A Night to Remember: Dinner at the French Laundry

Sometimes, things just work out.

One of those times happened to Karen and me recently. Taking advantage of the Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to head up with Napa Valley for a few days. Since we don't usually stay up in Wine Country more than a single night, we thought that it would be fun to see if we could land a coveted reservation at the French Laundry (6640 Washington Street, Yountville; 707-944-2380). Owned by world-renown chef Thomas Keller, this 62 seat restaurant is recognized as one of the premier dining establishments in the world. Landing a table during the dinner hours in this tony Yountville restaurant is extremely difficult. In fact, there are web pages dedicated to doling out advice on how to get such a reservation.

So, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I picked up the phone and called the reservation line at the French Laundry. When the receptionist answered, I told her that we going to come up with Napa for a long weekend and was wondering if we could get ourselves on the waiting list for each of those nights, with the hope that someone might cancel on a two-top during one of those evenings. Boy, was I surprised when I heard that there actually was a table for two available on Saturday night! I took advantage of this good fortune and immediately booked that open table. We were going to the French Laundry!


Arriving 15 minutes early for our 9pm reservation, we waited in the foyer of the rustic brick building, perusing the Bouchon and French Laundry cookbooks on the coffee table. After a few minutes, the host called our names and led us through the dining room to our seats. We sat down at the table, taking in the environment as we looked around the room. On the table in front of us was a neatly pleated napkin, on which was clipped a French Laundry clothespin.


Our dinner commenced with a couple of amuse bouche dishes. The first dish was warm Gruyère gougères, small savory pastries filled with cheese:


The second amuse bouche were a pair of ice-cream cone shaped salmon cornets with filled with crème fraîche. The cone was crunchy and its texture contrasted nicely with the minced salmon and silky crème fraîche.


At the French Laundry, you have the choice of two menus: the chef's tasting menu and the "tasting of vegetables" menu. (As I understand, there is also an unpublished 20 course tasting menu, but that needs to be ordered in advance.) Since it was the first visit to the French Laundry for both of us, we decided to order the chef's tasting menu.

The first course of the nine course tasting menu was the classic Keller dish "Oysters and Pearls", a sabayon of pearl tapioca with Beau Soleil oysters and white sturgeon caviar. The dish was wonderful. The texture of the tapioca contrasted nicely with that of the sabayon, and the oysters and caviar provided a perfect amount of briny flavor. We enjoyed this fabulous course with a flute of Pierre Gimonnet, a classic pairing of champagne and caviar.


For the next course, we had a choice. We could have had the hearts of palm salad, but we opted for the Moulard duck "foie gras au torchon" with stewed Oregon huckleberries, Tokyo turnips, spiced bread crumbs, and Garden Mâche, which was available with an additional $30 charge. If you follow our food adventures in this blog, you'll know that both Karen and I are huge fans of foie gras. Without a doubt, this was the single best foie gras dish that we've ever eaten. It was absolutely phenomenal. The foie gras was served with three different types of salt: a grey salt from the Brittany region of France, a Japanese sea salt, and a "Jurassic" salt from Montana, each with a different flavor and coarseness. Served with a side of toasted brioche from the Bouchon bakery just a couple of blocks down Washington Street, the dish was a meal in itself.


One very nice touch: in the middle of this decadent course, one of the servers came by to refresh our accompanying brioche with a hot slice of freshly toasted bread. The wine director steered us to a 2006 Yves Cuilleron Blanc "Roussilliere", which paired fabulously with the foie gras.

Next came the first of the fish courses. For this course, we had a choice of two different dishes, so Karen and I ordered one of each. I order the "Tartare" of Kona Kahala with cauliflower fleurettes, toasted Marcona almonds, Satsuma mandarins, and mizuna greens. I have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed by this course, especially after the two previous dishes, both of which were simply stunning. I was expecting some bold flavors, but this dish was a bit flat in my opinion.


