This was our last Dine About Town meal out, again based on some recommendations from people we know. The first two meals were quite the rollercoaster of experiences, so I wasn't really sure how this would go, but I was hoping that overall, these meals would end on a good note. I was a little worried when I called the restaurant when we were on our way to tell them that we would be about 10 minutes late for our reservation because we were stuck in traffic. The gentleman who answered the phone with a French accent (translation = snooty) kind of brushed me off in a pretty rude way and abruptly hung up on me. Maybe some training on telephone skills?
When we finally arrived, we had another kind of awkward entrance...it was raining, so we kind of came through the door with some wind and rain, rushing to get inside...right into a tiny entranceway. And some other customers. The restaurant as a whole is actually pretty tiny, with no overbearing decorations or attempts to be the cool, hip place to eat. It's simply a nice, romantic, intimate atmosphere. When we were seated, we got both of their menus right off the bat. Excellent. We actually were seated next to a window (booo, chilly) but right on top of a heating vent as well. One would think that it would balance out...but it actually got kind of uncomfortable later on.
The two menus had some different options, so we ordered off both the Dine About Town menu and the regular menu. Our waiter clearly knew that we were switching some courses around (ie I ordered an appetizer that wasn't on the other menu for Dan, and he ordered mine, etc.) but he never batted an eye about it, which was nice. Throughout the meal, service was efficient, unobtrusive and still accomodating. A+
So, appetizers - Dan had the mussels which were done nicely, if a little plain in white wine and garlic. But, he had no complaints -- the portion was enough for an entree. I'd say there were easily 30 mussels on his plate, and he had no problems putting them all away. I started with the frisee salad with bacon dressing, poached egg, and some toasted levain bread and it was delicious. The bacon and egg were nice and salty, and the crostini soaked up all the leftover flavors when I was done with the salad.
Our entrees were also well executed. I had the hangar steak with pommes frites - the steak was tender and juicy, and the fries were great. It all came with a red wine sauce to soak up. It's not an original dish, but their rendition reminded me of why it's a staple on a lot of menus. Dan had almond crusted seabass, which just sounds scrumptious. I enjoyed the two or three bites I got, but it didn't seem to blow Dan away. He seems to think he could replicate it at home, so it may have left something to be desired (please note that I have not had any homemade almond crusted sea bass as of this writing). "It was good enough to make me want to come back, but I would definitely try something else."
Anddd we've come to desserts. I ordered the chocolate gourmand, which is a flourless chocolate cake, that came with sorbet. Sounds lovely, yes? Sadly, it basically came off as a gooey mess of chocolate-ness. I definitely could have done better. Dan, however, did do better. He had the apple tartin, and it was fantastic. It came out warm, with the apple sitting on top of a lovely flaky pastry and topped off with ice cream. The sauce on the plate was fantastic as well. I could have had a dish of just that.
One last note about the great service -- as we sat waiting for our check, the table next to us ordered dessert (which you overhear pretty clearly, as it's such a small place) and when two of the desserts came out, the third was missing. The waiter immediately apologized, recognized his mistake and hustled back to the kitchen. The third plate came out just a couple of minutes later, but the waiter apologized again and told them that the third dessert had already been taken off the bill. They continued to impress me right up until they opened the door for us as we were leaving.
Overall, yum. Great French bistro feel, great service, great food. Hope to be back soon.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Bacar
So, about 4 nights after our lovely meal at Aziza, we ventured out again for Dine About Town. I had read about, and gotten recommendations for Bacar, but even so, I was worried that our experience at Aziza might overshadow the rest of our Dine About Town meals. But I wasn't going to NOT go, I mean, come on. Have we met?
