I’ve been wanting to eat here for at least 5 years ever since we ate at the restaurant Wolf next door. I believe this is the last remaining Michelin starred restaurant in the east bay. We don’t eat out in the east bay often and esp. not during our normal Thursday dining because of the traffic. But this week, Andrea had to work on Thursday and Friday evening, so I took this as an opportunity to finally eat here. They were all booked up online, but an e-mail exchange with them resulted in an early Saturday evening reservation.
The restaurant was divided into two halves. We were seated on the side with primarily bar seating (this was formerly their CDP cocktail bar area), but we were seated at one of only 3 tables in the dining area in the back of this side of the restaurant.
We started with cocktails with choices for their signature cocktails or seasonal ones. I went with a signature dirty martini and Andrea went with a seasonal one. We always enjoy dirty martinis, but this one was esp. delicious because it used just a bit of fish sauce that gave it an enhanced savory umami flavor. Yum.
The meal is a tasting menu with an option to add on A5 wagyu to one of the courses and an optional wine pairing for which of course we opted.
The trio of first bites beautiful presented and each tasty in their own way. We started with the mussel and tomato dish which had a nice freshness to it (although the mussel was somewhat large to be consumed all in one bite). The carmelized onion financier was rich buttery almond flavor.
Next was a shima aji course with a delicious sudachi lime. The delicate acidity of the lime, a bit of oil and salt, and the fish made for a wonderfully balanced and flavored dish that paired nicely with the sake from Den sake, a local Oakland sake distillery (earlier this year, we went to a sake-maker dinner at Nisei and were quite familiar and much enjoyed their offerings).
Then came the caviar course using Tsar Nicolai kaluga. As you all probably know, we are big fans of caviar, but this was the first course that was just merely good and not great. It wasn’t as flavorful as we would have hoped and just seemed to be missing some component. Again, not bad, but just not great or on par with the other dishes we had so far.
Then came their signature dish, the poached egg yolk with smoked dates, allium, and malt served with their fresh bread. A bit of the bread with butter with a mix of the bite was heavenly. Great flavor and the malt gave just a bit extra texture to it. This, interestingly, was paired with a madeira which worked quite well with a touch of sweetness and nuttiness.
The next dish was the eel dish was good (Andrea didn’t like it so much), but the standout on it was the lobster based XO sauce.
The black cod dish was a curry preparation and was a great flavor addition to the courses.
The duck was served along with a bit of pork sausage and some eggplant and was a very nicely seasoned and flavored dish with each component adding variety and another layer of flavor.
Our last savory course was the rice dish with our addition of the A5 wagyu. The rice dish had a beautifully colorful presentation with the chanterelles and the greens and flower petals and was delicious (we’ve been watching the first season of Pachinko and it made us think about the importance of rice in a couple of the episodes), but I wonder if it would have felt slightly anti-climactic without the wagyu. Either way, we did have the wagyu and it ate together very well.
Then came our desserts. The first a nice refreshing strawberry dish with some flavors of ginger. The second dessert was sliced peach with a sweet rice cake and a side of frozen yogurt. The rice cake and peach were topped with a flavorful burst of candied lemon verbena.
Overall, wines were decent and service was solid. It all made for a very enjoyable meal that was worth the trek to the east bay. I only wish that we had done this sooner!
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