Our dinner was at Prelude which just opened up in the Jay Hotel this past August and was recently added to Michelin Guide this March, so i had to give it a try. Chef Celtin Hendrickson-Jones’ cuisine is Southern with updated technique and local ingredients. We went with the tasting menu (which I think is relatively new) with the caviar supplement (of course…), but first we had to try the their cocktails.
The cocktails were very well made and delicious with a nice balance of flavors. I had the Hotel Largo which was a tequila, mezcal, key lime, dulce de leche agave based drink and Andrea had the P.F.C. Martini which was a vodka martini with vermout, black pepper, black garlic, buttermilk, and pickle brine. P.F.C. stands for Prelude Fried Chicken (and they jokingly say it tastes like fried chicken) with this garlic and buttermilk giving it a very unique flavor with very strong savory flavor and finish. You have to have a decent cocktail program here in San Francisco and this was a great start.
We started with a trio of canapés – fried salmon skin and roe, deviled eggs (which Andrea hates, but I love so more for me) topped with a bit of crispy chicken skin crumble (chicken on chicken I suppose) and cornbread topped with huckleberry jam and cured ham.
Next came the caviar supplement served by Chef Celtin (who did serve quite a few of our dishes, but as the restaurant became more busy, less so). They used Tsar Nicolau caviar on johnny cakes with a toasted applewood cream. The johnny cakes and the cream were delicious, but quite heavy so they did overpower the caviar. First regular course was the Winter Roots with beets, blood orange and pickled fennel but what made the dish was the whipped horeseradish on the bottom that made for a delicious dish.
The Griddled Cabbage was decent, primarily because of the lemon caper sauce which was not overpowering and had a nice acidity to it to balance it out. The Smoked Catfish Dumplings came with an étouffée that the was relatively light and delicate compared to the very few I’ve had in my life, but still quite rich in flavor. The Wing was fried was a boneless (except for the tip used as a handle) stuffed with dirty rice and lightly breaded and fried. It came out piping hot. We were provided finger wipes afterward. The Wolfe Ranch Quail (gotta eat our state bird, haha) incudes pieces of the leg, the breast and the wing perfectly cooked, but what made it for us was the fermented fennel chow chow.
For the main, my wife had the pork and I had the wagyu which they sourced from the butcher shop at Niku. The mains came with the delicious Tierre Vegetables Hominy Grits and several additional garnishes to be enjoyed with our meats. What was surprising was the shrimp gravy which was incredibly rich and flavorful with shrimp flavor.
For dessert, it was the Creamsicle Ambrosia Salad which was amusing. It looked like a soft serve, but inside it was packed with ambrosia salad mandarin orange and pineapple fruit components, and some nice candied pecans for texture. The fruit seemed a bit clumsy, but I have to admit the creamsicle part was delicious.
For their mignardise, there was home made nutter butters and a some cinnamon toast crunch cereal milk (like Milk Bar). Those nutter butters were certainly the best version of nutter butters I’ve ever had, lol.
Service was generally very good, but did drag at a few moments. The meal ended up being almost 3 hours, but that did include some relaxed time with our cocktails at the start (we hate when you order cocktails and then they start jamming you with your food and wine pairing immediately after). All in all, it was unique menu here in San Francisco and a welcome addition to the fine dining here.
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