yuba from the Hodo Soy Beanery floated in a mushroom dashi with thinner ribbons of seaweed, radish sticks and pickled Tokyo turnip. Portobello, shitake and button mushroom broth, possibly thickened with xanthum gum, was clear, mildly nutty and toothsome. The springy nori and crunchy, intense turnips were agreeable. Pleasingly scented and subtly sweet, pasta-like yuba – dried soy milk skin – were light, milky yet tender and picked up on the nuttiness of the dashi.

Entrée 9: Nettle-ricotta cannelloni; wild mushrooms, oxalis flowers. A cannellono of nettle, crammed full of ricotta cheese, littered with yellow oxalis flowers, lay alongside sautéed chanterelle, hedgehog and trumpet mushrooms in blended green and brown swirls of nettle and mushroom jus. The nettle jelly wrap had a hint of pepper and hardier savour to spinach that balanced well with the soft, warm, savoury-sweet ricotta. The meaty mushrooms, plump, juicy and earthy, were very good, whilst the crispy flowers, pleasantly lemony.

Plat Principal 1: Sturgeon poached in smoked oil; caviar vinaigrette, nasturtium scented potatoes. A fillet of white sturgeon, poached in smoked olive oil and dripping with Californian oscietra caviar, was propped upon a bed of nasturtium-crushed potato. The contrast of the fish’s alabaster flesh, freckled with black beads in bubbly vinaigrette, brightened by the verdant tuber base and colourful floral garnish, was pleasing on the eye. The salty smell of the roe was initially noted and then reinforced by its briny flavour and smooth consistency. It proved an effective condiment to the tasty sturgeon that was buttery and almost sweet. Creamy, rough potato, imbued with peppery cress, was an excellent vegetal foil for the rich, verging-on acidic dressing.

Plat Principal 2: Slow cooked farm egg; slow roasted farro, erbette chard, brown butter parmesan sauce. An egg, sous vide, surrounded by slow-cooked green farro, interspersed with erbette, arrived almost submerged in a parmesan beurre noisette whose colour corresponded precisely to that of the plate and aroma was delightful. The farro – an heirloom grain from which all others were derived – preparated similarly to risotto, were plump and nicely salted by the parmesan. Subtly bitter spinach beets soothed the richness of the creamy egg as the rosemary foam added a sweet accent to this satisfying dish.

Plat Principal 3: Bellweather Farm baby lamb; English peas, spring onions, little gems, flowering thyme. Slow-roasted with mirepoix and thyme, the tenderloin and neck from a baby lamb, were served, each upon a slip of pea purée, drizzled with lamb jus vinaigrette and teamed with little gem lettuce, spring onions and more peas. The loin, layered with a little juicy fat atop, was succulent and toothsome, but the leaner cut of neck was unfortunately a tad dry and chewy. The vegetables were all well-cooked: the moist lettuce, crispy; sweet peas, crunchy; and the spring onion shells, firm to bite. Thyme-flavoured jus had a nice spicy twang to it.

Cheeses: Trio (Soyoung Scanlan); toast, spring lettuces. A single wedge of trio – a triple blend of cow, goat and crème fraîche – from the Andante dairy, set on a thin wafer, was accompanied by baby local lettuce dressed with champagne vinaigrette. Trio is a creation of Soyong Scanlan, a musician/dairy scientist who has been growing her own cheeses since July 1999 and giving each a musical moniker; she uses Jersey cows’ milk from Spring Hill Dairy and goats’ from the Volpi Ranch. This example was dense with a pleasingly thick pate and fairly strong, though only hinting of goats’ milk. The fresh, barely bitter greens and slightly tart vinaigrette balanced well with it.

Pre-dessert: Pomelo ice; coriander gel. Segments of pomelo, superimposed by its grantité, were immersed in a gel of coriander. The meat of the fruit was juicy and sweet, whilst its ice was sugary and refreshingly cool; the spiced jelly struck a common citrus note with the pomelo.

Dessert 1: Blood orange curd; Douglas fir ice cream, black walnut crumble. A deep burgundy bar of blood orange, burrowed amidst black walnut crumble showered with powdered sugar and possibly confit orange supremes, was presented with a pastel pear-green coloured quenelle of Douglas fir ice cream and splashes of orange purée. The crunchy streusel, nutty with a hint of sweet-smokiness, was delicious whilst the smooth, fruity curd was just as good. Douglas fir ice cream, which had a welcome scent like wintergreen, was sugary, woody and slightly lemony-citrus, linking well with the orange, whose segments were like explosions of mellow juice.

