What I am about to write is surprising to me, as I am usually pretty vague or non-committal when it comes to properly celebrating or criticizing an eating experience. First off, we were seated - this went smoothly enough after that, however, things went, well, not awry exactly but, down hill. The menu was entirely planned, there were no options: you ate what they gave you, end of story; this was understood when the reservation was made so in and of itself, it wasn't a negative or big deal. That being said, the fact that most everyone sat down at the same time made it quite curious to see the order in which food was brought out. The couple to the right of us received their creamy mussel soup mise bouche before us, though the first table was two down from us on the left. Then, the couple to the left of us were served. I'm not talking a matter of half seconds, I'm talking minute after minute passing before the exact same food is brought to all the tables. It was bizarre and, seemingly, arbitrary.
The home smoked fresh salmon on potato salad was my favorite course. The salmon was truly fresh and had a nice balance of taste 'spices and herbs' to it, but the "dill cappucino" on top didn't really give any real dill flavor to the dish, which is, I imagine, why a huge sprig of dill was placed on top of it (it seemed more like an unsweetened/flavored whipped cream that had been sitting a little bit after its perfect moment of stiffness had passed). I was also not overly amazed by the potato salad, finding it rather cold-mashed-potatoey (my mother liked it, however, which just goes to show you that to each their own/that I was grumpy). I know, I'm sounding rather harsh, but what can I say?
The main course was chicken breast with mushrooms, "sauce supreme", a grilled and breaded tomato and overly peppery shaped potato nonsense. The mushroom filling was not bad (though it was certainly not memorable), the chicken was not moist and actually (god forgive me, I am being honest and awful) reminded me more of the sort of meat one finds in high school or college cafeterias (re: dried out, was-it-reconstituted-into-its-current shape?). The orchid flower had little taste and the tomato was perfectly good, but not exciting.
For dessert there was "citrus raviols poached in a fresh mint sirup, Strawberry Minestrone Chocolate Heart". One could just as easily called it: disaster! The mint syrup registered on our taste buds only as simple syrup. The 'raviols' were incredibly crunchy and and chewy around the edges and the citrus filling was not at all that worth the effort of getting to. The strawberry component was had its merit, but it certainly didn't save the dish. The chocolate heart accent of the dish: oh my goodness, I can't even begin to explain to you the series of pinched, sucker/sour puss faces my parents and I, as well as the diners around us, went through after each bite. While I'd like to say this is because we weren't really used to the high quality/dark cacao content of this particular chocolate....I just don't think that was the case.
I don't know why I'm such a hater, but I was really stupefied by this entire experience. If you're making the same thing for a bunch of people, then, yes, you're certainly going to have certain culinary challenges...but on the flip side, you're MAKING THE SAME THING FOR A BUNCH OF PEOPLE (and this wasn't 100 people, this was 30 to 50, tops)...so you might as well face those challenges with gusto. I know I'm being negative, I just felt like this place seemed to think more of itself, and its food and service, than it deserved. Perhaps on a non-romantic holiday I'd feel differently. Maybe it's like restaurant week in any major city: you go and you know it's going to not be as good as at any other time of the year, but it's still supposed to be a good value?
1 comment:
You know, you are entitled periodically to be a hater when it comes to bad food assembly-lined out to the patrons...I get awfully tetchy at bad food. Once a long time ago the spouse and I had a running joke about the worst combos possible in one dish, can't recall the exacts but it ran along the lines of a melange of citrus infused with coconut milk sauteed with figs blackened with salmon served over rice imbued with cognac field peas and a ratatouie of turnips mint and chocolate, with a raspberry finish.
You get the point. Too many efforts in one dish or two, served with military unprecision. The chicken thing left me puzzled, it had an edge like a sausage casing...I thought at first it was the potato of too many variations but then realized NOOOO it is the chicken.
For a more horrid experience, hit any big urban hotel restaurant on Mother's Day. That is some kinda ugly. Actually, don't and just take my word for it!!!
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