Karen went with the line-caught Atlantic striped bass with glazed sunchokes, wilted Arrowleaf spinach, San Marzano tomato compote, and niçoise olives. This dish was pretty good, much better than my choice of fish. For this course and the next, we enjoyed a glass of Spencer Roloson viognier, which again was a great pairing suggested by the wine director.


Our second fish course was the fantastic sweet butter poached Maine lobster tail with caramelized cippolini onions, sugar snap peas, Yukon Gold "Pommes Maxims", and "Mousseline Bearnaise". This dish was as good as it looks. The lobster was perfectly cooked and buttery, especially with the luxurious Bearnaise sauce. The potato crisp was crisp and savory, but a bit difficult with eat with a fork and knife.


After the two fish courses came the meat courses. The first meat that came out of the kitchen was the all-day braised Kurobuta pork belly with grilled hearts of romaine lettuce, celeriac purée, and Périgold truffle glaze. The pork belly was succulent and fall-apart tender. The purée was a nice complement to the rich pork, but the romaine lettuce seemed a bit out of place on this plate. To go with this course and the following one, we had a glass of 2005 Brewer Clifton pinot noir. The wine was again quite good, a testament to the fine skills of our sommelier.


Our second meat course was a herb roasted saddle of Elysian Fields Farm lamb with globe artichokes, Nantes carrots, golden chanterelle mushrooms, and sweet garlic "jus". We could have opted for a course of Wagyu beef in place of the lamb, but the $100 supplemental charge seemed a bit steep to me. The lamb was amazing tender and quite flavorful. I enjoyed this dish very much, but I think that Karen was a little less impressed.


After finishing the lamb course, both of us were getting pretty full. We had finished all of the main courses, so we were now heading into the desserts. Our first dessert course was a cheese plate: "Petit Sapin" with Royal Blenhein apricots, red beet relish, and arugula leaves. I was not expecting a soft cheese for this course, but I liked it. I think that Karen enjoyed this dish as well, even with the beet relish.


Next came a palate cleaning feijoa sorbet with Maui pineapple relish and angel cake. The sorbet was very refreshing and the angel cake was very light. Given the heaviness of the previous courses, this was a welcome dish to enjoy at this point in our meal.


The last of the nine courses on the menu gave us two options for dessert. As it is our habit, we picked one of each course. I chose the "Charlotte aux Poires et aux Dates" with Bartlett pear sorbet, "Japonais", candied hazelnuts, and pear coulis. Like the previous sorbet dish, I like this dish quite a lot. At this point in the meal, I was definitely okay with enjoying some lighter dessert fare, and this dessert was lighter than it appeared.


Karen picked the "S'Mores" with cashew nut "Parfait", caramel "Délice", and "Sauce a la Guimauve brûlée". As with the corresponding dessert during our last dinner at Manresa, I wasn't a huge fan of the S'more, but that's probably more of a reflection of my personal preference than anything bad about this dessert.


With the last of the nine courses, we were finished with our dinner. Oh wait. We still had the mignardises.

After clearing away the dessert plates, the waiter brought me a Meyer lemon pot au crème and set a Tahitian vanilla crème brûlée before Karen.




After those two desserts were cleared away, we were completely stuffed. But there was more yet to come. Next came a little bowl of chocolate caramel macadamia nuts and some olive financier cookies (not pictured).


Next, we were presented with a huge platter of chocolates. On the suggestion of our waiter, we picked one of each type of chocolate for a total of six. It was six chocolates more than I should have eaten - now we were completely stuffed.


At this point, our waiter asked me for my camera so that he could take a photo of the two of us to commemorate the occasion. Here's a photo of two very sated diners:


Last, but not least, about a quarter past midnight, came our final mignardises course: a gold box filled with pâtes de fruit and other petit fours. I managed to try each of them, somehow finding a tiny bit of open space in my stomach.


Of course, such opulance does not come without a price, and a hefty one at that. Here's the damage:


Ouch.

As a final treat, our waiter presented us with some shortbread cookies to take home, courtesy of their pastry chef.


