Aqua, San Francisco CA

With one night left in San Francisco our dinner plans were originally to experience the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton; these plans fell through when their daily menu changed and left nothing desirable to the tongue of my traveling companions. Scrambling for another option around noon the day of dinner, a longtime fan of Michael Mina’s cooking with reservations already secured for Arcadia the following night, I opted to look in on his previous home, Aqua - now under the guidance of Mr. Laurent Manrique. Seeing about 20 menu options that appealed to me and many that were okayed by my mother and aunt we called and easily made reservations for 7:30pm at a table near the window – excellent.

Arriving at Aqua I honestly couldn’t believe this was a Michelin 2 Star establishment – located in the heart of the financial district, mostly unadorned aside from a valet stand, and literally next-door to Tadich Grill I didn’t even realize it was there when we went to Tadich (only to find it closed) two days prior. Arriving early we parked the car with the valet and got out to stroll around, take pictures by the cable cars, and look at other touristy stuff. At 7:15 we returned, checked in with the three lovely young ladies at the hostess stand, and were seated immediately at the front window as promised.

A loud restaurant in general, most of the noise was largely confined to the bar, much like Gary Danko – thankfully we were further from the bar than we were at Gary Danko. Sitting down we were unfortunately treated to a rather ugly spat between husband and wife at a table next to us, but this ended approximately 15 minutes into the meal when the man stormed off, thankfully. Sitting down I was amused by the cleverly folded starfish napkin and unique lights on each table. Moments later our waiter, an aloof yet friendly fellow named Carl arrived dressed in black tie with gold vest to pour water, offer drinks, and explain the menu. While everything on the menu looked delectable, I will admit I was a little miffed when I asked if I could order the tasting while my mother and aunt partook of the prix fixe and was bluntly told “no, the chef requires the whole table.” While I understand this, the least Carl could have done was ask Chef Manrique to be sure – to be fair, I’ve never once had a chef say no when I made this request as many like to show off their creativity (part of the reason we’d originally planned on The Ritz was because Chef Siegel stated he would be delighted to prep the 9 course for me while my family ate prix fixe, so long as they didn’t mind the wait between dishes.)

Drinks were poured we were next brought three types of bread from the ancillary servers – a wonderful multigrain, a ciabatta roll, and an olive-sourdough that certainly contended for best sourdough of the trip – all were brought warm and the butter was room temperature and well salted.

Carl returned a few moments later to take our orders and this time assented that I could add an extra course, if desired, to the prix fixe. Orders placed, Carl left and the staff returned approximately 5 minutes later with a trio of Amuse bouche. Californian Sardine with Meyer Lemon and Saffron (left) was a rather pungent dish and did not set well with me despite it being quite fresh – my mother and aunt wouldn’t even taste given their distaste for “fishy fish”. Butternut Squash and Turnip Soup with Pear (middle) was an excellent soup and although not quite as delicious as the similar amuse at Gary Danko, served as a great taste to clear the mouth of the sardine. The final amuse, an Ahi Croquette with Pepper Paste (right) was certainly the most delicious of the amuse and would have made an excellent appetizer in larger portion. Perfectly seared ahi was herb and potato coated and flash fried with a bit of tomato pepper compote beneath – like an even better version of Bouchon’s Cod brandade.

Great amuses were followed by our first courses by approximately 10 minutes and all tasted as great as they looked. For my aunt and mother, each selected the Dungeness Crab with Meyer Lemon, Cucumber Caviar, and Curry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette. In a trip that contained many crab salads for each of them, both agreed that this was the most beautifully presented and best tasting with the succulent crab wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber and topped with cucumber caviar and the vinaigrette with the meyer lemon compote resting to the sides. Hints of spice, citrus, seafood, and multiple contrasting textures were superbly orchestrated and the chip in the middle had hints of lemon and sesame-seed for some bitterness and crunch.

