Antidote in Sausalito

[et alors]

I've eaten in Sausalito many times, as that's where my folks live and it's often nice in a homey way but my have never had my socks blown off. Antidote is trying hard to to not only knock my socks off, but make them into sock puppets for a a little sketch.

I don't know if it's Thomas Keller's fault, but as this article suggests, the modern chef must pun. Though I'd say chef Eric Torralba has a sense of humor that's closer to Duchamp's than Keller's, with references to Neitzche and vache qui rit sprinkled across the menu with little regard to whose getting it.

It was a significant birthday of my father's, enough to spring for the 75 dollar tasting menu. It was an extravaganza with the food nudging toward two star and the service nudging toward houlihans. I'll hit service first, so we can concentrate on the comestibles.

Our waiter was knowledgeable, but he was alone in this. One server dropping off cheese said it was compte. I said, oh, Jura? and he said, no, it's from france. Yeah, it's kinda like that. They place was crawling with helpful servers milling about pour water, clambering over the booths (you can't do proper service with booths, chef, don't go there) to replace forks and serve, and almost none knew how to identify or pronounce the food. And since the menu was all puns, it didn't help either. We found ourselves trying to catch our educated waiter (who acted like the place was full, when it was never more than half) to figure out what was delighting our tongue. But we should have guessed when we sat waiting int eh bar with our champagne and amuse bouche long gone and empty tables everywhere, that their were still some kins in this freshly minted show.

Don't get me wrong. We had a good time. But the front of the house did not live up to the back. The sommelier poo-pooed Beaujolais (a mistake often made by journeymen wine fans, but not master) and pushed a white that when served, was cold enough to frost the glass. What did it taste like? It tasted cold.

So enough grousing-- the good time. Warning: all pictures very poor indeed, and good for memory mostly and for getting an idea of the composition.

First course: oyster of a tiny size and delicate flavor with a touch of creme fraise, caviar and a eyedropper of blue vodka to tickle the palette.

Second course (hope my memory holds out) A tourchon of foie in a sugar wrapper, looking very much like a candy (sorry photo is so weak-- all I had was my treo, and the place was not well lit). it sat on a "bed" of two perfectly cooked peeled white asparagus and was surrounded by a delicate minced something-- carrot maybe, but the most sweet nutty carrot one could want.

Third course, "sardines for the very first time" which is the house cured sardine and it is lovely-- just the right touch of pickledness, not too fishy, nice and meaty. There was delicate tiny watercress, the first of many powders, and an intense tomato concasse.

Fourth Course, butternut squash soup. I never have anything against butternut squash soup, it's always good. this was a veloute consistency, with a Parmesan crisp that melted into the soup to good effect. try this at home. Nothing amazing here, just good soup.

Fifth course: Lobster Deconstructed. the best names are reserved for the best course. this is the course in which the chef finally make a claim for that next star. the lobster was melting, the risotto bursting with flavor from the coral, and the plate was playful with a tasty-tasty cookie made from the lobster roe. There were oooh and ahhs at this course, and cries of "dip the risotto into the lemon sauce" "have you tasted the cookie!" It was accompanied by a tiny perfect carrot and a tiny perfect half-fennel.

Fifth course: sea bass encrusted with brioche crumbs and swiss cheese (a very mild swiss, i might add) with a perfect white and green aspargus tip, a ravioli stuffed with a forcemeat of squash, eggplant, tomato; and more of the tasty mystery mince.

Sixth course: lamb with a basil powder crust, and a single olive taglitelli (see photo for assembly). I felt almost like I was mixing paint or wasabi-- the powder wasn't pleasant IMO until mixed into the reduction below. the lamb while beautifully cooked could have done well without being powdered.

My vegetarian sister was eyed enviously when a huge platter of veggies spared her the lamb. I was able to sneak a forkful of beet foam ( a leftover form the chef's training at el bulli?) which was stunning. how a bit foe foam can be more stunning than one's lamb is disturbing and hopeful at the same time.

Seventh course: the compte cheese course that caused such amusement. it was accompanied by a green apple sauce and balsamic reduction (we mistook the green for basil-oil even after tasting-- it wasn't strong)a a pretty apricot preserve that complemented the compte.