The service that we received that evening was impeccable. It was perhaps the cleanest and best executed service that I've ever experienced at a restaurant. The pacing of our meal was superb and we were never lacking for attention. Throughout our dinner, the waitstaff cleared our empty plates as soon as we finished our food and kept our water glasses full with complementary bottles of Hildon still water.


The members of the waitstaff were obviously well-practiced, delivering top-notch service throughout the evening with spot-on precision. It seemed like each of their movement were deliberate, well-thought out, and completely choreographed. Our main server was quite friendly, but it was not the personalized-type service that we've enjoyed at other restaurants, such as Frasca and Chapeau, though I don't think that either of us would have expected that type of atmosphere at a restaurant like the French Laundry.

All in all, we had a fabulous meal. It was definitely one of the best meals that I've ever enjoyed at a restaurant. Everything was there: spectacular food and flawless service in a luxurious setting. But, on the other hand, neither Karen or I thought that the food was far superior to that of Manresa, where we've enjoyed a couple of fabulous dinners at a much lower price point. In fact, we both thought that the food was, in fact, quite comparable. While the service at the French Laundry was superior to Manresa, I'm not convinced that it justifies the difference in price. So, did we enjoy our dinner? Absolutely - it was a fabulous dinner, perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to dine at one of the best restaurants in the world. Would we go back? Maybe (and really just maybe), though it wouldn't be any time soon, especially with Manresa just a short drive away.

A Foodie's Weekend

Last week was another long and tiring one at work, culminating in a ten hour whiteboarding session on Friday. After wrapping things up around 7pm, I headed up to San Francisco to spend a nice, relaxing weekend with my sweetie Karen away from the rigors of work. We hadn't set any dinner plans, but since we were both pretty hungry by the time that I got up to the city, we wanted something that would not require a long wait. I had been thinking about chicken wings, so we first tried San Tung, a Chinese restaurant in the Sunset District known for their dry-fried wings, but the mob of people waiting outside sent us looking for an alternate venue. I wasn't stuck on getting wings, so we decided to shift gears. Neither of us had eaten sushi in a while so we drove north toward one of our favorite sushi places, Sushi Bistro. My girlfriend imposed a strict twenty minute wait limit, but luckily we arrived at a lull in the action and found our seats almost immediately.

Once again, we were not disappointed with our choice. We ordered a couple of their speciality maki rolls, the Spicy Crunchy and the M&L Forever. Both of the rolls were very good, especially the Spicy Crunchy, which was served with a flavorful sauce, but they played second fiddle to the nigiri we ordered. We got some unagi (tasty as usual) and an order of butterfish nigiri, which was served with a little pile of chopped scallions that gave the moist fish a refreshing note. My sweetie had wanted to order some baby yellowtail, but they ran out before we got there, so we decided to substitute in some tuna belly. Not satisfied with a single selection, we ordered not one, not two, but three different types: albacore belly, yellowtail belly, and, our favorite, o-toro. All of the three orders of nigiri were great, especially the generously portioned one of o-toro, which just melted away in your month.

After a much-needed night of sleep, we decided to take advantage of the absolutely fantastic weather (70 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of February!) to take a long walk down from Alamo Square to the Ferry Building Marketplace, which was holding one of its weekly farmers' markets. Coincidentally that morning, our friend Delphine was there helping out with a cooking demo presented by Staffan Terje, the Swedish-born chef/owner of Perbacco, a trendy Italian restaurant that opened in the Financial District last fall. We arrived too late to see the demo of the pan roasted squid appetizer, but Delphine slipped us a small tasting. We caught the tail end of the preparation of the milk braised pork shoulder with cabbage and polenta, and enjoyed a sample of the tasty and tender dish. While waiting for Delphine to finish her work, we wandered around the Ferry Building and checked out some of the farmer's stalls:


