6th annual flag day at Quince

every year we use Flag Day as an excuse to eat a fancy pants dinner. originally we had reservations for Coi, however found ourselves lacking in excitement so we changed our minds last minute. luckily we were able to find reservations for another two Michelin starred restaurant within a weeks time. this year's dinner was at Quince, where i've dined before but was still very excited to experience again. we opted for the full tasting menu and it was awesome!

tomato

which tasted like a super glorified mozzarella stick

stuzzichini de benvenuto

meaning appetizers or small bites. 

buttermilk something or other with popcorn

simple in taste. i love popcorn so the inclusion in any dish is a win for me.

house smoked salmon on squash chip

not too smokey or salty. a nice bite.

cannot remember but it's some sort of crisp chip with pickled strawberry

i've been seeing this type of crisp around lately and i like it. reminds me of shrimp chips you see on this particular chinese dish with chicken but obviously this is not a shrimp chip. i digs it.

razor clam on a chip

LOVE razor clams and you rarely see it in the Bay Area. this was awesome!

melon gazpacho with watermelon wrapped in proscuitto

light. smooth. refreshing.

hawaiian bonito, cherry tomato, seaweed, lemon cucumber

my least favorite dish of the night, but still pretty good. nicely cured fish with tomatoes that had a super enhanced flavor. i can't tell if they did something to it or if they're just exceptionally ripe tomatoes.

bread service

white asparagus, morel mushroom, spring garlic, vin jaune

favorite dish of the night! holy cow who knew that a vegetarian dish could ever be theeee best dish? the asparagus was cooked nicely, the spring garlic puree was crazy flavorful, as was the morel sauce. and morels are my favorite mushroom, so that was a perfect component to the dish for me. my only qualm with the dish is that it looks so phalic. they could've cut the asparagus at a slant and it would've been even better.

"tortelli alla cecilia chiang" caviar, smoked sturgeon, shallots

non-fishy caviar with light filling. who would've ever thought to put fried shallots with caviar? they seem at opposite ends of the spectrum but worked so well together. i looooved this!

tagliolini e oro, cocoa, japanese surf clam, melon

i don't think the gold flakes were necessary for this dish but it was super tasty. i happily slurped this up.

suckling pig tortellini, parmigiano reggiano fonduta

you'd be amazed at how pungent (in a positive way) the suckling pig could be coming from pasta pieces the size of a nickel. this was also super creamy and verrrrrrry cheesy.

four story hill farms poussin, rainier cherry, sicilian pistachio, corn

i am not typically impressed with fowl dishes but this was pretty great. the poussin itself was super moist and seasoned well with a very crisp skn. the corn in the center reminded me of the corn you get as a side at Chili's but a more refined and more savory version. 

andante's minuet cheese, plum, buckwheat honey, chevril 

yum! love cheese. served with two types of bread.

apricot 

this dish was a palate cleanser and wasn't a part of the official menu but it was one of my favorite bites of the night. it was refreshing yet creamy. the meringue type thing tasted like champagne!

middleton farms berries, yogurt, maras des bois, valrhona opalys

a simple dish. under the cream was sort of a berry crumble with cooked berries and a crunchy top. twas delicious (i could probably eat it all day long) however i expect a little more from a restaurant of this caliber. that little tiny strawberry, on the other hand, was sort of amazing. it was the size of my pinky fingernail but packed so much punch it was sort of astonishing, really. 

mignardise

Saison for Flag Day

yesterday we celebrated my favorite day of every year, Pretentious Eats Flag Day! annually we go to a different two or three Michelin starred restaurant for their tasting menu and it. is. awesome! so far we've been to French Laundry, Manresa, Cyrus, and Restaurant at Meadowood. this year we dined at Saison for our fifth annual celebratory dinner, which also means i get to cross them off the list of Six Chefs You Should Know (leaving me with two more, Coi and Atelier Crenn). they offer a 17 course tasting menu for $248 and it is worth every penny. 