Walking into Bacar, the space seems like an old loft - brick walls and high ceilings. You're immediately greeted by a three story wall o' wine on your left, and the bar, up a short flight of stairs to your right. We completely missed the hostess stand, which is directly to your left when you walk in, and we ended up walking directly into the dining area...awkward. Luckily the overdressed, incredibly snooty hostess chased us down (and by chased, I mean practiced her runway walk) and directed us to our table right away. When we were seated, we got their regular menu, but had to wait for our server to come to get the DAT menu. This rubs me the wrong way sometimes, as then your server has time to decide if you'll get a little less attention, as you're ordering from the DAT menu. Anyway. Our waiter turned out to be decent, and earned major points as he agreed to sub in a dessert for me from the regular menu (more on that later).
Drinks: We both ordered cocktails and I remember thinking that they were creative, although I can't remember what they were. I do remember Dan's being a bright color and him reporting that it was a little sweet for his tastes. I also remember them taking a long time to arrive. Also worth mentioning is that while we didn't have any wine, the wine list is insane. It has a table of contents, and is 38 pages long. If you have the attention span to read through it, I'm sure you could find something terrific that you would enjoy.
Appetizers: Dan ordered the tuna carpaccio, which was smooth and creamy, but it wasn't overly flavorful and probably could be replicated at many other restaurants in the area. I had the potato gnocchi and it was tasty. Gnocchi always reminds me of soft little pillows, and these were no exception. They were, again, good but not great.
Entrees: I had the wood roasted chicken, which came on a potato puree with a side of greens. I remember being really unimpressed when our server put the dish down in front of me. It looked like a chicken that we could have made at home. But, as I started eating it, it did surprise me. The meat was moist, and the skin was crispy and the right amount of salty. The potatoes with it were terrific as well. Dan got the grilled calamari entree, which came as three large pieces of squid. He was pretty excited about it, because while fried calamari is pretty ubiquitous at restaurants now, it being prepared without all the breading was a nice change. Additionally, neither of us had ever seen it offered as an entree, so we were looking forward to trying it. However, Dan didn't rave about it afterwards, and seemed to be disappointed in the taste. It seemed the overall impression we were getting was "It's not bad, but it's not good either"
Dessert: However, tides were about to turn. The dessert that I had substituted is called the Milky Way and is something I had read about in other people's reviews of the restaurant. If it isn't the best dessert I've ever had, it is easily in the top five. Wow. It's the chef's rendition of the Milky Way bar, on a larger scale. It comes out with a dense fudge bottom layer, topped with two small scoops of malt vanilla ice cream and another, thinner, disc of fudge on top. Sounds unimpressive, until the server pours a creamer full of warm bourbon caramel on top of everything. The top chocolate layer completely melts away and the ice cream melts slightly and it all combines to become quite the food-gasm. I think Dan got a chocolate mousse cake thing, light mousse on top, crispy bottom layer that was good as I recall. But as I was spending this portion of my evening in a euphoric state, I wasn't really concentrating on his dessert.
The bad news: Leaving Bacar directly after dessert, I thought it was the most fantastic place on earth. However, the next day, reality set in and I realized that overall, our experience wasn't that great. We probably won't be returning for a meal off their regular menu, as nothing really was that impressive. And $40 for a pork chop entree is a little higher than I would pay for not impressed.
The good news: I do forsee Bacar and I having a long committed relationship for late night dessert and drinks if/when Dan and I are in the area.
Walking into Bacar, the space seems like an old loft - brick walls and high ceilings. You're immediately greeted by a three story wall o' wine on your left, and the bar, up a short flight of stairs to your right. We completely missed the hostess stand, which is directly to your left when you walk in, and we ended up walking directly into the dining area...awkward. Luckily the overdressed, incredibly snooty hostess chased us down (and by chased, I mean practiced her runway walk) and directed us to our table right away. When we were seated, we got their regular menu, but had to wait for our server to come to get the DAT menu. This rubs me the wrong way sometimes, as then your server has time to decide if you'll get a little less attention, as you're ordering from the DAT menu. Anyway. Our waiter turned out to be decent, and earned major points as he agreed to sub in a dessert for me from the regular menu (more on that later).