Delphine met up with us for lunch at Mijita, Traci Des Jardins' restaurant in the Ferry Building celebrating her grandmother's Mexican heritage. Karen and Delphine munched on some crunchy chicken tacos, while I went for the chorizo con huevos.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity to be outside in such gorgeous weather, Karen suggested that we invite some friends over for a backyard BBQ that evening. Of course, we had zero grillable food items on hand, so after finishing lunch, we headed back to my sweetie's place and grabbed my car to do some grocery shopping. We weren't up for doing anything that required too much preparation (since we didn't have a whole lot of prep time in the first place), so we decided on grilling burgers and sausages, being sure to include some of Wisconsin's greatest contributions to the culinary world, the Cheddarwurst. To round out the menu, we put together a simple fennel and orange salad with a light vinegarette dressing.

Unfortunately, by the time that we got back from the store, cleaned, and prepped, the fog had started to roll inland and the temperature had dropped quickly (as it commonly happens in SF), so I got the ol' Weber Kettle going. Since I didn't have a chimney handy, I opted to use MatchLight instead of Kingsford, so I needed time for all of the igniter to burn off. The coals were ready just as our guests arrived. By that point, it was simply too cool (and foggy) to eat outside, so we grilled up the meat and headed indoors. The food was very yummy - there's nothing like meat that's been grilled over an open fire. We had a great evening camped out around the kitchen table with a great group of friends, enjoying the pomegranate vodka cocktails that were being prepared with great zeal by Liam with supplies brought over by Tesha and Jeremiah. We finished our meal with some Mexican chocolate ice cream that we picked up at Mitchell's earlier in the afternoon.

On Sunday, we started out the day with a hearty breakfast using leftovers from the previous evening: a Cheddarwurst, smoked sausage, and egg scramble served on a toasted hoagie bun - not exactly the healthiest breakfast but sure tasty. It was quite a large breakfast, but we needed a meal to tide us over until dinner because we were heading to Ad Hoc (6476 Washington Street, Yountville, 707-944-2487), Thomas Keller's new "temporary" restaurant that he opened down the street from Bouchon and the world-famous French Laundry in Yountville. Our dinner was to start at the unusual hour of 3:00pm, which was the only opening when my sweetie made the reservation earlier in the week. (We were joking if we should call this meal "dunch" or "linner".)

We were having a lazy day and, since we were in no hurry, we started on our drive to Napa in the early afternoon. We thought that it would be nice to check out a winery before we had dinner. Fortunately, my sweetie remembered that Domaine Chandon is located right next to Yountville so we decided to have a glass of sparkling wine there before dinner. Our friends Jeremiah, Tesha, and Liam were also heading to Napa Valley, so we coordinated our plans and met up for some bubbly.


Even though the weather was a bit cloudier and cooler than the day before, it was still a gorgeous day. We hung out for a while on the patio of Domaine Chandon with our friends, enjoying the sun and the unseasonable weather. As 3pm rolled around, we said goodbye to our friends and made the very short drive to Ad Hoc.


There is only one, prix-fixe menu available on a given day at Ad Hoc. Everyone basically gets the same four course meal: a soup or salad course, the main entree, a cheese course, and a dessert. (I imagine that they must make some sort of accommodation if you have food allergies.) We had the following meal:


Our dinner started with a Basque style potato and leek soup.

The soup, like the entree that followed, was served family style. The soup portions were enormous - there were five bowls of soup in that earthenware container for two people! The soup was very tasty, though a touch oily (from the sausage I suspect). My sweetie did note that it might have been better to have a salad instead of a soup, given how warm it was outside.

Next came the main course: braised duck with dried fruits and nuts, served with pearl barley and spinach.

This was my favorite course. The skin on the duck was crispy, reminiscent of duck confit that I had on Rue Cler in Paris, and the meat was almost fall-off-the-bone tender. The fruit and nuts were a nice match to the savory duck meat. Again, the portion was huge. By the time that we were done with this course, we were getting quite full.

After the entree was cleared away, we were presented with the cheese course.