Dessert 2: Carmelized jasmine custard; hazelnut and cocoa textures. A firm custard log of jasmine, carpeted by crushed hazelnut and cocoa nibs and topped with sugar tuile was flanked by frothy splash of jasmine tea emulsion, decorated with jasmine leaf, and drop of gastrique. This syrupy caramel-sherry vinegar reduction was sour-sweet and had real kick. The custard itself was subtle and smoky, its velvet creaminess complemented by the brittle blend of nutty-cocoa nibs – essentially cocoa beans without their shells – that was milky and rich. The foam offered little except some lightly floral scent.

Petit Fours: Chocolate ganache truffle and McEvoy olive oil & vanilla milkshake. Brown sugar coated, brown butter truffle was thick, dark and had a touch of butterscotch. The vanilla milkshake, mizzled with mcEvoy olive oil was a treat; the shake’s cool, woody-sweet vanilla enlivened with a whiff of fruity-pepper from the Californian oil.

The staff were very professional, efficient and attentive. What I had at first considered as collectively aloof conduct, by the evening’s end, I appreciated as calm, quiet and actually peaceful comportments. Each server was friendly, considerate and engaging, making me feel at ease in an indeed serene setting. The chef, with whom I was able to exchange a few words with, surprised me. Having read some of the articles he has written, I admit I expected someone more assertive and, well, louder; instead Daniel Patterson was softly-spoken and quiescent – in fact, he was the personification of the mood his dining room had moved me to. Then again, he has mentioned before that he ‘normally hate[s], hate[s], hate[s] visiting the dining room…standing awkwardly in front of the table muttering inanities…’

The meal commenced with an interactive if, in my opinion, somewhat vain first few courses. The amuse and initial entrée, both intended to involve and interest multiple senses in a more explicit manner than the plates that proceeded, both had a rather limited effect on me. It was not that I found them gimmicky – after all, the association between savour and smell is well-documented – it is just that the methods by which this connection was made use of did not add to my eating pleasure. That being said, as the dishes continued, my enjoyment of them increased. The inverted Andante Dairy goat cheese and black olive tart was the earliest to excite, followed by the abalone/oyster and sweet, sour, salty, bitter – which I liked especially for its simple yet clever playfulness. The nettle-ricotta cannelloni was tasty, as was the sturgeon poached in smoked oil. The pairing of the fish and its roe, although almost intuitive, is used surprisingly sparingly, but Patterson applied it provocatively here. Blood orange curd; Douglas fir ice cream, black walnut crumble was the best of the desserts and possibly the most delicious dish of all. Dinner was not faultless though with the overcooking of the Bellweather Farm baby lamb the most serious disappointment, whilst the fried chicken consommé, though showing creativity, did relatively little for my palate.

When I consider the meal, I would say Patterson’s cuisine was, for the most part, very effective. The food was able to engage me – physically and mentally – through taste, texture and the natural aromas from the ingredients and their cooking. There also seemed to be a subtle pattern in the progression of plates, with the sensory focus shifting from initially olfactory, then textural to finally simple taste. The most capable course was actually one I felt rather indifferent towards. With the winter into spring, I found the flavours decent if not delicious, but I genuinely felt myself able to perceive the essence of winter and spring from the elements within the dish; here, I thought the chef’s use of contrasting temperatures and consistency, as well as his component selection, both intelligent and skilful. The abalone/oyster too, with its compelling oceanic theme, was not far behind in terms of efficacy. Attention deserves to be devoted to the chef’s excellent produce – I was actually stunned by the pure lemony sting of the wood sorrel that came with the sweet, sour, salty, bitter. I appreciate that California is blessed indeed when it comes to ingredients, but credit ought to go where credit is due. Actually, I can state with some confidence where each piece of produce today came from – I know, for example, that the black walnuts from my first dessert came from Full Belly in Guinda and that my English peas came Iacopi in Half Moon Bay. I know these because Patterson lists every supplier opposite his menu. This makes for interesting reading, but also impresses as it shows that all the chef’s ingredients are from local farms and growers, from Coi’s own garden or even foraged (like the seaweeds and alyssum flowers).

Judging on what I have read before and since this dinner, it appears that the cooking has become more consistent than it has previously been. Patterson’s skill as a chef or his sourcing has not been questioned, but meals have been criticised as lacking direction or a steady pattern. That was not evident today. Though I cannot nicely label Patterson’s style, neither can I say that dishes followed an incoherent or inconstant path. Instead, what was revealed from the start and remained the same going forwards was the use of prime products, ranging from common to educational, and their careful, but deceptively simple, preparation to produce a balanced and pleasing experience. For one thing, it must be said Patterson is no hypocrite – he is not interested in idly relying on his raw materials to do all the work, he is applying his own talent to making them better, making them more.

What struck me most about this meal was my mood throughout and following it. It was one of extreme calm. The dining room, staff and the food all contributed to this emotion. The restaurant became almost my cocoon for that evening, sheltering my thoughts and myself from all but the plate in front of me.