Last night, I met a friend for dinner at the restaurant Manresa in Los
Gatos, CA. The restaurant and its chef, David Kinch, have recently
received quite a bit of positive press in the NY Times magazine, Gourmet
magazine and -- most recently -- it was cited as #38 on a list of the
"Top 50 Restaurants in the World," as compiled by London's Restaurant
Magazine. The emphasis at Manresa is on the creative use of locally
procured ingredients. Although Mr. Kinch was absent from the kitchen
last night (he's in London this week), the kitchen was ably run by his
long-time sous-chef Jeremy. Both of us opted for the tasting menu,
which we left up to the chef (as in Japanese omakase).

Here is what we ate, and the wines that we had with it:

amuse bouches:
red pepper and black olive "petits fours"

This gives me a picture of what the chef is doing. Here he subverts the
standard idea of petit fours by swapping savory for sweet flavors.
It's an intellectually stimulating way to start the meal.

Mexican lime and hibiscus "cocktail"

Yes, hibiscus! This consisted of a lime granita with a small infusion
of tequila, atop of which was a red hibiscus jelly (for lack of a more
descriptive term). The combination was very refreshing and stimulating
to the palate.

Parmesan churros

Mashed potato and parmesan shaped into logs and deep fried. Nice finger
food.

Strawberry gazpacho

This is apparently one of the signature dishes of Manresa, and it was a
standout. The strawberry was present in small quantity, just enough in
fact to "brighten" the tomato in the gazpacho, which also was seasoned
with chives and lime.

Salt cod bunyols, honey and sherry

Frankly, I don't remember much about this dish -- I must have been
distracted.

The "infamous egg"

[The name derives from some flak the chef took from some foodies online
regarding whether he'd properly attributed this dish to L'Arpege
restaurant, where it originated]

A soft-boiled egg is opened up and, on top of the egg is placed some
whipped cream and maple syrup. I know that it sounds bizarre, but it
works and is a fascinating combination of flavors, not at all bizarre in
taste. This BTW is another signature dish of Manresa.

With all of the above, we had a bottle of Pierre Peters Cuvée de Reserve
Blanc de Blancs Brut Le Mesnil Champagne. I didn't know this producer,
but it came recommended by the staff and was very good: not much toast,
citrus and green apple with a very pronounced mousse. It reminded me
quite a bit of the few Champagnes of Egly-Ouriet that I've had.

This was followed by:

"Twice cooked" foie gras with delta asparagus

A very thin slice of foie gras (the twice cooked bit I don't quite get)
with lots of black pepper was draped over an asparagus tip. Very
enjoyable combination.

Japanese fluke, sashimi-style, with olive oil and chives

I don't remember much about this dish, either, probably because it was
eclipsed by what followed.

"Just shucked" scallops with oceanic gelée

This was another standout dish. The scallops were either raw or very
lightly cooked, minced and reassembled into a football shape.
Surrounding it was the gelée, which had a salty/citrusy character. The
scallops were delicious on their own, but the gelée did add to the
overall flavor as well. Totally delicious

Artichoke soup with chickpea frites and manchego

This was essentially a reworked version of French onion soup, with the
chickpea frites standing in for the bread and the shaved Manchego
replacing the Gruyére. The thick asparagus soup was poured over the
solid ingredients, which slowly softened. The soup was rich and
wonderful, and the solids provided interesting surprises when encountered.

Skate wing with morels, fava bean pesto

To me, this could have been a Charlie Trotter dish. All the ingredients
were carefully showcased, and the combination of flavors provided the
interest. The skate wing had been grilled and combined beautifully with
the small, soft morels. The fava bean "pesto" tasted fresh, in contrast
to the other flavors.

Rouget and clams a la plancha, sweet and sour sauce

Manresa's custom-designed kitchen includes a griddle-like plancha for
searing fish on. In this dish, small squares of rouget (what's the
English name for rouget?) were seared on the plancha and served with a
very subtle "sweet and sour" sauce. I don't honestly remember the clams.

These dishes were eaten with two wines that I'd brought along:

2002 Roland Lavantureux Chablis

Initially a bit reticent, this opened up after 30 minutes to reveal the
character that I remembered: good minerality, lemony citrus and green
apples. As time wore on, the minerality became more pronounced.