For myself, two appetizers were ordered and served as two separate courses before the mains. The first, Foie Gras Terrine with Gold Dust, French Butter Pear, Heirloom Chicory and Hazelnut Pear Brioche harkened back to the day prior at French Laundry and was nearly as good, albeit less creamy. Two perfect medallions of Foie and a fried piece of seared foie sat on opposite sides of the plate and were transected by gold paint and a salad of chicory and pear plus greens and almonds while the Brioche was served on another plate fresh from the oven. On its own, the Foie had a great mouth feel and a mild pear-like sweetness that peaked its flavor, but when spread on the incredible brioche (the best sweet Brioche I’ve ever tasted) and paired with the textural components at the center of the dish it truly came to life. I was somewhat disheartened when I requested a second piece of brioche and was told that this would take~10 minutes time as each piece was individually made with the terrine – but understood. Perhaps the service at The French Laundry had given me unrealistic expectations. Regardless, amongst the top 4 Foie presentations ever, along with The French Laundry, BoMA, and Eleven Madison Park.

My second appetizer, a $22 addition, was the Langoustine Sashimi with California Osetra Caviar, Celery Root, and Yuzu-Rosemary Vinaigrette. While the Foie was good, I’ve had plenty in my life – I’d never had raw Langoustines before and had never even seen them offered. Beautifully presented, incredibly fresh, and dainty in texture to a degree I’d not have expected, the dish was a winner in all ways. Each piece of sashimi was topped with a chip of Vidalia onion for texture, while the interspersed Caviar sat atop a Celery Roo/Tellaggio cheese flan that provided pefect complement. The minimal lemon taste from the Yuzu-Rosemary dots along the edge added a subtle Japanese nuance that enhanced the “sashimi” feel of the dish and showed Manrique’s talents with citrus to yet another degree.

Shortly following my second appetizer, our mains arrived and were equally well presented, more substantial in portion, and possibly even more tantalizing on the tongue. My dish, Ahi Tuna with Quince paste, Coffee Scented Date, Lentil, and Cardamom Jus was the least impressive of the three selections, but still quite excellent. Flawlessly seared tuna that was light in the mouth and very well could have been alive moments ago from the texture was well complimented with the “al dente” lentils that had the faint essence of coffee and the sweetness of dates offset by the pungency of cardamom - lots of contrast, lots of spice, but nothing overpowering the other components. In the corner of the plate sat what I believe was a hollowed-out sprout refilled with a cheese and quince paste that was completely different from the dish and seemed somewhat out of place, but was still quite wonderful.

My Aunt’s dish, Striped Sea Bass with Saffron Rice, Chorizo, Green Almond, and Fruits de Mer with Mussel and Razor Clam was a very adventurous choice for her given her hesitancy to try non-perch or tilapia dishes, but honestly – how can you go wrong with line caught sea bass. While a great preparation with an incredibly moist and flaky fish, the hefty quality of the chorizo/rice/chopped fruits de mer combo significantly blunted the mild fish and while it was a great preparation for my aunt, I would have preferred the fish shine more at the forefront. That said, I will admit a particular fondness for the saffron foam and crunchy green almonds which added two unique textures to the dish and provided for an beautiful presentation.

My mother’s dish was the true “wow” dish of the mains and tasted just as good as one would expect from the citrus-infused appetizers. John Dory with Crushed Butter Potato, Citrus Escarole, Black Truffle, and Lemon Verbena showed off an incredible eye for detail with the seemingly sous vide fish resting on a bed of what I can only assume to be half butter/half potato and then topped with a crunchy escarole, shavings of black truffle, and mild lemon verbena that despite their contrasting woodsy/earthy and citrusy/vanilla essence somehow worked like magic. An incredibly complex dish that seemed almost from the realm of molecular gastronomy, the entire experience simply “worked.”

Main plates cleared (IE, I happily got to finish some of each of my companion’s foods) the next course was dessert and once again the dishes did not fail to impress. Ample in size and beautiful in preparation each dish selected showed the same eye and attention for detail as the previous courses and alongside Alex, Trotter’s, TRU, and The French Laundry there was not a single option on the menu that “played it safe” by sticking to boring ingredients and simple presentation.

The above noted, I admittedly went with the most boring – yet scrumptious of the desserts. Quite frankly, Quince is impossible to obtain save for 1 month of the year in Ohio, thus when I saw Quince Soufflé with Fall Fruit Compote on the menu I was thrilled. A good soufflé is heaven and rivaled only by bread pudding in my mind and this was the best fruit soufflé I’ve ever tasted. Without relying on heavy creams or chocolates, the pastry chef managed to create airy decadence with a butter poached fruit compote of quince, pear, and apple that was truly delicious. Ample in size yet light on the stomach – wonderful.

