With wine pairings.
It was a Friday evening. The bar was bustling with people from work celebrating TGIF. We were early for our 7:30 dinner reservation but they happily accommodated us. We had a nice spot, by the window; our view was of people of all kinds; dressed to kill, people in shorts, and some with designer shopping bags on tow. The restaurant had a mix of people. Friends, families, business people and the occasional man on the corner with a young attractive lady clearly not his wife holding hands.
Our first course was a Summer Melon Salad. This had a watermelon-gel base that looked so pretty with pickled cantaloupe, honeydew, vanilla vinaigrette with jalapeno salt. This looked better than it tasted but it was still quite good and very refreshing. This was paired with Louis Roederer Brut Premier from Reims, France. Not bad at all.
The second course was a Sweet Corn Soup; ratatouille stuffed zucchini blossom, brioche tuile. This was excellent. We both loved this wonderful soup. Creamy and just yummy. We both could have had half a gallon of this with some bread!
The third course was Pan Seared Halibut with fava bean puree, english peas, baby green beans and lemon thyme emulsion. The fish was tender, flaky and delicious. This went well with Dr. Hermann, a Riesling from Mosel, Germany. Those Germans make the best Riesling!
Our fourth course was our main entree: Pan Seared Skirt Steak with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, swiss chard, braised oxtail with bone marrow crust. That bone marrow crust made the steak; it was full of flavor. We could have upgraded our steak to a filet mignon for $13 a person but chose not to. There's always a next time. Summerland Syrah from Santa Ynes Valley accompanied our meat. I was not too crazy about the wine but that's just me.
Couldn't really complain as everything was going great including the service.
Dessert was a Chocolate Experience. Sacher torte, warm fondant with vanilla ice cream, peanut and milk chocolate parfait which Sandi happily consumed by herself since I don't like peanut butter desserts, and a creme brulee. That was a lot of chocolate. They gave us their house made barrel aged Orangecello which failed to excite me only because my friend Ana has made her own orangecello in the past and her's is truly amazing.
Before we left, I spoke with the nice looking manager who was not part of the Travelzoo special, Mr. Benjamin Kam who had just moved to Beverly Hills from Europe. He asked how everything was and we told him how we enjoyed the whole experience. Everything seemed to fall into place last night. It was a fine dining experience indeed.
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