2003 Manfred Felsner Grüner Veltliner Moosburgerin Kremstal

A lighter-styled GV, but one that still has great substance to it and no
signs of flabbiness from the hot vintage of 2003. It showed typical
pepper and floral notes with citrus and some kind of melon on the palate
and a nice, crisp finish. Not the biggest GV, but good varietal
character and a nice complement to many of the fish dishes we had.

Then, the final round of savory dishes:

Local abalone with slow-cooked veal cheeks

For me, this was the highlight of the dinner (and another signature
dish!) The square of pan-fried abalone alone would qualify as a treat
but, placed atop a small pile of braised veal cheeks, it was taken to a
new level. Both components were excellent in their own right, but
eating them together proved to be a revelatory experience. Surf and
turf reinvented.

Milk fed Pennsylvania pouillard stuffed with porcini mushrooms

This was a delicious dish, reminding me quite a bit of dishes I'd had in
France. Coming immediately after the previous dish, it suffered a bit
in comparison.

Season's last choucroute with suckling pig and boudin noir

Two different parts of the pig found their into the choucroute, and the
house-made boudin noir sausage was tremendous. The sauerkraut was
somewhat subdued, giving this choucroute a bit of refinement.

Baby spring lamb and merguez, goats' milk whey polenta

I mostly remember the house-made merguez sausage, which was garlicky and
good. The creamy polenta also provided a great backdrop to the meats.

With these dishes, it was deemed prudent to get a red wine, so we opted
to get by the glass:

Robert Sinskey 2001 Los Carneros Pinot Noir

A very decent Pinot from one of my favorite producers of Carneros PN.
Soft, lush, with clear varietal fruit and a hint of smoke. It was very
good with the veal and choucroute, but a bit overwhelmed by the lamb.

The desserts:

Green apple and rhubarb sorbet

Of the two, the rhubarb was startlingly good.

Pineapple beignets with passion fruit

Delicious combination of the cooked pineapple and the passion fruit.

Strawberry soufflé with kaffir lime ice cream

The soufflé itself was great, but the combination with the lime flavor
proved fasinating, even at this late stage of the meal.

Chocolate marquis and devil's food cake
Petits fours "white peach-chocolate"

By this time, I'd basically had enough, so didn't really sample these
last two desserts well enough to have much to say about them.

The meal lasted just over four hours, though at no point did I feel
either rushed or impatient for the next course. One point worth making
here is that, although there were 21 different plates presented to us,
the portions were quite small so that, even by the end of the meal I was
not overly full. Instead, the cumulative impact of all the different
flavors was almost kaleidoscopic. The overall impression of the cooking
was certainly the creative use of high quality, fresh ingredients;
beyond that, however, was the desire to create (what for me is) a new
synthesis. This is not "fusion" cooking in the hackneyed sense, but
rather a coming together of several different traditions with this ethos
of highlighting the ingredients themselves. At the same time, I never
felt that the combinations were forced or that the chef was trying to do
too much in a given dish. Each dish had its own distinct character,
and it was the sucession of dishes of differing character that provided
a lot of the excitement.

All in all, a most memorable meal, conceived of by a rising superstar of
a chef. The wines, while good, were in the end overshadowed by the
cooking, but the cooking was what I was there to experience after all...

One final thought: with the growing popularity of chef's tasting menus
such as this one, it's becoming increasingly difficult to select a
single bottle of wine that will go with a meal. Restaurants such as
this will usually have a selected list of wines by the glass to
accompany the tasting menu, but at times patrons will not want to
partake of those wines. In such cases, restaurants will need to
increase their supplies of half bottles to provide greater flexibility
to their patrons in choosing wines to go with the food.

Mark Lipton

Thanks for report. I quite enjoyed Kinch's cooking when he visited the
James Beard House.

The Pierre Peters BdB is probably my current favorite NV Champagne
(Ian, this is the one I served at dinner at my place). Very good stuff.

Salut/Hi Mark Lipton,

le/on Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:15:13 -0700, tu disais/you said:-


>received quite a bit of positive press in the NY Times magazine, Gourmet
>magazine and -- most recently -- it was cited as #38 on a list of the
>"Top 50 Restaurants in the World," as compiled by London's Restaurant
>Magazine.