My sweetie had read on Yelp that one of the things to look for was the cheese and honey plate. We were a little disappointed when our cheese platter came sans miel, but the quince paste went very well with the goat's milk cheese. Both my girlfriend and I are amazed how differently cheeses taste when they are accompanied by different things like dried fruits and honey.

Finally, though we certainly did not need another course, we were served a ginger and date cake with cinnamon whipped cream.

Though I'm not a huge fan of dessert, this cake was great - very moist and not overly sweet. The whipped cream was very good too - the amount of cinnamon was just right.

After gorging ourselves, we took a sunset stroll down Washington Street, walking by some other well-known restaurants such as Redd, Bistro Jeanty, and the other two Keller restaurants in town. It was a fabulous end to a fabulous weekend.

The Vino-Seal

Over the past few years, several types of stoppers have emerged as alternatives to the traditional wine cork. Many of us are familiar with synthetic corks, which are becoming fairly commonplace, as well as screwtop enclosures, often associated with the cheap wine from our college days. (Night Train, anyone?)

The January 2007 issue of Bon Appetit has a short article on the Vino-Seal, a glass stopper with a sealing o-ring. This innovative stopper, created by the German subsidiary of Alcoa, forms a very tight seal with the bottle, preventing cork taint and oxidation. It is very easy to open, without requiring a separate opener, and reseals very nicely. Several different U.S. wine producers are using the Vino-Seal, including Whitehall Lane in Napa and Sineann Winery in Oregon. I first encountered this award-winning gadget during one of my trips to Europe, where it is known as the Vino-Lok. I still have several bottles of wine from Weingut Heitlinger in my wine rack sealed with the Vino-Lok.

It seems that the Vino-Seal has not been as widely adopted as other types of stoppers due to the cost of the stopper itself as well as the labor costs in manually sealing the bottles. However, if these cost issues can be resolved, I think that we might see more and more wineries using the Vino-Seal in the future.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

With my crazy work schedule as of late, it's been difficult to find a lot of time and energy to post. However, with my current project coming to a conclusion (and work winding down in general due to the holidays), I should hopefully have more time to share my random food thoughts.

Yesterday, my girlfriend and I took a cooking class at Hawthorne Lane, a charming restaurant in the SoMA district of San Francisco serving up modern California cuisine. Hawthorne Lane opens its doors on Saturday mornings once or twice a month for these classes, which are taught by David Gingrass, chef and proprietor of the restaurant, and executive chef Bridget Batson. My sweetie and I were drawn to this particular class by the over-the-top menu that was featured. Appropriately named "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams", the meal featured two appetizers: steamed Dungeness crab custards and bluefin o-toro tuna tartare with osetra caviar. The main entree was a dish of Kobe beef loin on a bed of mashed potatoes with wild mushrooms and a cabernet glaze. Finally, dessert was a dark chocolate orbit cake with Grand Marnier ice cream.

The description for the classes says that they are "hands-on, educational, and just plain frolicking fun." Our class yesterday turned out to be one of the least hands-on cooking classes that I've ever taken. In fact, other than the five minutes that my girlfriend and I and another couple spent on some prep work for the appetizers, no other participants in the class touched the food until it hit the table. Despite a small bit of disappointment with the lack of hands-on work, we definitely had a frolicking fun experience. It was probably just as well that we didn't do any slicing or sauteing as we weren't in really any condition to perform those activities due to the copious amounts of alcohol that were being served throughout the day. Our first sense that this might be a free-flowing alcohol event started right after we walked in the door and were greeted with a champagne and pear sorbet cocktail with gold leaf. We (and most of the other participants I suspect) had a couple of these yummy drinks before we even made it back to the kitchen. Once we had made it back to the kitchen, new flutes were passed around and the champagne kept flowing. The meal was paired with a couple of different champagnes from Charles Heidsieck, including a 1985 vintage, and a nice Napa merlot. We sat next to the marketing representative from Charles Heidsieck, who shared some of her experiences with food and wine, while the wait staff did stellar job at making sure our glasses were not empty for very long. I suspect that there weren't too many participants at this event who had fewer than a half-dozen drinks. We were certainly happy that we didn't drive to this class. Everyone at the event, including David and the rest of the crew and the other class participants, was really nice. We met a nice couple, Marcus and Patricia, who are fellow SF foodies like us, and with whom we hope to share some further culinary adventures around the Bay Area.