For my mother and Aunt two of the more fancy desserts were selected. The first, Éclair with Peanut Butter Mousseline and Coffee Tuile was wonderfully light – just like the soufflé, yet actually more delicious. Vanilla ladyfingers topped with airy and light peanut butter sat lengthwise on the plate with small samplings of caramel covered peanuts highlighting the corners and a small pot of caramel penut butter in the opposite corner. Atop one ladyfinger sat a crunchy piece of peanut brittle while behind the second sat an incredible concept – tapioca prepared in sweet espresso. With so many interesting pieces and textures on a single plate it was wonderful to mix and match to experience different sensations – truly remarkable.

The second dessert, my mothers, was another wonderful exploit in citrus and the heaviest dish of the three. Tahitian Vanilla Bar Glacé with Walnut Cake, Pear & Lime Sorbet, Roasted Pear was essentially an ice-cream cake with a thin layer of dense cake at the bottom, then topped with a layer of pear and lime sorbet, and finished with creamy vanilla topping. Complementing the dish were juicy buttered pears, a pear chip, and some walnut brittle. Well presented, great tasting, and small enough to not be overfilling given its density.

Following the meal our plates were collected and the relative bargain of a bill was delivered with the mignardises – a creamy lemon marshmallow, sweet raspberry jelly, buttery cookie, quince financier, and a chocolate mint. While not the best presentation ever, certainly each delicious. My mother joked afterwards, however, about where her take home gift was – and her rose.

All told, Aqua is an excellent deal for the quality and presentation of the food. The service and the room is a little stuffy and they certainly do not go “out of their way” like Gary Danko, The French Laundry, Alex, Eleven Madison Park, or Charlie Trotter’s to be accommodating. Given my preference for seafood I will admit I found the food amongst the very best of my trip and can’t wait to someday compare Manrique’s creations to those at Providence, La Bernadin, or L20, but for now I can happily say that Aqua is the best “seafood restaurant” I’ve ever experienced.

Love at First Bite Cupcakery, Berkeley CA

Located in an attractive sidestreet near the famous Chez Panisse in Berkeley’s gourmet ghetto you could almost walk by Love at First Bite without noticing – unless of course you were a foodie who thinks “hmm, I bet I have room for a cupcake” every time you see a new bake shop – especially one advertising “made with love and other fine ingredients.” Reading their dialogue inside the shop (and on the website) stating “we make our baked goods from scratch, using premium ingredients including Madagascar bourbon and Mexican vanillas, Saigon cinnamon, Guittard, Callebaut and Schokinag chocolates and cocoa, and real butter, milk and eggs from local dairies” and having skipped dessert at the disastrous Chez Panisse café I couldn’t help but try one…or two.

Unpretentious and attractive on the inside, I quite liken this place to Yummy cupcakes in Santa Monica and Magnolia in New York in that the owner was present and I could see the team mixing flour, butter, eggs, and ingredients in the back room right before my eyes while the cupcakes were being pulled out of ovens and placed on pedestals near the window. Reading the online menu it appears I only saw a fraction of what Love at First Bite had to offer (thank goodness, else my 2 cupcake order may have turned into a dozen.)

With prices better than Miette, Citizen Cake, or even Kara’s (not to mention Sprinkles, Crumbs, and Vanilla) and equal or large cakes, I opted for the Red Velvet and the Mud Pie – and almost ordered a slice of the banana pudding, but refrained when I saw the massive size served to a customer in front of me.

The Red Velvet was fantastic and sits at #2 on my all-time list – just behind the impossibly perfect version that I received warm from the oven at Bouchon Bakery Las Vegas. The most chocolately yet airy cake topped with a fragrant (rose water vs. lavender?) cream cheese frosting – pure bliss in a cupcake. I found the red-hot on top to be particularly cute, although unnecessary.

The second cupcake, Mudpie, was actually fresh from the oven and still warm – and absolutely wonderful. Chocolate Devils food, mocha frosting with a hint of coffee flavor, and topped with Oreo cookie crumbles – at half the price of Citizen Cake’s Mocha Mi Su, this cupcake bested it in texture, taste, and overall appeal – it even tasted more “tiramisu-like” than the CC item, despite not trying to do so.