Would this be an appropriate moment to point out that in that list, with 4
out of the top 10 and 14 out of the top 50, Britain beat both France and the
USA for top restaurants, especially as the #1 spot has gone to "The Fat
Duck" at Bray.

One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

Ian Hoare wrote:

> Would this be an appropriate moment to point out that in that list, with 4
> out of the top 10 and 14 out of the top 50, Britain beat both France and the
> USA for top restaurants, especially as the #1 spot has gone to "The Fat
> Duck" at Bray.
>
> One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.
>

Of course, that the publication doing the ranking is UK-based will be
used to undermine such observations by the less-charitably minded among
us (heaven forefend! not by me). I do find it disturbing that the list
manages to almost completely overlook the restaurants of East Asia
(e.g.), but then again how seriously should we ever take such a list as
this? It's just one step from that to the WS's annual "Top 100," about
which we all have weighed in at one time or another.

It would have been interesting had you visited Manresa after your meal
at the FL. I am reasonably sure that you would prefer the FL, but it's
a question of two radically different approaches to fine dining by two
extremely gifted chefs. Oh, well...

Mark Lipton

Salut/Hi Mark Lipton,

le/on Fri, 22 Apr 2005 17:17:52 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

>Ian Hoare wrote:
>
>> Would this be an appropriate moment to point out that in that list, with 4
>> out of the top 10 and 14 out of the top 50, Britain beat both France and the
>> USA for top restaurants, especially as the #1 spot has gone to "The Fat
>> Duck" at Bray.
>>
>> One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.
>>
>
>Of course, that the publication doing the ranking is UK-based will be
>used to undermine such observations by the less-charitably minded among
>us (heaven forefend! not by me).

Fortunately for me, I'm already on record as saying the same thing a couple
of days ago!

> I do find it disturbing that the list manages to almost completely overlook the restaurants of East Asia

So do I. In fact I've long felt that there's a franco-centred arrogance
amongst those journalistsa who pronounce on excellence.

>It would have been interesting had you visited Manresa after your meal
>at the FL.

It would indeed. However there's a limit to what this mere human belly - and
purse can withstand!

That said, I have as little desire to visit the Fat Duck as El Bulli, from
what I've seen of both.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

In article >,
Ian Hoare > wrote:
>
[snip!]
>
>One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.


Not "food *IN* the UK" but "British food". Do you see the difference?


Dimitri

Salut/Hi D. Gerasimatos,

le/on Sat, 23 Apr 2005 01:28:04 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

>In article >,
>Ian Hoare > wrote:
>>
>[snip!]
>>
>>One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.
>
>
>Not "food *IN* the UK" but "British food". Do you see the difference?

You're surely not suggesting that all food served in these 14 chosen
restaurants are from all nationalities except british?

A pity you let prejudice blind you to the facts.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

In article >,
Ian Hoare > wrote:
>>
>>Not "food *IN* the UK" but "British food". Do you see the difference?
>
>You're surely not suggesting that all food served in these 14 chosen
>restaurants are from all nationalities except british?


I am. I will also posit that the wine served is also not British.


>A pity you let prejudice blind you to the facts.


What are the facts? My cookbook of traditional British recipes lists
"Quiche Lorraine" and "Croque Monsieur". I will credit the British for
recognizing good food when they see it, though.


Dimitri

Salut/Hi D. Gerasimatos,

le/on Mon, 25 Apr 2005 06:09:39 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

>In article >,
>Ian Hoare > wrote:
>>>
>>>Not "food *IN* the UK" but "British food". Do you see the difference?
>>
>>You're surely not suggesting that all food served in these 14 chosen
>>restaurants are from all nationalities except british?

>I am.

Then you're wrong.

> I will also posit that the wine served is also not British.

Most of the wine served will be from outside the UK, certainly. Not that
that that would be relevant to the intrinsic quality of British food OR
English wine.


>What are the facts? My cookbook of traditional British recipes lists
>"Quiche Lorraine" and "Croque Monsieur". I will credit the British for
>recognizing good food when they see it, though.

That's a good reason to criticise your cookbook, not the cuisine.

In fact it is extremely hard to say where one cuisine starts and another
ends.

Creme Brûlée, is commonly believed to be French in fact its first recorded
appearance is in Cambridge in the UK.

Equally, good old American Pizza, Apple Pie, Chowder and Meatloaf owe their
origins to 4 different European countries, although they've all been adopted
by the USA (some might say perverted) and most USAians would say they are
American dishes.