Sidenote: i visited the cheese platter and found an assortment from the horribly obvious-- compte and st. andre-- to tete de moine with the proper shaver, to several mystery cheeses I wish had been served)

Eighth course: dessert. it looked like a dessert circus act -- good cookie with yummy apricot creme layers, odd cone wrapped in housemade marshmallow, and extra nice pate de fruit crescent moon. I wanted to say "good night moon"

And finally petifours-- tiny creme brulee, tiny canelle de bordeux, miniscule peach tarte, marble size chocolate truffles-- you know the drill. Then we captured our obviously-dreaming-of-leaving-waiter to get espressos accompanied by tiny madelines.

And on the way out the hostess gave each "lady" a small bouquet of fragrant flowers.

Overall: too new, many kinks to work out but if they survive it could be a truly amazing place. And the chef is mixing daring with know-how in a way that makes me very very hopeful.

oh, and there is an unbeatable view of the bay. As we dined the sun set, turning the fog drifting in pink and lavender. yowza.

Edited July 20, 2004 by et alors (log)

[tanabutler]

Nice write-up. I think the main thing wrong with the restaurant is the unfortunate name. Who wants to think "Antidote" when eating? It's like the poorly named "Il Fornaio" (pronounced like "ill for now").

[Hest88]

Thanks for the great review. I've been thinking that my parents might enjoy this place, so it's nice to hear from someone who's actually eaten there.

ITA with the name, though. Whose bad idea was that?

[Julia'sChild]

Thanks for the review. I thought maybe they would have things worked out a little better by now. I was invited to the grand opening celebration back in June (28th), and did not go because when I called no one seemed to know what was going on. Not what the attire was, not whether it was dinner, cocktails and appetizers, or what. Seemed like a long drive, from Napa in traffic, for a Monday night. That said, I have enjoyed Chef Torralba's food before at Domaine Chandon and had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing all of his little bottles of infusions and the lovely little drawings he does of all of his dishes while conceiving them. I hope they work things out and am glad you had a good time inspite of the glitches. (Something to be said for that).

BTW I don't believe Chef Torralba worked at El Bulli (but is a devotee) - I know he worked on a yacht sailing around the world, and worked at Paul Bocuse, with Gagnaire and with the late Jean-Louis Palladin.

[Hest88]

I just posted this over on Chowhound as well, so feel free to skip.

Last Saturday four of us tried out the newish Antidote in Sausalito. I was curious about it since the chef is supposedly El Bulli influenced.

First off, we were very impressed at how much importance they placed on service. After we walked in the door they seated us in the lounge area and brought champagne and hor d'oeurves. Water was always filled, napkins re-folded promptly, and all the waitpeople were friendly and helpful. We were even escorted to the restroom the first time around, something I'd only experienced in NYC. As the room filled up the service faltered a bit, but what they lacked in polish they made up for in enthusiasm.

We ordered the $80 tasting menu, which was comprised of something like 8 or 9 courses, which included two desserts and a cheese plate. The food was fairly good, though not as experimental as I'd expected. (Perhaps that's a good thing!) For instance, most plates had a dust of some sort, but it was such a small amount that it didn't really add much to the dish.

The plating was pretty, if it didn't quite create the "wow" impression that they were hoping. Nearly everyone agreed that the best course was a venison with dried blueberries, though my husband claimed that the foie gras was better than the Fifth Floor's. I was impressed with a salad that included asparagus, chanterelles, beets, and microgreens, that created a taste far beyond what I expected from the individual ingredients. There was no dish that was a flop, and though some didn't reach the great heights I think the chef was expecting (such a corn soup that came with beakers of cooler corn soup, to mix according to temperature preferences), all were reasonably good and some exceptionally so. There was a long lull between courses, which suited us fine, so the entire meal ended up taking a bit over 3 hours.

As we left, the women were given irises. Would we go back? Definitely. There were wonderful dishes off the a la carte menu that all of us agreed we wanted to try. Plus, the view is pretty impressive. ;-)

[tanabutler]

Thanks for the heads up. Someone else wrote it up once before, too, and you might enjoy that report here.

But some of the images are broken, so I found the original here.

Sounds like a very good place to go.

[melkor]

I've merged the Antidote threads.