The last two times we ate at SingleThread, we would see this restaurant packed and people outside waiting to get in, so we finally decided to give it a go. Since I booked very late, I wasn’t able to get indoor seating so we were eating outside in the tented area which was pretty nice (and as a bonus, much quieter and less crowded than being inside, but I still would have liked to be inside for the experience). Shortly after we were seated, by coincidence, our neighbors from several doors down were seated a few tables. I stopped by briefly to say hi.
Since there was a Chef Valette’s ‘Trust Me’ Tasting Menu, we decided to go with that. One of the great things with the tasting menu is that each diner gets a different dish which means we get to try twice as many dishes. I love this format for a tasting menu, but I assume it is more labor intensive for the kitchen.
We ordered a couple cocktails, Andrea had the Bucking Bronco since it had chile infused vodka, jalapeno, lime, ginger, and cracked pepper (all things Andrea likes) and I had the Up In Smoke because it was a mezcal and amaro (Cynar) based. Both were good, not spectacular/special, not bad, but good.
We received the bread rolls…meh. Soon enough the first course is coming out. For Andrea, they gave her Sashimi Grade Hawaiian Ahi Poke Style and I received the American Kobe Beef Tartare. The ahi was just ok and we’re pretty picky about raw fish. The tartare on the other hand was delicious, well seasoned (a bit of truffle according to the menu, although I can’t say I noticed if there was any) and the dots were green peppercorn and egg yolk emulsion. This was definitely one of the tastier beef tartare preparations we’ve had. Score: Donato – 1, Andrea 0.
For the second course, Andrea was given the Winter Rutabaga & Apple Soup and I was given the PEI Mussels & Chorizo. Andrea’s soup was very hastily poured that it seemed a bit sloppy. The mussels were pretty basic, but were very tasty and was definitely the winner of these two dishes. Score: Donato – 2, Andrea 0.
We had finished our cocktails by this point so Andrea ordered one of their premium cocktails, the Caviar “Dirty” Martini and I had a Lando Pinot Noir. The martini arrived with the olives with a very small amount of caviar on them atop the martini glass. That was good because it gave us an opportunity to just try the martini by itself since we were a bit skeptical about putting caviar into a martini (saltiness would be good, but fishiness would be bad). Fortunately, the dirty martini by itself was quite tasty. In the end, the caviar made minimal difference and fortunately not a negative one, but seems to really be more of a gimmick (and an opportunity to charge more for a drink) than anything. Recommendation – order a dirty martini if you like one and skip the caviar.
Our third course arrived. For me, it was one of their signature dishes – the Day Boat Scallop en Croûte. This dish features the pastry dough in a dome shape atop on the little bowl and colored with squid ink and is quite striking. Inside is a single scallop and a beurre blanc sauce with caviar is poured in through the top of the pastry. This made for a great showing and fortunately the flavors were very good and the pastry dough was good for soaking up the buttery sauce. The scallop was fine, nothing special and if anything was a little bit lost with the sauce. Andrea’s dish, Herb Crusted Mt Lassen Steelhead Trout, which arrived with no drama, but was actually quite good. The trout was very tasty (in the last few weeks of dining where we’ve had trout, I’ve become much of a fan with the various dishes we’ve had) esp. with the Béarnaise sauce as was the salad (Babe Farms Mustard Frills) with a nice vinegary dressing. We liked both dishes so call this one a draw. Score: Donato – 3, Andrea 1.
Next came the meat course. For Andrea, it was the Prime New York Strip Loin with a chimichurri sauce and mine was the Liberty Farms Duck Breast on a bed of rice and mushrooms. The steak with the chimichurri was very flavorful, although the cut of meat had a fair amount of fatty sections that weren’t edible. The duck was good, nothing special, but the rice and mushroom was very flavorful, so both were about equally good. Score: Donato – 4, Andrea – 2.
Then came the dessert course. I was given the Bread, Butter and Jam and Andrea was given the chocolate dessert which primarily featured a chocolate cake topped with a chocolate mousse, vanilla ice cream atop some Valentine’s Day red velvet crumble. The bread was a small rectangle of grilled brioche with some brown butter ice cream for a spread and some strawberry jam. This dessert was fantastic…so deliciously buttery, but not cloyingly sweet. Andrea’s chocolate dessert was very disappointing. The chocolate cake and mousse was uninteresting and the dayglo red of the red velvet crumbs made us guess this was leftover ingredients from Valentine’s Day. Very unimpressed.
Final score: Donato – 5, Andrea – 2. So, some highs and lows in a somewhat uneven meal. Given the score, it’s a good thing we share all of our dishes!
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