As it turns out, not only was this the last class of the year for Hawthorne Lane, it was the last class, period. After serving Christmas eve dinner, David will be closing down Hawthorne Lane, renovating the interior for a couple of weeks, and reopening as Two, the second restaurant in the 22 Hawthorne Street space. The menu will completely change, as David will take a more hands-on approach in his culinary collaboration with Brigitte. The menu will become simpler, featuring ingredient-focused appetizers, pizzas, and various grilled, roasted and braised items. Their dessert menu will also become more rustic. I am looking forward to sampling the charcuterie items that will be added to the menu. One thing to note is that their current signature tuna tartare appetizer will still be available upon request, even though it will no longer be on the menu. Most of the people involved with Hawthorne Lane will return to Two, and the Saturday morning cooking program will continue. Though we are disappointed that we will no longer be able to experience their PB & J foie gras sandwich, we are looking forward to the birth of the new restaurant.

My dinner at Frasca

Between dealing with work and preparing for my upcoming trip to the Far East, I have not had much time to think about a new post. However, I thought that I would share an experience about which I originally posted on the Good Eats Message Board. While the original post has vaporized into the ether of the Internet, I am happy to share it with you here:

(From August 2005)

Last week, my girlfriend and I decided to book a weekend trip to Boulder, Colorado for a little R&R. While we mostly wanted to get away from work, we also thought that it would be fun to see if we could find some way to have dinner one evening at Frasca Food and Wine. Both of us had wanted to check out the restaurant after reading that Executive Chef and co-owner Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson had been named one of the 10 best new chefs in the country by Food and Wine Magazine. We were hoping to get a reservation for the Monday night prix fixe dinner though we weren’t too optimistic as we only booked our tickets on Wednesday, which didn’t get us a lot of lead time. I called to see if there were any available tables on Monday. As it turned out, they had one available, though it was a table for six. I decided to take the table, as I figured that we could round up four of my friends to join us for dinner that evening.

Unfortunately, I figured incorrectly; as Monday rolled around, it was looking like it was just going to be the two of us. As we made the drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park Monday morning for a day of hiking, I saw that Frasca had called my cell phone and left a voice mail asking me to confirm our dinner reservations. Before I lost cell phone coverage, I called the restaurant and left them a message saying that we would have to cancel our reservation. I apologized for the late cancellation but added that we were still interested in coming if we could just get a table for two. By this point, I had pretty much eliminated the possibility of visiting Frasca on this visit (as we were flying out the following afternoon) and went off to enjoy the trails of the park.

After a good afternoon of hiking, we got back in the car and started making our way back to Boulder. When I got back into cell phone range, I saw that I had a voice mail waiting for me. One of the hosts had called us back saying that they were sorry that we had to cancel our reservations and, surprisingly, while he wasn’t sure what he could do, he also said that if we still interested in getting a table for two, we should give them a call back. Though it didn’t sound too promising, I figured that it was worth a shot. I called back and someone named Bobby took my call. I explained that we would take anything that they had available that evening and, to my surprise, he said that he’d definitely be able to work something out for us if we didn’t mind coming by a bit later in the evening. After this fortuitous change of events, my girlfriend and I made a beeline back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothing so that we could make our 9pm reservation.

