Ubuntu

[Food Snob]

Some bad news: JEREMY FOX HAS LEFT UBUNTU

SF Gate: Chef departure roils Ubuntu

[rmillman]

No worry: Executive Chef Aaron London rocks!!!! We cannot comment on how it was but we can say that it currently is amazing.

We visited Ubuntu last week as one of the stops in a multicity food trip where we on successive nights for our ten year anniversary\. During this trip, we visited The Inn at Little Washington, Alinea, Ubuntu and The French Laundry (more on that in a separate post).

We were looking for a more casual meal in Napa, not too heavy given the previous two nights, but one that needed to be satisfying and up to par with our other stops. We booked Ubuntu, a Michelin One Star vegetarian restaurant and requested a tasting menu. It was interesting that as we described out upcoming trip to friends, several in the industry specifically asked us about Ubuntu mentioning they had heard great things.

In summary Aaron London, Executive Chef, does an amazing job presenting incredibly fresh ingredients in a wonderfully artful way in dishes that are both satisfying, filling and imbibed with a sense of reason and purpose. The room is wonderfully bright and airy and the servers are knowledgeable about the dishes and techniques used in the preparation. We would highly recommend this to anyone.

We were staying in Yountville and before our drive to Napa for our dinner, we stopped at our hotel’s desk to pickup passes etc for the next days wine tours. When we mentioned we were headed to Ubuntu, the hotel staff smiled and said it was a wonderful Vegan restaurant. We were a little concerned during our drive down since our general experience with Vegan has been less than stellar. However, this did lead to a lengthy discussion between my wife and I about the differences between raw food, vegan and various flavors of vegetarianism.

We were quite happy to find out when we arrived at Ubuntu that the menu is vegetarian in that no meat products are used (even agar-agar is used in place of gelatin), but dairy and eggs are employed. Several dishes can be prepared as a vegan dish however.

The room is open, with a long central communal table, a nice bar and several tables and booths in the room. Modern themed artwork is arranged through out and an open kitchen is found in the back part of the house. Sound level was always low allowing for both conversation and an enjoyment of the food and visit. Further, there is a yoga studio enclosed on a second level above the back part of the house.

The menu is based on what is available with products being mostly sourced locally, much of which is grown in Ubuntu’s own biodynamic gardens. Our tasting menu consisted of the following (pictures were taken but some did not come out):

Amuse:

Local marcona almonds with vadouvan and coriander

Tokyo turnip soup, blistered pardon, preserved lime and egg

Savory:

Clear cantaloupe and sage gazpacho, compressed and blackened melon, ‘rat tail’ radish, fork crushed avocado, ‘banana’ mint,

Basil bud marinated beets and ‘udumalapet’ eggplant, wax bean vinaigrette, spicy pickles, nasturtium panade, ‘poha’ berries,

Torn brioche, baby head lettuce and sliced tomatoes, juniper spiced bread crust sauce, smoked tomato droplets, mustard croquant

Ubuntu steam bun, stuffed w/ burrata and coated with crunchy corn, tomato aigre doux, ’surrey’ arugula, ground cherries, pole beans

Organic Arbuckle grits, whipped chicken egg, crispy “skin” goat’s milk ricotta, hong vit, chanterelle and green tomato chow-chow

Young potatoes, cucumbers, roasted/raw/emulsion/ash, Mexican sour gherkins, horseradish, ’sheep’ sorrel

Hudson ranch “cranberry cannellini” bean and green fig ribollita, “sessantina” rapinni, hon tsai tai, smoked kadota figs, parmesan cracklings

Garden inspired extruded pasta, spiced fiore, confit ‘gajo de melon’ melted tomato, assorted basils, ‘midnight moon’ goat’s milk gouda

Gargouille; leaves, flowers, roots, lightly dressed with lemongrass oil, herbs, soil truffled pecorino

Dessert:

Coconut sorbet float, lemongrass soda, passion fruit tapioca, lime granita, cilantro

Cider apple pain perdu, brioche ice cream, pickled red fuji apples, quince curd

Smooth ‘tcho’ chocolate with figs and violet, candied cocoa nib, amaranth, fig leaf ice cream

We have found that taste is always a subjective call and generally do not comment on the strengths or weakness of any particular dish. We found that the menu was well thought out and executed. Since the menu is produce based, each tasting menu will likely vary to some extent each time some one visits.

We visited with Chef Aaron London at various time of the meal. He is extremely passionate about his menu, the availability of fine ingredients and the cooking techniques (he has high hopes of one day getting a gastovac and showing the world what magic can be done with it, can someone get him a loaner?).

The servers were all very warm and had knowledge of both ingredients and techniques. This can only occur when there is a good working relationship between the front and back of the house.

The wine list was well rounded. Our tasting menu was $75 and the wine pairing was offered at only an additional $35. We did however choose to take advantage of the reasonable $20 corkage fee and had a wonderful 2001 Bressler cab I bought around the corner at Backroom Wines.

We would recommend this to all except for entrenched steak and potato people. We at no times missed “meat protein” components during our meal (we did think that a couple of things would totally rock with bacon, but then again, what doesn’t). The food was well seasoned, deep in flavors and lively with multiple textures. We truly hope that they maintain or exceed their Michelin one star when the SF guide comes out in a few weeks because one, if not two are well deserved for Ubuntu.

[percival]

Sorry, just a comment on the plating.

Is it just me, or is there waaaay too much white space on most if not all of those plates? It leaves the diner thinking something is missing.

And the egg from the prior page looks a bit too unnatural with the fat lip. The Lego brick toast adds to that feeling.

[tangaloor]

I just read a much more negative review of the new menu at Ubuntu on Vegansaurus ( http://vegansaurus.com/post/1250615409/ubuntu-revisited )

They're quite exuberant about opinions over there: "just like when Yoko Ono orders a single plum floating in perfume served in a man’s hat on The Simpsons! But less funny because THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING"

So I'm glad to see some other reports. I agree that the plating is unusual, to say the least. To me it seems to be trying way too hard.