By those criteria, some of the best loved "American" favourites are British
in fact.

I'd never claim that English cuisine is one of the world's top cuisines,
though I would put in on a par with or ahead of several other European
countries. What would be interesting, IMO would be to discuss at what point
a dish becomes legitmately part of a nation's cuisine. For example, "Spag
Bol" is on the menu in many an entirely british household. Not a very good
Spaghetti Bolognese, certainly. Similarly, there are many thai influenced
dishes that are becoming fast favourites.

What I found quite interesting the other day was that the BBC carried out a
survey of the nation's favourite Sunday lunch. (As representative of a meal
that had slightly festive family meal connotations). Roast Beef and
Yorkshire pudding was the clear and unequivocal winner, and I'd certainly
agree that it is very much a defining dish of British cuisine. To the point
that the French equivalent of "Frogs" (Britspeak for French) is "Les
Rosbifs".

I call it a defining dish, because it both demonstrates the strengths of
English cooking (at its best) and its weakness (at its worst).

To make top class roast beef, you must have grass fed beef, not fattened up
on barley, not given a diet of hormones or antibiotics. It should be from an
animal of at least three or four years old that is a beef variety, such as
Aberdeen Angus, Hereford - or Charolais or Limousin. The animal should
ideally be slaughtered near the farm where it lived, to avoid stress
chemicals in its blood. These criteria alone make it extremely hard to find
meat that is good enough to make a roast worthy of the traditions.

The meat should be quartered and then hung at least two weeks, though three
weeks would be better. It should then be butchered in such a way that the
cut to be roast should have both bone and its own covering fat. Sirloin and
Ribs are both classic roasting cuts, and they should both have meat that is
well marbled with fat, if the roast is to be excellent. It's no good
roasting the very lean grilling cuts, or - worse the pot roasting cuts (US
Top round, bottom round, blade steak) as is so often done. The smallest cut
that can be roasted successfully will weigh from 2-3 kg.

Real roasting is done on a spit in front of a bright open fire. I recommend
trying it at least once in your life, as it's an order better than the roast
we all know, which is actually baking. The meat should never be salted
before roasting as this has a tendancy to prevent the meat browning
properly. The meat should be allowed to warm to room temperature after being
seasoned (loads of pepper and dry mustard powder plus thyme).

The meat should be roast in an extremely hot oven (225 or so) for a short
time, from 20 mins to 40 mins per kg depending upon how it's liked, though
over cooked roast beef is an abomination. It is normal to roast beef very
rare at the centre, and carve the outside slices for those who prefer their
meat (over) cooked. After 10-15 mins in the oven, the meat can be removed
briefly, basted and then salted. Basting should be frequent - to imitate the
continual basting of the true rotating open fire spit roast.

English Roast Beef is traditionally served with roast potatoes, yorkshire
pudding, horseradish sauce, gravy and at least two other vegetables
depending upon the season. It is best accompanied by a top class burgundy
from the Dijon end of the Cote de Nuits. Clos St Jacques, or, better, a
Chambertin from a good traditionalist grower. But a 20 year old Hermitage
isn't bad with it either. There is no better meal in the world.

In practice, in the majority of British domestic kitchens, the beef is too
young, factory farmed, underhung, and from an inappropriate (cheaper) cut.
The intrinsic quality that roasting brings out simply isn't there. I might
add, that this is also the case in France, where - so far - I've never found
a single example of roast beef half as good as that served even in the
current dumbed down domestic version.

The situation in the majority of small restaurants is considerably worse.
Most will give up when faced with the difficulty of producing a perfectly
roast cut, perfectly served at the moment the diners require it. They cook
it in advance and flash reheat it at the moment of service. The vegetables
equally will be reheated, and the essential accompanying gravy etc will
themselves be travesties. It is hard to imagine anything much nastier.

But just as one should not judge American food by the glop served as Chowder
in every restaurant chain in the States, so one should not judge English
food by the travesty served in the average corner caff either.

Leaving roasting aside, although it IS the quntessentially british way of
cooking, especially of game birds, there are many other fine traditional
English dishes which stand comparison with anything from Europe.