Drinks: We both ordered cocktails and I remember thinking that they were creative, although I can't remember what they were. I do remember Dan's being a bright color and him reporting that it was a little sweet for his tastes. I also remember them taking a long time to arrive. Also worth mentioning is that while we didn't have any wine, the wine list is insane. It has a table of contents, and is 38 pages long. If you have the attention span to read through it, I'm sure you could find something terrific that you would enjoy.
Appetizers: Dan ordered the tuna carpaccio, which was smooth and creamy, but it wasn't overly flavorful and probably could be replicated at many other restaurants in the area. I had the potato gnocchi and it was tasty. Gnocchi always reminds me of soft little pillows, and these were no exception. They were, again, good but not great.
Entrees: I had the wood roasted chicken, which came on a potato puree with a side of greens. I remember being really unimpressed when our server put the dish down in front of me. It looked like a chicken that we could have made at home. But, as I started eating it, it did surprise me. The meat was moist, and the skin was crispy and the right amount of salty. The potatoes with it were terrific as well. Dan got the grilled calamari entree, which came as three large pieces of squid. He was pretty excited about it, because while fried calamari is pretty ubiquitous at restaurants now, it being prepared without all the breading was a nice change. Additionally, neither of us had ever seen it offered as an entree, so we were looking forward to trying it. However, Dan didn't rave about it afterwards, and seemed to be disappointed in the taste. It seemed the overall impression we were getting was "It's not bad, but it's not good either"
Dessert: However, tides were about to turn. The dessert that I had substituted is called the Milky Way and is something I had read about in other people's reviews of the restaurant. If it isn't the best dessert I've ever had, it is easily in the top five. Wow. It's the chef's rendition of the Milky Way bar, on a larger scale. It comes out with a dense fudge bottom layer, topped with two small scoops of malt vanilla ice cream and another, thinner, disc of fudge on top. Sounds unimpressive, until the server pours a creamer full of warm bourbon caramel on top of everything. The top chocolate layer completely melts away and the ice cream melts slightly and it all combines to become quite the food-gasm. I think Dan got a chocolate mousse cake thing, light mousse on top, crispy bottom layer that was good as I recall. But as I was spending this portion of my evening in a euphoric state, I wasn't really concentrating on his dessert.
The bad news: Leaving Bacar directly after dessert, I thought it was the most fantastic place on earth. However, the next day, reality set in and I realized that overall, our experience wasn't that great. We probably won't be returning for a meal off their regular menu, as nothing really was that impressive. And $40 for a pork chop entree is a little higher than I would pay for not impressed.
The good news: I do forsee Bacar and I having a long committed relationship for late night dessert and drinks if/when Dan and I are in the area.
Aziza
Well, I'm going to spoil the surprise and suspense of reading through this whole post and say that Aziza was (for us) a fantastic experience and we are unashamedly trying to find the appropriate time to go back. Dan went so far as to state that it was one of his favorite meals ever.
So, a little background. Coming from DC, we are used to taking advantage of Restaurant Week. It's a creation designed to increase tourism and get people into restaurants in the DC area. Restaurants provide 3 course prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner at a fraction of the price of what a 3 course meal would normally cost ($20 for lunch, $30 for dinner). Of course, with busier restaurants, and lower prices equalling lower tips, I don't think that this is a favorite time of year with restaurant staff. (Read - sometimes the service sucks) But, I love it anyway.
I was excited to find the SF equivalent of Restaurant Week called Dine About Town. It may even be better than Restaurant Week, as it lasts half a month, rather than a week (I've heard that in the past, it's been the entire month of January) When the list of prticipating restaurants were first posted, every food blog I read mentioned Aziza. I'm so excited to be going back...the reservations will go fast...etc. etc. I booked ours in early December for January 23.
By the time the 23rd rolled around, I was pretty darn worked up about it. Usually, the high expectations thing goes really badly. But, I'm happy to say that Aziza lived up to every one. When we arrived, our reservation was honored right away, which I really appreciate. They gave us Dine About Town menus along with the regular menus, which also earned them points. I was really excited to see that their DAT menu had about 8 options for appetizers, maybe 6 options for entree, and 4 for dessert. We've been places that give you no options at all, or only offer the least exciting or least expensive items off the menu. Aziza, however, really offered their best dishes. Oh, also, the inside of the restaurant is Moroccan themed - lots of deep rich colors, lots of fabric, lots of "stereotypical" decor. But it wasn't tacky, and there were certainly no belly dancers...thank goodness.