When it was all said and done, my sweet tooth was satisfied, though after tasting the wonderful cakes I almost wish I’d have gotten a collection of mini’s instead. Not overloaded with frosting like some, not dry and boring like others, plus a friendly owner and none of those asinine lines you deal with at Magnolia or Sprinkles? Sounds good to me. Next time – Chocolate Malt Ball, Monkey Love, PB Affair, and Hummingbird will get their place in the spotlight of my palate.

Chez Panisse Cafe, Berkeley CA

Alice Waters needs no introduction – an innovator, a pioneer, a champion of the locally-grown/sustainable/organic movement, possibly a genius and certainly one of the most important names in American (and especially Californian) Cuisine. I’ve read Chef Waters books and have the utmost respect for her work from the kitchen to the Edible school yard. With that said, I was thrilled when I managed to secure lunch reservations at Chez Panisse Café for 3 people at 1:30pm on 02/18/09. I was thrilled when I saw the building, I was thrilled when I saw the menu, I was thrilled when I climbed the stairs, saw the kitchen, and sat down at our table. Perhaps my expectations were too high because I’m sure my thoughts will meet much dissention here, but honestly I don’t care – Chez Panisse Café is terribly overrated, overpriced, and vastly oversold on itself based on the hype generated by the restaurant downstairs.

While attractive, the main dining area of Chez Panisse Café was not only incredibly loud, but also incredibly crowded with booths along one wall and tables filling most of the interior space. Sitting with my mother and aunt at the table near the kitchen I will admit the view was great, but we could distinctly hear the conversations of three other tables – none of whom were related, but seemed to be increasing their volume in order to be heard over the hum of the rest of the patrons. Handed our menus by Karen on the way in we’d made up our mind after about 5 minutes but had not yet seen a server. Another 5 minutes passed before our server finally appeared – an aloof and unhelpful man named Cale – to take drink orders. Wine was offered (declined) and two iced teas and a water were orders – two iced teas that didn’t taste much better than Lipton and cost $5 each.

Cale disappeared and another waiter brought our drinks and some house bread – a decent (albeit cold with colder butter) whole wheat sourdough. The bread was eaten and then the plate was removed – no refill offered, though given the quality I’d have not eaten more anyhow. Cale finally returned around 1:55 to take our orders, myself selecting two appetizers (one as a main,) my aunt selecting the pizza, and my mom selecting the chicken breast. Cale stopped my mother mid-sentence to say “we’re out of the breast, but we’re preparing the same dish with a leg cooked the same way so it is just as good.” My mother declined and instead selected the pizza as she doesn’t like dark meat and as Cale left we sat there trying to figure out what kind of magical chicken Chez Panisse serves that tastes has leg that tastes like breast.

After about 15 minutes my first dish arrived – along with my main and my mother and aunt’s pizza. As my salad was served cold I opted to start with the warm pizzetta served with Tomato sauce, spicy Monterey Bay Squid, and Marjoram. While the crust was relatively crispy and the squid clearly very fresh, the sauce was actually quite bland and I detected no spice aside from the overly pungent oregano/pine taste of the Marjoram. A decent stab at “California Pizza” with wonderfully fresh ingredients, it simply wasn’t that good and quite small for the $14.00 price tag.

My second dish, Bob's Cardoons and Potatoes with Black Truffles and Egg fared slightly better than the pizzetta and the cardoons were excellent in flavor, texture, and preparation. Unfortunately, aside from the Cardoons, the rest of the dish was highly mediocre with cold/mushy potatoes, an overly cooked egg, and…I guess the black dots were truffles, though they certainly weren’t flavorful or aromatic. At $11 this dish felt like a rip off, especially compared to the stellar truffle/egg preparation for $14 at Boulevard.

As mediocre and overpriced as my dishes were, the Pizza ordered by my mother and aunt lowered the bar further. At $18:50, the Pizza with Rocket Salad and Parmesan, was essentially a round of crispy cheese bread that did not taste much better than Little Caesars Crazy Bread with a giant salad of Arugula tossed on top. Again, very fresh ingredients aside, the dish was pretty sparse and ridiculously priced with its only saving grace the high quality Parmesan cheese on top.

