This is one of the few Michelin starred restaurants in the Bay area at which I haven’t dined, so when there was a vendor dinner being hosted there I did accept the invite (plus this is a vendor I very much do like and they also had a presentation from the hacker Freaky Clown). I haven’t been to Saratoga for dining for more than a couple decades (yeah, I’m old), but it’s definitely a cute little neighborhood. Dinner was in the private dining/banquet area of the restaurant.

The even started with drinks and hors d’oeuvres/canapes (no pictures). These were quite nice for essentially a catered event. There were 3 that I recall. There was a cucumber round/cylinder filled with hummus, there was a pistachio one, and there was a beef tartare all contained within a little pillowed tart (delicious). If the quality of these hors d’oeuvres was an indicator of the meal here, it would be a good one.

The menu was of course set (although options for vegetarians and other dietary restrictions). It started off with a Chanterelle Mushroom Tart. The mushrooms of course were the best part of this dish from both chanterelles but also a mushroom duxelle and the barigoule (artichoke) emulsion for the sauce. The least interesting part of this was the pastry for the tart itself.

The next course was the Mt. Lassen Trout. This doesn’t look like much in the picture. I’m guessing the trout was poached or sous vide. There was a crescent streak of a carrot puree and a vadouvan sauce. For a bit of greenery, there was a half brussel sprout. This was a delicate dish, esp. for a banquet. The fish itself wasn’t very flavorful, but it was perfectly cooked and the sauce provided the flavor.

Next came the meat course, the Flannery Farms “Saratoga” Cut. This appeared to be a sous vide cut of meat (the cook was super even end to end) atop a bed of swiss chard, a puree (mushroom?), a Bordelaise sauce, and some maitake mushroom tempura. I didn’t really like the way the beef was prepared and my favorite part of this dish was the tempura which had flavor and umami and the tempura was light and not greasy and of course gave a very nice texture to it.

For dessert, we were served the Basque Cheescake. In the dark, this had a bit of a strange presentation…the coloring of the cheesecake almost made it look like an omelette, perhaps also because of the rectangular slice. The cheesecake was placed to one side and the pickled pear (red wine soaked?) slices were unusually arranged at each end of the cheesecake. There was some spiced cookie crumble, some cherries, and some mint leaves. I did enjoy the flavor of all of these ingredients, but I did find the plating offputting.

All in all, it was very good for banquet food. I’m not entirely sure though if this makes me any more inclined to eat here for the full tasting menu.

https://plumedhorse.com/