Saison is actually far from pretentious. they don't have a dress code so you can walk in in jeans and a t-shirt if you please. the music that they play isn't the elevator type music you might expect either. i'm pretty sure i heard 867-5309 playing at some point during dinner. slung on each person's chair is a lap blanket in case they get cold. the whole place is cement and brick so i imagine it can get preeetttty cold on those super chill nights. but i like to call the food pretentious because the moment a tweezer is involved in meticulously placing items onto a plate, there's an air of snobbery that comes with a meal that costs well above $200. aside from the food though, there is nothing about the place that i would consider pretentious. 

before we get into the food, i want to say that the service was spectacular! let me preface the goings on through the night with the knowledge that my car was parked right outside of their restaurant and upon realizing that it was only a one hour meter, i decided to move it (as dinner is 3 hours long). when i tried to move my car it wouldn't start and there wasn't any reason it shouldn't have started. i wasn't going to miss this dinner i'd been waiting a year for, so i headed inside and would deal with it after dinner while also risking getting a ticket. but Flag Day was much more important than my car at that point. the moment i walked through the door i was lead to the bar to wait for my friends and was poured a complimentary glass of champagne. the bartender and matre'd asked how my night was and i told them about my car. the matre'd offered to take my keys and have a look. he couldn't figure it out, but that gesture in itself was more than anything i'd expected. after dinner i sat in my car waiting for AAA to come and at some point one of the staff members saw us and asked if he could offer us some coffee while we waited. then another staff member saw i was waiting and said that if he'd known i was still out here he would have offered me some company. these things are far above any service that i expected. it seems like at Saison the people there are concerned that you to have a good experience throughout your stay with them, but in the most friendly and genuine way. not once did i feel like the people there were playing the role of someone serving. it felt like everybody truly liked their job and enjoyed giving us a great experience. 

now, onto the food! after consuming 17 courses, you'd think that i'd want nothing more than to explode after stretching my tummy out for three hours, but the courses were surprisingly light and well spaced out. many of the dishes were sort of refreshing in a sense and very balanced. nothing was overly rich or overpowering. after the meal i felt full but not in a i-should-probably-just-keel-over-and-die type full. everybody that has the means to go and appreciates truly divine food should make their way to Saison at least once!

soda, rhubarb, grapefruit, elderflowers

tart, light, and refreshing. simply wonderful. 

custard, grilled cepes, black truffle consomme

lots of mushroom flavor and full of umami

reserve caviar, ember roasted yam, grilled chicken gelee, crab

who knew that salty caviar would pair well with yam? i didn't! but Chef Josh Skene sure did. this was an incredibly inventive dish and my favorite of the night. 

cherry blossom, sea bream, bull kelp

i really enjoyed this. it had just enough texture with the fried bull kelp laying atop. 

shiso, kiwi   /  beet, rhubarb (i think..i can't remember)

we asked if there were any non-alcoholic beverages and they said that the bartender would basically concoct three different mocktails for us. these, plus another one with rhubarb, ginger and coconut were brought to the table. all were refreshing and unique in flavor. fun stuff!

live scallop, meiwa kumquat, sea urchin, avocado

good god was this good! live scallop has a totally different texture than seared scallop (clearly) and the uni added a nice richness, though again, this dish was very light. 

battle creek trout roe, ramp vichysoisse

the caviar was quite mild. this dish was super textural. i dig. 

battle creek trout

smoked, which pleasantly altered the texture a bit. 

abalone, roasted over the embers, wild seaweeds, lardo

i don't even like abalone but this was fantastic! there was a bit of a smokiness to it.

stew, rice and abalone liver, coastal greens, artichoke
yum!

bitter vegetables, nastrutium honey

the stringy fried thing you see is mermaid seaweed. i loved it! this dish was served with creme fraiche and some salt. you eat it with your hands and dip it however you please. each piece had a very distinct, fresh flavor to it. 

this was cute. sorta just wanted to hang on to it because it was so darn cute.

parker rolls
these rolls had the perfect consistency. slightly chewy and just perfect in every way. 