At some point during the meal Karen (who seated us) blatantly grabbed another server to refill the water jug since Cale was nowhere to be found – a server who managed to knock my empty glass over and hit me with the jug in the shoulder in one classic maneuver – but my mother’s iced tea sat empty for a good 10 minutes before it was recharged. Meals finished we sat and waited for a some time while watching the kitchen operate with flawless precision (chopping, plating, mixing, etc) before Cale finally reappeared and handed us dessert menus. Already quite discontented with the experience we’d had dessert was declined and the bill was delivered – with the added 17% gratuity mentioned on the menu. While I am not a fan of automatic gratuity in general since the concept of a tip is that better service gets a better tips and automatic inclusion provides no incentive to perform better than average, I was particularly insulted by this addition and the line that allowed for “added gratuity” considering just how bad the service really was.

All told, this was the worst meal I’ve had anywhere in a long time and by FAR the worst meal I had on my trip to California. Poor service, average food, high prices, automatic gratuity, and a whole lot of pretense. While I still respect Chef Waters and her concepts, I think perhaps she should spend a bit of time at the café to see how things are going. At some point I’ll be back in San Francisco and perhaps I’ll check out the Mothership – but given my memories of the café, perhaps not.

Citizen Cake Patisserie, San Francisco CA

Citizen Cake is a bit of phenomenon given Chef Falkner’s appearance on multiple Food Network episodes and her loud/vibrant personality. Being unsatisfied with our purchases at Boulangerie, my family and I decided to stop by the Patisserie on a Wednesday in San Francisco to see what they had to offer and get a taste of what the hype was all about.

A small venue located next to the restaurant which was not yet open, parking was simple at a meter across the street and entering the quaint shop I was surprised at the strong smell of coffee and lack of “baking” smells. Two workers stood behind the counter chatting, greeted us pleasantly, and gave us time to make selections. Some tasty Tangerine jellies were offered as a sample while we browsed.

As a retail bakery and sit down cafe, there were a few customers sitting and chatting pleasantly while others purchased previously packaged cupcakes and chocolates from the wall unit. After browsing our group settled on a few candies at $1-$1.50 each, a piece of carrot cake for $6, a $3.50 cupcake, and a $6 Mocha Mi Su. With prices like this in conjunction with the reputation, expectations were high – alas they were not met.

While the Blood Orange Jelly was quite good, much like the Tangerine version, the selected Chocolate Caramel was too hard and almost like a Sugar-daddy sucked dunked in Chocolate while the Pistachio and Fruit stuffed chocolate simply didn’t work in any way – too sweet, too chewy, and sporting an oddly distasteful grassy texture like fruit leather in chocolate.

The Mocha Mi Su, Falkner’s take on Tiramisu, was actually quite good, but not at all what I expected in a Tiramisu. No lady fingers, too dense, minimal rum flavor – just layers of thick chocolate cake with some espresso flavor and a small dollop of crème fraiche. While a good dessert, overall, and plenty chocolatey, the minimal portion and exorbitant price tag simply didn’t warrant the purchase.

The Carrot Cake, described as “organic carrots, walnuts, coconut and currants with a hint of cocoa powder. Finished with cream cheese frosting and marzipan carrots,” was a very unique take on the classic cake and certainly makes me wonder why currants aren’t used more often in cooking as the tart flavor certainly topped any ol’ raisin. With that said, the cream cheese frosting was excessively dense and nowhere near as tasty as that on Kara’s Karrot cupcake and the use of cocoa was rather undetectable. As one could purchase two of Keller’s wonderful carrot cake cookies or two Kara’s Karrot Cupcakes for the same price, I was underwhelmed.

The final purchase, a Rocky Road Cupcake, was actually quite excellent and the best dish for the dollar, by far. Dense Devil’s food cake on the bottom, with a sinfully sweet marshmallow and El Rey milk chocolate mousse in the middle, then dipped in a crunchy shell of Scharffen-Berger Dark Chocolate – really, there was no way you could go wrong and this ranks amongst my top 2-3 cupcakes of all time.

Having tasted the Equator Estates French Laundry Blend and Bouchon blend the day prior I additionally chose a cup of the Equator Estates Citizen Cake blend while I was there and found it to be my least favorite of the three, though still quite excellent with an almost chocolate/peanut tone to it that certainly complimented the majority of Falkner’s creations.