So...the food.
Appetizers: I ordered the meatball and grape skewers, and Dan ordered mushroom and cheese stuffed phyllo. Yum. For serious. The skewers may sound like a strange combo but it came together perfectly. The meatballs were tender and spicy and flavorful and mouthfuls of deliciousness. Combined with tart, cool grapes = wow. They came on a nice pile of jicama, which I couldn't get enough of. Also, I enjoyed saying jicama for the rest of the meal (hick-a-mah). Dan's stuffed phyllo came out warm and flaky, but wasn't what we expected when we bit into them. The mushrooms were chopped really fine, and the cheese wasn't overly flavorful - but when we got over ourselves, and our assumptions, they were very good. We also ordered a small side of flatbread which came out with the appetizer.
Entrees: I selfishly ordered the lamb. (Selfish because we have a policy to never order the same thing at a meal, and Dan loves lamb) The lamb was friggin amazing. Falling off the bone as it should be, marinated and cooked just right. It was so rich and delicious. It came with a side of barley which was a great compliment, bland enough to not overwhelm but still took on the overall flavor of the lamb, and three or four big spiced prunes. Immediately made me think of elderly folks and prune juice, but wow. Clearly the chef knows some things. Dan originally ordered the beef stew, which I had heard was divine, but they were out :( He ordered the chicken couscous which he didn't get a chance to regret at all, as he devoured it. The chicken was moist and tender, and the couscous was great. Portions were pretty big - we both had small amounts to take home for a small lunch treat the next day.
Desserts: If our two desserts would have had a fistfight, mine wouldn't even have gotten in a punch. He ordered the Orange blossom honey mousse, which was a pretty interesting looking creation of a mousse, with a foam on top, surrounded by fresh oranges and tiny little gelatin cubes. It sounds really strange, but honestly, it was amazing. We kept trying to describe it and coming up short until Dan realized that it tasted EXACTLY how honeysuckle smells. It was a "holy crap, how did the chef do this?!?" kind of moment. I had a chocolate custard, which was good, but not something I couldn't get anywhere else.
Drinks: They had a really creative cocktail list, many of which were based on fresh fruit. I had a gin, lime and cloves yumminess, and Dan had a kiwi, grapefruit and tequila concoction. Both were great, but I would definitely keep trying new things off their list when I go back.
Service: Really great. Lots of small touches that make you feel like they're trying to give you a good experience. Water (flavored with cucumbers) always topped off. Any food that is boxed up is held for you until the end of the meal. The only misstep of the meal with service was a really long wait between appetizers and entrees. While we did linger over appetizers because they were so good, which probably threw off some timing,the wait did get to be a little awkward.
They also get points for: "aziza showcases the abundance of organic produce & free-range meat, game & poultry from local farms & ranches that practice ecologically sound, slow & sustainable agriculture"
Summary: I ramble a lot. Aziza is really, really good.
So, a little background. Coming from DC, we are used to taking advantage of Restaurant Week. It's a creation designed to increase tourism and get people into restaurants in the DC area. Restaurants provide 3 course prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner at a fraction of the price of what a 3 course meal would normally cost ($20 for lunch, $30 for dinner). Of course, with busier restaurants, and lower prices equalling lower tips, I don't think that this is a favorite time of year with restaurant staff. (Read - sometimes the service sucks) But, I love it anyway.
I was excited to find the SF equivalent of Restaurant Week called Dine About Town. It may even be better than Restaurant Week, as it lasts half a month, rather than a week (I've heard that in the past, it's been the entire month of January) When the list of prticipating restaurants were first posted, every food blog I read mentioned Aziza. I'm so excited to be going back...the reservations will go fast...etc. etc. I booked ours in early December for January 23.