Steak and ?? Pie and pudding (?? can be kidney, mushrooms or oysters)
Chicken, cottage and shepherd's pies
Baked or boiled Gammon or bacon
Spiced beef (silverside)
Raised pies.
Pigeon pie
Venison casseroles
Jugged Hare.
Oxtail, tomato, peascot, jerusalem and broad bean soups. (and many others)
Finnan haddock, smoked salmon, kedgeree, fish pie. Kipper paste, potted
shrimps, crabs and salmon. Fresh scotch wild salmon poached in cider (US
hard cider).

Some of the world's finest cheeses come from the UK, think of a top class
Stilton or Cheddar (though there are many others).

And when it comes to desserts, even top french chefs have always admitted
England's supremacy.

Apple pie, (and pear pie) Double crust fruit pies, cobblers, crumbles,
steamed and sponge puddings, custards, fools, syllabubs, trifles. There are
dozens of traditional british puddings that are a true delight when well
made.

The problem facing the average visitor to the UK, is not that there is a
fine English cuisine, but to find it. Nearly all traditional English food is
extraordinarily badly adapted to serving in restaurants, and there are very
few restaurants indeed where it is done. What CAN be found, ever
increasingly, are examples of modern english fine cooking, where traditional
dishes or ingredients are recreated in a way that IS capable of being served
well in a modern restaurant. But these restaurants are extremely expensive,
on the whole. Nevertheless the cuisine exists, and competes on equal terms
with anything from anywhere else in the world.

I'm tempted to ask you, Dimitri to list half as many excellent truly
American dishes. (Not counting those originating in the UK).

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

"Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
...
> One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.

There's nothing wrong with food in the UK as long as it's from an Asian
restaurant. ;^)

S moT

Ian,

I haven't eaten in London, so can't comment on restaurants. Certainly
London has gained a rep as a hot spot for chefs since mid-90s.
But......this list is ludicrous.So there are 14 UK restaurants better
than anything in Tokyo?
Beyond obvious UK bias, let's look at NYC. WD-50 but no Le Bernadin?
You have got to be #$%@ing kidding. Gramercy Tavern is the most
dependable dining experience in NYC, but 15th best in the world? Masa
has no track record- what % of voters do you think have actually eaten
there?
This list reads like a list of most press citations, not best
restaurants.

This doesn't detract from British dining- from what I've read, Fat Duck
is extraordinary. But this list really proves nothing.

In article >,
Ian Hoare > wrote:
>
[snip!]
>
>One in the eye for those I've seen recently here who knock food in the UK.


Not "food *IN* the UK" but "British food". Do you see the difference?


Dimitri

With all due respect, this restaurant list sounds like a bit of a joke. From
an Australian point of view, it lists Perry's "Rockpool" as the best
Australian restaurant - it isn't by a LONG way; there are a number better in
Melbourne and Sydney.

Ron Lel

Sorry, that should read one of the best in Australia - as I said , it isn't.

"Ron Lel" > wrote in message
...
> With all due respect, this restaurant list sounds like a bit of a joke.
> From an Australian point of view, it lists Perry's "Rockpool" as the best
> Australian restaurant - it isn't by a LONG way; there are a number better
> in Melbourne and Sydney.
>
> Ron Lel
>

Ian Hoare stated in part: That said, I have as little desire to visit
the Fat Duck as El Bulli, from what I've seen of both."

I don't think I would go out of my way to eat at El Bulli either. I just
read an article in the May 2005 issue of Smithsonian titled "Homage To
The Anchovy Coast." There is a picture of grilled watermellon topped
with anchovies. The text says: "standard fare for superstar chef Ferran
Adria, who's likely to serve an anchovy gelato for dessert". Adria is
the El Bulli chef. Everyone to their own taste, but to me such
combinations are as strange as chocolate syrup served on a steak as
sauce.

I wonder if any of the new generation of superstar chefs have enough
skill to duplicate the classic dishes from the time of Escoffier
including the classic sauces. It seems to me that the quality of chefs
and restaurants has been going down nearly everywhere since the early
1900s. There are a few exceptions. Demel in Vienna probably is turning
out baked goods just about as they were 100 years ago. Fortunately, with
2 day air express, you can now sample many of their products nearly
anywhere in the world.

Reply to .