We arrived right on time and the place was quite busy, which is unusual for a Monday evening in Boulder. As we waited for the hostess to get our seating ready, a gentleman walked up and introduced himself to us, “Hi, I’m Bobby. We spoke on the phone earlier today.” It turned out that Bobby was Bobby Stuckey, co-owner of Frasca and Master Sommelier. He shook our hands and warmly welcomed us to his restaurant. He told us that it was really nice that we could work something out that night. He said that while he wasn’t able to arrange a table for us, he got us seats, front and center, at the dessert bar. Of course, we didn’t mind this at all. As he led us to our seats, he asked us where we were from. When we told him that we had flown in from the Bay Area for the weekend, he got excited and told us that both he and Lachlan had moved to Boulder last year from the French Laundry. He asked us about our favorite dining spots in the Bay Area and gave us some of his personal recommendations. He told us a little bit about himself and his background and talked about the inspiration for the food. The cuisine at Frasca is based on the cuisine of the alpine region of Italy, located near the Slovenia border. The cuisine is based on using fresh ingredients and balancing the individual flavors of the each ingredient in simple and rustic dishes.

The Monday night prix fixe menu consists of three courses: a starter, an entrée, and dessert. The menu changes weekly based on what happens to be in season. Both the starter and entrée course had two selections. Since we wanted to try as many different things as we could, we decided to get different starters and entrées and split them. At the dessert bar, we watched as the pastry chef behind the counter also prepared scrumptious plates of cured meats using a hand-cranked slicer, so we decided to start off with the salumi platter on top of the appetizers that we ordered with the dinner. We also went with the wine flight that was suggested for this evening. Being wine neophytes, we figured that we would play it safe and just go with the Master Sommelier’s selections. Because these wines were paired with the prix fixe menu, we also asked our server for a wine (her choice) to go with the salumi platter.

The salumi plate came with paper-thin slices of three different types of cured meat: prosciutto, Italian speck, and coppa from New York. We wrapped the meat around house-made grissini, which are thin Italian breadsticks, and dipped it into rafano, a horseradish sauce made with crème fraiche. It was a perfect way to start our meal; it wasn’t too heavy, but was packed with flavor. The wine that the server selected (a white wine – I can’t remember which varietal it was though) was crisp and went very well with the saltiness of the cured meats and the slight kick of the rafano.

Next came the starters. On this evening, the starters were a chilled melon soup and an heirloom tomato caprese salad. The soup was bursting with the flavor of ripe cantaloupe and was a great accompaniment for a warm summer evening. The caprese was made with house-made mozzarella cheese and was a wonderful mix of tomatoes, cheese, basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. They went very well with the paired viognier from the wine flight.

For our main courses, we had a bowl of house-made tagliatelle with corn and oregano. The noodles were unbelievably buttery and each bite was bursting with sweetness from the corn. The other entrée was a roast pork loin with mashed dates and bacon. Normally, I hate ordering pork out at restaurants because it always seems to be overcooked, but the loin was cooked to a perfect medium doneness and was moist and succulent. The entrées were paired with the two wines, a Shiraz and a zinfandel. Surprisingly, these wines were from a vineyard in Southern California (near Santa Barbara, I believe), but went very well with these hearty dishes. On the night of our visit, the owner of the vineyard was at the Frasca and he actually served us for this course.

Dessert was house-made peach ice cream with vanilla mousse and almond crunch, which was a great way to end our meal. Throughout our dinner, we watched the pastry chef put together the desserts on the other side of the bar and we eagerly awaited our turn. The ice cream alone was very rich, but paired with the heavy mousse, the dessert was decadent.

The service at Frasca was nothing short of spectacular. The service was prompt and attentive without being obtrusive. Our server made sure that our glasses were filled as necessary and that we had everything that we needed on the table before we actually needed it. She took the time to answer our silly questions about the wine and food. The pacing of the food was perfect; we never felt like we were being rushed through a course nor did we feel like we were waiting around for the next course to show up. In addition to our server, Bobby dropped by our table every so often to check in us and to pass along some personal anecdotes about his experiences in the Bay Area, which we clearly enjoyed hearing. At the end of the evening, he came by and gave us a list of places in SF that he liked and asked us to say hello to some of the people there if we chose to pay them a visit. After the last of the entrées had left the kitchen, Lachlan came out and went around the restaurant, checking at each table to see how things were. Basically, they made us feel like the evening and dining experience was really about us and meeting our needs. The amazing thing was that, looking around the dining room, it seemed that everyone in the restaurant was getting the same level of attention and service that we were getting.