All told, I’d come back, but choose different items and likely try some of the brunch/lunch options in the main café instead of the choices I made – I personally found it unfortunate that none of the restaurant desserts were available in the patisserie. Regardless, the prices are high - as is often the case with a “TV-Chef,” and better pastries are available in San Francisco – at least amongst the ones I tasted. I would love to find the recipe for that cupcake, though.

Boulangerie, San Francisco CA.

“No picture, no picture, pictures not allowed” stated the small oriental lady behind the counter. Really – of bread? Get over yourself. After a night of the most gracious and unpretentious service ever at The French Laundry I find it rather humorous that Boulangerie holds itself to such a high standard – especially when Tartine sells a cookbook to teach you how to exactly reproduce many of their favorites! Despite the quality of many of their items, in a trip that contained a number of fantastic breakfasts, Boulangerie was the worst of them all and the service left a whole lot to be desired.

Arriving shortly after opening and securing a meter with no trouble at all, we entered Boulangerie and were instantly struck by the small shop size and lack of tables, yet mesmerized by the wonderful smell and wide open preparation area in the back. Browsing the selections we were more or less accosted by the pair of salespeople who glared like hawks from behind the counter – while samples of the chocolate and vanilla poundcake as well as the bread pudding were available I was almost hesitant to take any given their glares. Realize I said almost – sample I did and while all three were good, none were mindblowing and the bread pudding was actually very bland and wet.

After another few moments and 2 customers passed (perhaps regulars as they were treated with respect and even a smile) we made our selections which were taken to the street and/or car to consume.

For myself, after a stellar Croque Monsieur at Bouchon and a great Ham and Gruyere Croissant at Tartine I decided to sample Boulangerie’s example which, unfortunately, was served cold and the server refused to warm stating “we have no microwave.” Seeing that we arrived literally 20 minutes after opening I do wonder when this was actually made since it was not even warm. While well flavored and loaded with cheese, the bread seemed soggy and the ham was skimpy – I ended up discarding about half.

My other selection, fortunately, fared much better than the Croque – another Almond Croissant. Perfectly flaky and absolutely loaded with almonds, this dish was actually still warm at purchase and the filling was delicious – perhaps as good as the version at Payard in Vegas and perhaps a reason to actually return to Boulangerie…or at least I thought so until the following day when I tasted the version at The Butler and the Chef.

My Aunt’s two selections, an Apple Torte and Cream Napoleon, were certainly not anything to write home about. The cream in the Napoleon was actually quite flavorful and may have even had a rosewater component to it, but the pastry itself once again seemed soggy – as though it had been prepared much earlier in the day than one would guess from our arrival time. The torte – bad. A soggy and buttery crust topped with what very well may have been canned apples was vastly too sweet and uninspired – very disappointing.

My mother, a big fan of the Macaroon and inspired by my Pistachio citrus brioche at Bouchon the day before opted for a sugared Brioche and five bite-sized Macaroons. Like the croissant, the brioche was served still warm and was actually pretty good, though mostly sugar and butter flavored without much undertone or nuance and certainly not as good as that at Bouchon or Aqua.

The Macaroons – okay, I’ll give Boulangerie some credit here, they were pretty darn good. While much smaller than those at Bouchon, the crispy outside yielded to an incredibly soft cookie with wonderful flavoring and the prices were certainly more appropriate than those at Miette. Selections made included cherry, currant, raspberry, pistachio, and lemon with particular favorites being the Currant and the Cherry, both of which were every bit as good as the Macaroons at Pistachia Vera in Columbus (my all time favorite.) The award for best Pistachio macaroon, however, still goes to Bouchon.

All told, I found Boulangerie to be very disappointing and the fact that there are so many in the city surprises me. Perhaps I simply arrived on a bad day, perhaps I chose a bad location, perhaps my standards are too high, or perhaps something else was at play but in my opinion the food was mostly average with a few impressive highlights and the service/attitude left a lot to be desired. By the way, I took a lot of pictures since I’ll not be back; might as well preserve the memories of that croissant and those two macaroons since the wonderful city of San Francisco simply has too many better options to explore.