Mark,
Great review.
Manresa is one my favorite restaurants in the USA.
I only live a few block's from Manresa.
Rick



"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
news
> Last night, I met a friend for dinner at the restaurant Manresa in Los
> Gatos, CA. The restaurant and its chef, David Kinch, have recently
> received quite a bit of positive press in the NY Times magazine, Gourmet
> magazine and -- most recently -- it was cited as #38 on a list of the "Top
> 50 Restaurants in the World," as compiled by London's Restaurant Magazine.
> The emphasis at Manresa is on the creative use of locally procured
> ingredients. Although Mr. Kinch was absent from the kitchen last night
> (he's in London this week), the kitchen was ably run by his long-time
> sous-chef Jeremy. Both of us opted for the tasting menu, which we left up
> to the chef (as in Japanese omakase).
>
> Here is what we ate, and the wines that we had with it:
>
> amuse bouches:
> red pepper and black olive "petits fours"
>
> This gives me a picture of what the chef is doing. Here he subverts the
> standard idea of petit fours by swapping savory for sweet flavors. It's an
> intellectually stimulating way to start the meal.
>
> Mexican lime and hibiscus "cocktail"
>
> Yes, hibiscus! This consisted of a lime granita with a small infusion of
> tequila, atop of which was a red hibiscus jelly (for lack of a more
> descriptive term). The combination was very refreshing and stimulating to
> the palate.
>
> Parmesan churros
>
> Mashed potato and parmesan shaped into logs and deep fried. Nice finger
> food.
>
> Strawberry gazpacho
>
> This is apparently one of the signature dishes of Manresa, and it was a
> standout. The strawberry was present in small quantity, just enough in
> fact to "brighten" the tomato in the gazpacho, which also was seasoned
> with chives and lime.
>
> Salt cod bunyols, honey and sherry
>
> Frankly, I don't remember much about this dish -- I must have been
> distracted.
>
> The "infamous egg"
>
> [The name derives from some flak the chef took from some foodies online
> regarding whether he'd properly attributed this dish to L'Arpege
> restaurant, where it originated]
>
> A soft-boiled egg is opened up and, on top of the egg is placed some
> whipped cream and maple syrup. I know that it sounds bizarre, but it
> works and is a fascinating combination of flavors, not at all bizarre in
> taste. This BTW is another signature dish of Manresa.
>
> With all of the above, we had a bottle of Pierre Peters Cuvée de Reserve
> Blanc de Blancs Brut Le Mesnil Champagne. I didn't know this producer,
> but it came recommended by the staff and was very good: not much toast,
> citrus and green apple with a very pronounced mousse. It reminded me
> quite a bit of the few Champagnes of Egly-Ouriet that I've had.
>
> This was followed by:
>
> "Twice cooked" foie gras with delta asparagus
>
> A very thin slice of foie gras (the twice cooked bit I don't quite get)
> with lots of black pepper was draped over an asparagus tip. Very
> enjoyable combination.
>
> Japanese fluke, sashimi-style, with olive oil and chives
>
> I don't remember much about this dish, either, probably because it was
> eclipsed by what followed.
>
> "Just shucked" scallops with oceanic gelée
>
> This was another standout dish. The scallops were either raw or very
> lightly cooked, minced and reassembled into a football shape. Surrounding
> it was the gelée, which had a salty/citrusy character. The scallops were
> delicious on their own, but the gelée did add to the overall flavor as
> well. Totally delicious
>
> Artichoke soup with chickpea frites and manchego
>
> This was essentially a reworked version of French onion soup, with the
> chickpea frites standing in for the bread and the shaved Manchego
> replacing the Gruyére. The thick asparagus soup was poured over the solid
> ingredients, which slowly softened. The soup was rich and wonderful, and
> the solids provided interesting surprises when encountered.
>
> Skate wing with morels, fava bean pesto
>
> To me, this could have been a Charlie Trotter dish. All the ingredients
> were carefully showcased, and the combination of flavors provided the
> interest. The skate wing had been grilled and combined beautifully with
> the small, soft morels. The fava bean "pesto" tasted fresh, in contrast
> to the other flavors.
>
> Rouget and clams a la plancha, sweet and sour sauce
>
> Manresa's custom-designed kitchen includes a griddle-like plancha for
> searing fish on. In this dish, small squares of rouget (what's the
> English name for rouget?) were seared on the plancha and served with a
> very subtle "sweet and sour" sauce. I don't honestly remember the clams.
>