sable fish, swarnadwipa spices, yogurt, tangelo

this tasted very thai. the fish was cooked perfectly and the (what i imagine was..) plantains gave it some good texture. 

brassicas, aged seaweed bouillon

this was probably my least favorite dish, but still a very interesting dish. 

toffee, bread, milk, beer

duck liver hidden underneath! foie gras with toffee and beer? who in their right mind could come up with such a thing and make it work? this was sort of amazing for me. i thought that conceptually this was awesome. plus, i've been missing foie so it was nice to have a bit again. 

wood pigeon, cherry tree

i really enjoyed the cherry leaf with liver inside. it was super savory and just what was needed at that moment during the dinner. 

tart, harbison, strawberry, juniper

this was the cheese course. a different approach to the cheese course, which i appreciated. cheese, strawberries and crust.. i'm for it!

raspberry, meyer lemon, prickly ash, basil buds

those tiny little pieces of basil were surprisingly super potent. this was citrusy, creamy, slightly bitter, all in good ways. they described it as a raspberry marshmallow but nothing about this really screamed "marshmallow."

sesame, white sesame souffle, black sesame gelato

the executive chef came out to place the ice cream onto our souffles. that was nice of him! this was excellent. i'm not a fan of souffles in general but this was exceptional. it wasn't very sweet and was actually slightly savory because of all the sesame. just heavenly. 

grilled buckwheat tea

a good way to end the dinner but cleansing with some tea. a note from the Asians, i assume. haha. 

sponge cake with dulce de leche center and matcha powder

bourbon and browned butter macarons

earl grey truffle

can i just talk about the truffles for a moment? the guy who brought them over said to eat it in one bite because it pops and gets really messy otherwise. at first i wasn't going to listen to him and just bite half way through then decided that he probably knows what he's talking about so i took his advice. the moment you crack the chocolate, you encounter a liquid center that bursts into your mouth with earl grey tea. this was phenomenal! the chocolate layer is much thinner than you'd image which was actually really pleasant. 

caneles
custardy inside, caramelly crust. just what it should be!

after having said that the earl grey truffle was spectacular and i wished it were my last bite, someone came out with a second round of truffles for us. see what i mean about above and beyond service? 

brioche

we were sent home with a brioche for the morning after as well as printed menus. awesome! 

i cannot say enough great things about Saison. every moment of my time spent there was time/money very well spent. my experience encompassed all things i expected and then some. this was the perfect selection for our 5th Annual Flag Day!

annual Flag Day: 4th edition

every year Helen and i choose a fancy pants restaurant to go to for Flag Day. if you at all are inquiring why we chose the day of our flag to be the day of our annual occasion, you can read that here (Cyrus 3rd edition). we invite a few foodie friends (up to 6 people) to join us each year and we're pretty selective about who we invite as it's only fun eating pretentious food with people who will actually enjoy it and appreciate the intricacies of the dishes. anyhow, we've known we were going to eat at the Restaurant at Meadowood for a solid year now. Helen made reservations three months to the day in advance. because they only serve dinner, we decided to make a day out of it and go to Redd for lunch.

Paul, Helen, myself, Marjie and Erich

at Redd. me, Marjie and Helen

i shared everything with Marjie because i like to do things tapas style whenever possible.

tasting of cold foie gras. i did not love the terrine to the left. it was too gamy for my taste. but the two other preparations were on point for me. served with some toasted brioche, it was a nice way to say goodbye to foie, as you all know at the end of this month it'll be banned from California. insert sad face. 

yellowfin tuna tartar with apples(?) or asian pear(?) and fried rice. light, crisp.

short rib sandwich with onion rings. sort of sweet but very good.

myself and Marjimer in the hot hot heat. this day it got up to nearly 105!!

strawberry tart with strawberry sorbet and pistachios. light, flaky, a good way to end a solid meal. though dessert was probably overkill. we were crazy stuffed.

butterscotch pudding with toffee and pretzel. the foamy stuff they put on top gave the pudding a more liquefied feel, which i didn't care for. if i'm going to eat pudding i expect thick and creamy.

