docsconz

The lamb and C&D was picked up for us by a generous friend so I don't know what the additional cost was for those items. The wines were certainly not inexpensive, but the 1/2 bottle list was not insurmountable.

Some worms can be harmful to humans if eaten raw. This is one reason why fish meant to be eaten raw (e.g. sushi) should be deep frozen for a period prior to consumption.

Robert, Thank you, but I think I can safely say no happier than we were It was amazing.

The desserts kept coming. The Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee (not listed on the menu) was excellent. As were these chocolate covered macadamia nuts... and these thin, sweet crisps... and the selection of bon-bons I had a fabulous meal. The highs were indeed very high with one inexplicable (to me) low. The service was so good that it just flowed and wasn't really noticeable the way great service should be. Molto will add addional thoughts and perhaps a few more photos to finish up this report.

I love restaurant kitchens especially when they hum like the French Laundry's was humming. This was particularly notable and to the credit of everyone associated with making the kitchen work as neither Thomas Keller (in Las Vegas) nor Corey Lee (night off) were there. Devin Knell and Michael Swenton did an exemplary job if our plates and visit to the kitchen were any indication. Devin Knell plating the fabulous lobster course and others. Egg plates ready for service. We did not have these, although I recall having had something similar at Per Se. Pastry station A spotless pantry. Cold prep room Simmering stock With Chefs Michael and Devin. We were led back to our table to resume dining. "Feuilletine au Caramel" Butterscotch "boite", Caramel "Mousse" and Milk Chocolate-Praline "Feuilletine" with Olivares, Dulce Monastrell, Jumilla, Spain 2001. Delicious, but once again on the sweet side for my taste, which is decidedly more dark chocolate.

The lamb, piquillo peppers and eggplant were also outstanding. To this point the meal was truly incredible, hitting on every cylinder. If the meal had stopped here, this would have been pretty darn close to perfect. The remainder of the meal, while still generally very good was a notch below what came before for me. The turndown started in a very big way for me. This next course just didn't work for me. The components were fine on their own, but together clashed. "Comte Saint Antoine" Applewood-Smoked Bacon-wrapped Yukon Gold Potato "Bouchon" and Sour Michigan Cherry Puree The combination of textures was one I did not find pleasurable, although each was fine on its own. I can say the same for the flavor. This is the one dish of the night that I just could not understand. It was paired with Vall Lach, "Embruix", Priorat, Spain 2003, a delicious wine. The dessert course that followed were all very good but with the exception of the first one that Molto will describe a litle bit on the sweet side for my taste. Nevertheless, the execution was superb. That first dessert course was excellent, though.

We are back on track for the rest of the meal. Herb-Roasted Sirloin of Dry-Aged Prime Beef California Grey Morel Mushrooms, Green Asparagus, "Pain Perdu au Moelle" and "Sauce Bordelaise" paired with Vieux-Telegraphe, Chateauneuf du Pape 1998, a glorious wine that I have enjoyed before and was happy to again. This beef was great. Although the evenness of color screams sous vide, I was most definitelytold it wasn't. I knew the menu said roasted, but I was thinking quick high-temp roast at the end to get a little maillard. They said no sous vide at all for this dish. Incredible!

Great stuff, Doc! I'm curious about your wine pairings - when we were there, they flat -out (and quite rudely) refused to offer us pairings. Did you concoct your own tasting from their limited glass sections, or did you order full bottles? I await the next 14 or so courses... ← We had half bottles with the occasional glass with select courses (e.g. foie gras) for which a half bottle wasn't reasonable expecially as we had somewhat divergent progressions.

For the next course we were back on track. Grilled Filet of Gulf Coast Pompano, Caramelized Fennel Bulb, Confit de Pamplemousses" and Fennel-Grapefruit "Vinaigrette" was outstanding. The flavors and balance of this were incredible. I truly loved this dish. It was one of the standouts of this trip. The wine was Colin-Deleger "Les Vergets" 1er Cru 2000 Chassagne Montrachet. "Choufleur Polonaise" Maine Lobster Tail Cuit Sous Vide , "Gratin" of Cauliflower "Fleurettes", Hen Egg "Mimosa" with Young Parsley Shoots was my single favorite dish of the trip and one of the best ever for me. This combination just sang my song. This picture says it all for me. I could have licked the bowl even cleaner. The pairing was with Brundlmayer, Reisling "Zobinger Heilgenstein-Alte Reben", Kamptal, Austria 2004. We diverged again on the next course. I had Wolfe Ranch Roasted Rabbit Shoulder"Cassoulet" of Spring Pole Beans, "Saucisson A L'Ail" and Burgundy Moutard "Jus" The rabbit was delicious as was the "Cassoulet". Having been to Rancho Gordo earlier in the day and knowing they use his beans at TFL, I was hoping this dish was going to have some. It didn't nor did any others that evening, but the fresh pole beans were a satisfactory substitute Molto will present his course.