> These dishes were eaten with two wines that I'd brought along:
>
> 2002 Roland Lavantureux Chablis
>
> Initially a bit reticent, this opened up after 30 minutes to reveal the
> character that I remembered: good minerality, lemony citrus and green
> apples. As time wore on, the minerality became more pronounced.
>
> 2003 Manfred Felsner Grüner Veltliner Moosburgerin Kremstal
>
> A lighter-styled GV, but one that still has great substance to it and no
> signs of flabbiness from the hot vintage of 2003. It showed typical
> pepper and floral notes with citrus and some kind of melon on the palate
> and a nice, crisp finish. Not the biggest GV, but good varietal character
> and a nice complement to many of the fish dishes we had.
>
> Then, the final round of savory dishes:
>
> Local abalone with slow-cooked veal cheeks
>
> For me, this was the highlight of the dinner (and another signature dish!)
> The square of pan-fried abalone alone would qualify as a treat but, placed
> atop a small pile of braised veal cheeks, it was taken to a new level.
> Both components were excellent in their own right, but eating them
> together proved to be a revelatory experience. Surf and turf reinvented.
>
> Milk fed Pennsylvania pouillard stuffed with porcini mushrooms
>
> This was a delicious dish, reminding me quite a bit of dishes I'd had in
> France. Coming immediately after the previous dish, it suffered a bit in
> comparison.
>
> Season's last choucroute with suckling pig and boudin noir
>
> Two different parts of the pig found their into the choucroute, and the
> house-made boudin noir sausage was tremendous. The sauerkraut was
> somewhat subdued, giving this choucroute a bit of refinement.
>
> Baby spring lamb and merguez, goats' milk whey polenta
>
> I mostly remember the house-made merguez sausage, which was garlicky and
> good. The creamy polenta also provided a great backdrop to the meats.
>
> With these dishes, it was deemed prudent to get a red wine, so we opted to
> get by the glass:
>
> Robert Sinskey 2001 Los Carneros Pinot Noir
>
> A very decent Pinot from one of my favorite producers of Carneros PN.
> Soft, lush, with clear varietal fruit and a hint of smoke. It was very
> good with the veal and choucroute, but a bit overwhelmed by the lamb.
>
> The desserts:
>
> Green apple and rhubarb sorbet
>
> Of the two, the rhubarb was startlingly good.
>
> Pineapple beignets with passion fruit
>
> Delicious combination of the cooked pineapple and the passion fruit.
>
> Strawberry soufflé with kaffir lime ice cream
>
> The soufflé itself was great, but the combination with the lime flavor
> proved fasinating, even at this late stage of the meal.
>
> Chocolate marquis and devil's food cake
> Petits fours "white peach-chocolate"
>
> By this time, I'd basically had enough, so didn't really sample these last
> two desserts well enough to have much to say about them.
>
> The meal lasted just over four hours, though at no point did I feel either
> rushed or impatient for the next course. One point worth making here is
> that, although there were 21 different plates presented to us, the
> portions were quite small so that, even by the end of the meal I was not
> overly full. Instead, the cumulative impact of all the different flavors
> was almost kaleidoscopic. The overall impression of the cooking was
> certainly the creative use of high quality, fresh ingredients; beyond
> that, however, was the desire to create (what for me is) a new synthesis.
> This is not "fusion" cooking in the hackneyed sense, but rather a coming
> together of several different traditions with this ethos of highlighting
> the ingredients themselves. At the same time, I never felt that the
> combinations were forced or that the chef was trying to do too much in a
> given dish. Each dish had its own distinct character, and it was the
> sucession of dishes of differing character that provided a lot of the
> excitement.
>
> All in all, a most memorable meal, conceived of by a rising superstar of a
> chef. The wines, while good, were in the end overshadowed by the cooking,
> but the cooking was what I was there to experience after all...
>
> One final thought: with the growing popularity of chef's tasting menus
> such as this one, it's becoming increasingly difficult to select a single
> bottle of wine that will go with a meal. Restaurants such as this will
> usually have a selected list of wines by the glass to accompany the
> tasting menu, but at times patrons will not want to partake of those
> wines. In such cases, restaurants will need to increase their supplies of
> half bottles to provide greater flexibility to their patrons in choosing
> wines to go with the food.
>
> Mark Lipton
>
>
>
>