By the time the 23rd rolled around, I was pretty darn worked up about it. Usually, the high expectations thing goes really badly. But, I'm happy to say that Aziza lived up to every one. When we arrived, our reservation was honored right away, which I really appreciate. They gave us Dine About Town menus along with the regular menus, which also earned them points. I was really excited to see that their DAT menu had about 8 options for appetizers, maybe 6 options for entree, and 4 for dessert. We've been places that give you no options at all, or only offer the least exciting or least expensive items off the menu. Aziza, however, really offered their best dishes. Oh, also, the inside of the restaurant is Moroccan themed - lots of deep rich colors, lots of fabric, lots of "stereotypical" decor. But it wasn't tacky, and there were certainly no belly dancers...thank goodness.
So...the food.
Appetizers: I ordered the meatball and grape skewers, and Dan ordered mushroom and cheese stuffed phyllo. Yum. For serious. The skewers may sound like a strange combo but it came together perfectly. The meatballs were tender and spicy and flavorful and mouthfuls of deliciousness. Combined with tart, cool grapes = wow. They came on a nice pile of jicama, which I couldn't get enough of. Also, I enjoyed saying jicama for the rest of the meal (hick-a-mah). Dan's stuffed phyllo came out warm and flaky, but wasn't what we expected when we bit into them. The mushrooms were chopped really fine, and the cheese wasn't overly flavorful - but when we got over ourselves, and our assumptions, they were very good. We also ordered a small side of flatbread which came out with the appetizer.
Entrees: I selfishly ordered the lamb. (Selfish because we have a policy to never order the same thing at a meal, and Dan loves lamb) The lamb was friggin amazing. Falling off the bone as it should be, marinated and cooked just right. It was so rich and delicious. It came with a side of barley which was a great compliment, bland enough to not overwhelm but still took on the overall flavor of the lamb, and three or four big spiced prunes. Immediately made me think of elderly folks and prune juice, but wow. Clearly the chef knows some things. Dan originally ordered the beef stew, which I had heard was divine, but they were out :( He ordered the chicken couscous which he didn't get a chance to regret at all, as he devoured it. The chicken was moist and tender, and the couscous was great. Portions were pretty big - we both had small amounts to take home for a small lunch treat the next day.
Desserts: If our two desserts would have had a fistfight, mine wouldn't even have gotten in a punch. He ordered the Orange blossom honey mousse, which was a pretty interesting looking creation of a mousse, with a foam on top, surrounded by fresh oranges and tiny little gelatin cubes. It sounds really strange, but honestly, it was amazing. We kept trying to describe it and coming up short until Dan realized that it tasted EXACTLY how honeysuckle smells. It was a "holy crap, how did the chef do this?!?" kind of moment. I had a chocolate custard, which was good, but not something I couldn't get anywhere else.
Drinks: They had a really creative cocktail list, many of which were based on fresh fruit. I had a gin, lime and cloves yumminess, and Dan had a kiwi, grapefruit and tequila concoction. Both were great, but I would definitely keep trying new things off their list when I go back.
Service: Really great. Lots of small touches that make you feel like they're trying to give you a good experience. Water (flavored with cucumbers) always topped off. Any food that is boxed up is held for you until the end of the meal. The only misstep of the meal with service was a really long wait between appetizers and entrees. While we did linger over appetizers because they were so good, which probably threw off some timing,the wait did get to be a little awkward.
They also get points for: "aziza showcases the abundance of organic produce & free-range meat, game & poultry from local farms & ranches that practice ecologically sound, slow & sustainable agriculture"
Summary: I ramble a lot. Aziza is really, really good.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Wow. A new blog that no one will read.
An exciting new endeavor!
No time to write now, but posts to come about:
Aziza, Bacar, Fringale (SF)
Tuk Tuk Thai, Venus (Berkeley)
Pho 84 (Oakland)
No time to write now, but posts to come about:
Aziza, Bacar, Fringale (SF)
Tuk Tuk Thai, Venus (Berkeley)
Pho 84 (Oakland)
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