I will add a few photos of the garden and exterior to Molto's. Although it had rained rather voluminously on our drive up from S.F. in the morning, it had cleared nicely by the afternoon, so much so that we had a nice wine tasting at Plump Jack Winery. By the time we made it over to the Laundry to find where it was the lighting was marvellous. Broad views of the French Laundry garden and beyond. I really was there By no means were we the only ones with cameras. Those without were anomolous. In fact, while we were scoping the place out around 5:30 or so, guests were beginning to arrive. One woman, dining alone, stopped in front, took off her shoe, held it up in front of her as she was facing the building and took a photo of her shoe at The French laundry. We asked if she would like us to take her picture for her, but she politely refused, explaining that she does that all the time as a memento. The gougeres and salmon tartar cones are rightly legendary. ...but then, so are Oysters and Pearls, "sabayon" of pearl tapioca with Beau Soleil oysters and Russian sevruga caviar. This was the second time I've had it, the other at Per Se in NYC. Both were simply unctuous. Our wine pairing was champagene, Pierre Gimonet, "Brut", 1er Cru Luis XV The pairings were uniformly excellent. While I will list the wines, I will only comment further if there was something particular to comment on with the wines. I will take a moment to compare the spaces of The French Laundry and Per Se. Both are understated elegance. TFL is country, while Per Se is City and they clearly offer the feel of each. I was actually surprised at how understated TFL is. Per Se, while in the restaurant, is much more dominated by its surroundings. While in TFL, I felt the location was secondary if not for source of much of the food. Molto's and my menus veereed a little from each other's. After the Oysters and Pearls I had my foie gras. Moulard Duck "Foie Gras Poele", Belgian endive "En Ravigote", Royal Blenheim Apricot Puree, Yountville Mustard Blossoms and "Sauce ala Moutarde en Grains". This included two generous pieces of foie gras, marvellously prepared. My accompaniment was Kiralyudar, Tokaji "Cuvee Ilona", Hungary 2000. More to come later...

Indeed it is. i would recommend that anyone with ties to the Saratoga area get on the e-mailing list as not only does it chronicle the restaurant, it has great discussion on broader food-related topics as well as The Family Parker.

the view is great and it is pretty place, but that is true for just about any eatery there. One place that looked good, but we didn't get to try was Boulettes Larder.

I had a lovely Sunday lunch by myself at Zuni Cafe a couple of weeks ago. They had a nice table for one available when I walked in. It was fairly late, but still pretty busy. I started with a Meyer Lemondrop that seemed to go straight to my head. It was good, but I had to have some of their delicious bread and butter to go with it. The view from my table with lemondrop and bread. I had just read about Olympia Oysters in the latest issue of The Art of Eating newsletter and was hoping I would come across some. Fortunately for methey were on the menu here and I leapt at the chance. They were small, but exquisite. I will continue to be on the lookout for these little beauties from Washington. As a single diner, i couldn't go hog wild and order the chicken for two ...but I did have the pizza with mozzarella, fontina, rapini, lemon zest and pine nuts. It was beautifully done. Although I was sorely tempted for dessert, it was already fairly late and I wanted to save some room for Ame later that eveing. I am glad i did but that is another story.

They may very well have been raw. If so they must have been very fresh indeed.

LOL!! doc - watching a bit of Rachel Ray, are we? Just kidding. Great report on Incanto. I'm really afraid that after reading all of your reviews, I'll be tempted to prolong my stay in the Bay area on an upcoming visit! u.e. ← Maybe it's a geographic thing as Rachel is basically a neighbor of mine.

I was not really waiting but having seen the one for Ame I will absolutely be waiting patiently. What a great job on the other thread! ← Thanks. we are working on it now.

Nice report. The asparagus salad does look and sound wonderful. Was the shaved asparagus raw do you think? If you were trying to reproduce this at home, what would you try? (This sounds like a wonderful Easter dinner course...) ← my guess is that it was shaved then quickly blanched, tossed in EVOO with mint and salt. Simple but delicious. I will try it as well.

Maybe I was spoiled by my recent trip to Mexico. I probably would have liked this place much more a month earlier, but then maybe not. I thought it was good, but nothing special. The food certainly looked really good though. taco de pescado "Baja", battered and deep fried ling cod in soft corn tortillas with cabbage and avocado-cilantro cream. Good. taco de carne asada. The same as Molto's. I was underwhelmed by this. I found it dry and surprisingly tasteless. Maybe it was just a less than stellar batch. frijoles boiled pinto beans topped with mexican cheese and cilantro. These were very disappointing as they had next to no flavor. Unfortunately, I inexplicably did not get a photo of the one thing that I really enjoyed - the taco de carnitas. The braised pork was juicy and full of great flavor. I would return for this and perhaps the quesadilla mijita, although I have no doubt that there are better and more reasonably priced taquerias in San Francisco.