Erich and i waiting in line at Bouchon for macarons and such

off to our dinner reservations at the Restaurant Meadowood

we don't look very excited, but trust me, we absolutely were.

$225/person for an 8 course meal, which really turns out to be a lot more if you count all of the amuse bouche and extra little things here and there. 100% worth it if you ask me. the service was outstanding and the food was perfect. there wasn't one dish that i didn't like.

flight of amuse bouche:

pillow filled with fromage blanc. a very delicate crisp exterior encapsulating a rich, creamy cheese. this tasted much like a white cheddar cheez-it, but like way better.

baby radish and carrots immersed in a cool (as in cold, not awesome...though it was pretty awesome too!) concoction that i cannot remember. it was hellsa good though. i would have preferred a spoon so that i could  eat every little bit of that, but it was meant to be eaten with the veggies and the leaves of the veggies.

lime and elderflower mocktail. refreshing and friggin $14!!!!

geoduck and clam puff. this thing sort of bursts in your mouth. i likes.

shrimp roll 

brown butter balls. slippery little suckers. and they're right, it's super brown buttery.

yogurt with shiso, black sesame and some other things i can't remember.this dish was surprisingly really damn good. it was my second favorite dish of the night. super texturally appealing. creamy, crunchy, stringy. sweet, salty, excellent.

cuttlefish with black beans, maitake mushrooms and avocado puree. this was my least favorite dish, but it was still a very good dish. they do such a great job of balancing the dishes and adding tons of texture to it. 

shrimp with caviar. the flower was also stuffed with a shrimp paste type thing. fantastic!

abalone with abalone mushrooms and farro. i don't typically like abalone but this was a very good version of it. so earthy.  i would love it if every bowl of ramen i ate from now on came with that clam broth.

bread to accompany the next dish

sturgeon wrapped in leek. i can't understand the addition of the bread but i liked it nonetheless. a solid piece of fish.

this is what our guinea hen looked like before it was cooked. it was encased in a salted dough for who knows how long.

this is a meat broth. first the dish came out with little flakes of something in it. turns out it was very fine shavings of fat. then they poured a broth over it to melt the fat. a great way to introduce the meat courses.

this is the guinea hen we had. it is so simple, but this was my favorite dish of the night. super earthy, super flavorful and juicy. crisp skin and just perfect. plus, i think i got a piece near the butt of the hen, which is the most flavorful part. you think i'm making a joke, but i'm not. that part is the best!

a blurry picture of red wine bread.

some kinda steak with morels. super tender and quite lovely.

i forget what the green sauce is but it was really fresh. it complimented the meat like mint jelly (though i could never understand the jelly component. grosstastic!) compliments lamb.

bread to accompany the cheese course

goats milk cheese course. spreadable cheese to the left, goats milk butter with nori to the right and a very thin goats milk cheese

i really enjoyed the butter with nori. inventive. i would have never thought think to put goats anything with nori.

so i won't go into detail, but something was wrong with my cheese course and i had to send it back. the server felt really badly and came out to apologize. she also offered us an extra cheese course for my troubles and look what we got! 

tallegio cheese donut with rhubarb. paired with a beer. 

very nice of them, dontcha think?

palate cleanser

chocolate mousse with a creme fraiche ice cream and crystallized beets

after the meal they brought out a box of random deliciousness. honeycomb with green tea, some pleasantly chewy thing covered in crushed cocoa nibs, etc. looks unappealing but it totally wasn't. it was unique and kept with their earthy theme.

afterward we got a tour of their very clean, very organized new kitchen. it was just remodeled less than a few months ago. 

this had to be the second best day of my life. the first being when we went to French Laundry for our first Flag Day. of course i haven't had kids or gotten married yet, but as far as right now goes, these two rank as day 1 and 2. i would hope that a wedding or a child's birth would surpass the best meals of my life but man is this meal a hard one to beat!