After a three hour gastronomic experience, we stumbled out of the restaurant, a little tipsy, comfortably full, and very happy. As we were leaving, I heard my name being called from across the dining room. One of bartenders was an old student of mine back when I taught at CU and thought that he recognized me from across the room. Bobby confirmed that I was who he thought that I was and got us together for an impromptu reunion.

The Denver Post food critic said that from now on, his life will be divided into two parts: before he ate at Frasca and after he ate at Frasca. Now, I won’t go that far, but I would say that this was one of the best dining experiences that I’ve ever had, if not the best. Not only was the food fantastic, the service was out of this world. This is one of the few times that I felt that dining experience was as important as the food itself. We will definitely go back to Frasca the next time we’re back in the Denver/Boulder area. For those of you who live on the Front Range, we cannot recommend it highly enough.

Review: Bacar

This past Friday, my girlfriend and I both got out of work early so we decided to check out the lunch special at Bacar (448 Brannan Street; 415-904-4100), a trendy spot in SoMa known for its expansive wine collection. Featuring a three story glass-enclosed wine wall, Bacar ("wine goblet" in Latin) features more than 1400 selections from all over the world and 80 wines by the glass.

Lunch at Bacar is a once-weekly affair, available on Fridays only. Thanks to congestion on the Bay Bridge, we almost missed lunch, but managed to find street parking right in front of the restaurant and arrived with 10 minutes to spare. The restaurant was practically devoid of the lunch time crowd by the time we arrived, but we were cheerfully greeted at the door by their gracious host and quickly seated in the airy, three-level space.

The lunch menu at Bacar is a three-course prix fixe, consisting of an appetizer, an entree, and dessert for $21.95. You can also order a pizza from their wood-fired oven a la carte, but we were both very hungry and opted for the featured items from the main menu.

To start, my girlfriend ordered the wok-roasted PEI black mussels, while I opted for the arugula salad. The mussels arrived steaming hot in a huge metal bucket, steeped in a flavorful white wine sauce containing large cloves of softened garlic. The order was enormous, easily big enough to have been an entree in disguise. The arugula salad came with halved figs, candied walnuts, and crumbled bits of blue cheese. I wasn't sure that the blue cheese would work in the salad, but it matched very well with the figs, which were soft and perfectly ripe (we are, after all, smack in the middle of the fig season).

After downing the appetizers, which made serious dents in our once-ravenous hunger, we were presented with our main courses. My girlfriend selected the roasted petit chicken, which came with roasted fingerling pototoes and brussels sprouts. I chose the pan-seared halibut, which came in two generous sized fillets on a bed of mushroom risotto. As is our norm, we split our entrees, switching plates after we had finished our half of the dish. The chicken, which looked about the size of a cornish hen, was mostly deboned and nicely roasted. The bird was flavorful and moist - it was a very nice dish. Even the brussels sprouts, which are among my least favorite vegetables, were pretty good. The halibut fillets were lightly seared on one side. I would have preferred a slightly more developed crust on the fish, but that would have probably overcooked the fillets, which were very moist and succulent. The risotto accompanying the fish was creamy and chock-full of mushrooms. Another fine dish - Bacar went 2-for-2 on our entrees.

By the time dessert (espresso gelato for her, watermelon/strawberry sorbet for me) came around, we were both stuffed. We made some efforts to tackle the sweet offerings, but it was an uphill battle. As we were taking care of the tab, our server mentioned that we were welcome to stay for Happy Hour, which starts on Fridays after lunch ends at 2:30pm. The Happy Hour specials include $1 oysters from the raw bar (yes, you read that right, $1!), and 1/2 price drinks until 6:30pm. Unfortunately, given our satiated state, we had to decline, but we are both looking forward to the next time when we start our weekends early so that we can check out the wine selection and raw bar at Bacar.