I had the pleasure of meeting Melkor and some of his friends at Incanto a couple of weeks ago when I was in S.F. for a Medical meeting. I took the Muni out to the Noe Valley from my hotel in Embarcadero, which was a fun, although somewhat harrowing experience as it was very difficult to determine when to get off:laugh: Because I was a little uncertain I left a lot of time and actually got there early enough to sit at the bar for awhile. The place is charming to say the least. I certainly wouldn't mind having it in my neighborhood. I managed to pass the time with a nice prosecco. When melkor and friends arrived we were shown to a nice four-top table, wherre we decided to order a number of items and share. Of course I took photos. While post-production programs can do wonders with low light, unfortunately they cannot do anything for a shaky hand Nevertheless, I managed to come away with a few presentable photos.We started with some olives and a few other items. This is house cured wild boar prosciutto done by Chef Chris Cosentino himself. I was fortunate in that only one other person at the table was able to eat it. It was silky and very nicely cured. Artichoke & spring onion frito with Aioli. this was nicely fried comfort food. Little gem lettuce with anchovy, sieved egg & Parmesan. This salad was tasty and satisfying. Shaved Asparagus Salad with Mint. This may have been my favorite course of the night. The flavors were all fresh, clean and very refreshing. This dish held the essence of spring. We also had Tripe and Clams with Green Garlic and Chillies, but alas this is one that the photo didn't come out so well. This was good with a very soppable sauce. We had several pasta dishes including pappardelle with chiodini & black trumpet mushrooms, Ravioli of Ricotta & broccoli di ciccio, and assorted shapes with duck testicles and coxcombs made especially for us by Chef Cosentino. Unfortunately none of those photos were sharp either. I did get a decent photo of our other pasta dish though Spaghettini with bottarga, lemon, chilli & garlic. All the pastas were good, although the pappardelle were my only disappointment of the evening as my mouth found a little grit that made eating it mildly unpleasant. The testicles and coxcombs were an interesting experience and actually rather tasty. Chef Cosentino has a reputation for offal that I see is deserved. Mains included a wonderful whole branzino & wild fennel in cartoccio with herb salad and Poussin fra diavolo with shaved fennel & Dandelion greens. The poussin was cooked perfectly and had a good, but not overpowering bite to it. The bay leaf panna cotta with candied kumquats was one of the better desserts I had on my trip. This was an excellent dinner and best of all a fine value. It has the warm feel of a neighborhood eatery that would not be out of place in Europe.

We're all waiting patiently, Docsconz. Well, I am, anyway. ← I'm glad you have been patient. Now that I have finished my Mexico reportf, I am able to devote some time to my California experiences. Molto e and I met up in San Francisco for a whirlwind culinary extravaganza including The French Laundry. We are in the midst of tag-teaming our reports. Last night we did our first, for Ame at the St. Regis.. We should be getting to this within a couple of days

Good news. I was starting to get concerned that I might never get to try DiFara's.

Marvellous, Percy. What is the status of sous vide in Philly now?

Wow! That was a tasting menu? No small plates those. That was a lot of food. Your guests did not leave hungry. It looked delicious.

I enjoyed the Coffee Shake very much, although doughnuts, even these, are not really "my thing". Eliot it turns out is much more of a doughnut aficionado then I. I concur with Eliot's dessert preference, although the desserts were my least favorite aspect of the meal. Again, this was a recurring theme throughout our trip - at least for me. I also concur that the kitchen did an awesome job without either of the principals in the kitchen and on a Sunday night to boot. This is a serious restaurant serving seriously good food. As a parting note, we pretty much closed the place up.

The cheeses were very good, but perhaps the least memorable course of the evening for me. We drank Ojai Vineyard, Late Harvest Viognier, Roll Ranch 2004 and Smith Woodhouse, Colheita Tawny Port with the cheeses. These did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm for our waitperson's pairing abilities as she was responsible for the pairings. Of course we had to sample a few desserts. Chocolate Caramel Tart with salted Peanut Ice Cream was good, but as with many of the desserts I encountered on my trip decidedly sweet, perhaps a little too much for my preference. Is there a coastal difference in the level of sweetness in desserts? While I enjoy sweet, I prefer greater balance with the sugar countered by sufficient acidity to dampen the sensation and add complexity.