Bernard M.'s Profile

Maybe it was a bad night for Michael Mina who was cooking this evening, but there was no "wow" moment and most of the food was mediocre with a couple "this is okay".

I was thinking about doing the tasting menu, but didn't and happy with the choice in hindsight.  I still had my fill since my wife wasn't that hungry this evening.  Our table started off with the hor d'oeuvres platter and nothing was great.  The lobster corn dog was pretty tasty but the rest was 'eh'.

I also had the pork belly and geoduck salad.  I love pork and love calms, but this was not tasty.  I also ate most of my wife's tuna tartare and it was decent.  At this point, I felt most of the dishes were under-seasoned or lacking a kick to them.

I had the lamb chop and osso bucco with pomegranate-lamb jus.  The osso bucco was 'eh' and the lamb chop was okay.  Also my wife wasn't too happy with her "Five Seas" Tasting of Japanese Fish, so I ate more than half of her dish.  The cod was too salty and the rest were just 'blah'.

Like my description of these dishes, my first experience at Mina's new location was blah to okay.  The highlight of the evening was our friend bringing a very tasty wine from his collection that evening.

Our dinner at Baume was simply excellent.  Chef Bruno Chemel was hitting it out of the park on every course for our first time there.  We had their 10 course menu (5, 10, or 15) which was just right for me and a little too much for my wife.

We both enjoyed it more than Gary Danko in SF, and we place it on par or close to our experiences at Charlie Trotters (Chicago), Picasso (Las Vegas), Jean-Georges (NYC), and Per Se (NYC).

Of course, we have to visit again to check on the consistency since that is difficult for most restaurants to maintain, especially with frequent menu rotations.

La Mar represents Peru and Peruvian food well.  Each time eat here for lunch or dinner, it makes me want to sprint up Machu Picchu and yell, "I'm King of the World!"... just kidding.

Seriously though, this restaurant kicks ass.  Every dish is solid and prepared well.  Every cebiches (Peru's national dish) is tasty.  Once I ordered and reorder so much I thought I was in an all-you-eat sushi place.

Empanadas are good to really good with my preference towards the beef and red onions. Skewers are really tasty.  For mains, you can't go wrong with any of their fish and seafood dishes, but their asado de tira (short ribs) and lomo saltado (traditional sauteed beef tenderloin) shows their excellence across proteins.

Desserts?  Are you kidding me?  Just order one of each and go run a marathon the next day and you'll be fine.

Ah, the hype...  "Best New Restaurant Nominee 2010" from the James Beard Foundation. And the buzz!  Our friend, Carl, introduce us to Frances and who also told us much of the menu changes daily.  Would we get a good menu that day or a bad mix?

Things didn't start off with a bang.  We tried the Apple Smoked Bacon Beignets. Eh. Had better beignets and I LOVE bacon (read my "Ode to Bacon"), but this didn't stir my pot. The Maple Creme Fraiche & Chive dipping sauce was better than the actual beignets.  Grilled Calamari with Warm Bean Salad, Preserved Lemon and Sicilian Olive?  Eh. And I love grilled calamari. The starters were disappointing me for the hype.  Decent at best.

Next was the Ricotta Gnocchi with Green Garlic, Fava Bean and Morel Mushroom Ragout. Nibble, Bite... Chomp Chomp Chomp!   Are you kidding me?  Is this the best gnocchi dish I've ever had?  What is this incredible combination of savory flavors?

"Honey, how is your White Corn Soup (w/ Sweet Red Onion, Dill & Creme Fraiche)?" (my wife is not a soup person)

"It's REALLY GOOD."

"Um, can I have a taste? Um, you can stop now... (share, please)"

The White Corn Soup was incredible too.

Then on to the main course.  I had their Watson Farm Spring Lamb with Butter Beans and Articoke & Castelveltrano Olives.  Wow, can you just serve a whole lamb for me?  I never thought of lamb as I do with porterhouse steaks.

My wife had their Crepe Cannelloni and didn't share this time, but I heard that was fantastic too.  We ordered a side of their Polenta (w/ white corn & Bodega Chevre).  Highly recommended.  My wife doesn't even like Polenta and loved it.

Their desserts were good.  I thought their Bittersweet Chocolate Pot du Creme was very tasty and their Almond Semolina Crostata with "Early Treat' Golden Peaches and Vanilla Creme Fraiche was pretty good.

Overall experience was awesome.  I believe this is the third restaurant in the Bay Area I've given 5 stars to.  I'll have to come back here again to see if they are consistent, but this was Carl's third time back and he said every time it's been excellent.

Chez TJ was okay.  I was expecting a lot more for 1 and 2 Michelin stars, and kept comparing it to my experiences at Charlie Trotter's, Per Se, Jean Georges and others.  I wanted to be wowed and say, "Isn't this marvelous, dear!"

Nada. Nothing we had that evening was memorable.  Not even one dish.  The stripe bass sashimi-style was good not great.  How can a top restaurant not make chicken juicy?  The chicken wing confit was overcooked.  The lamb loin was decent, but it came out cold.  Was it meant to be cold?  Even lukewarm meat would have been desired.  Sashimi cold is good.  Lamb cold is eh.

Their "trio of fromage", a cheese plate, was really good, but this isn't cooking. Their chocolate plate was decently tasty.  

So the highlights (or "mid-lights":) for me were the sea scallops and cheese plate.  Maybe we'll go again within a month or so and give it another try.

Only went here once and it was decent.  I had the onion soup, which was good, and the Croque Mademoiselle (baked turkey sandwich).

This isn't factor into my rating, but I liked the atmosphere especially since the weather was nice that day.  I'll have to visit again to provide a more complete review.  Next time I'll have to eat two sandwiches, and if my wife isn't there I'll order three dishes.

Decent place, but I've only been here once so here it goes.  The onion soup was pretty good.  Better than Left Bank's next door.  The beef bourguignon was horrible. How do you dry out short rib, which is a fatty cut?  The Le Steak sandwich was the saving grace.  Pretty good and something I would order again.

Came here for the first time today.  It was overall a good experience for me.  The shau lon pau, which is a litmus test for me, failed, but the other dishes were from decent to good on the tasty scale.  The shau lon pau's bottom was too thick, so overall the dumpling was too doughy for me and not enough broth inside.

The sticky rice was good, but how can you get this wrong?  The shrimp roll dumplings and other standard dumplings were decent but nothing really tasty.  The pork slices were good.  

The shrimp stuffed mushrooms were tasty and probably the best thing I had today, which might not be good indicator for a dim sum place.  The cold tofu was clean and pretty good, and their egg plant in garlic sauce was solid.

Zao was pretty blah.  From barely decent to pretty bad dishes.  Spicy was not spicy, and just not tasty at all.  It was like some guys that didn't know how to cook Asian cuisine said, "Hey, let's chop up some fresh vegetables, beef or chicken, noodles, add some oyster sauce and... bam! Asian food!"

Hmm... obviously many people here received poor service that colored their view on Joya.  I guess I've been lucky and didn't encounter bad service.  Been here three times, ordered a crapload and loved it.  Also my reviews rarely incorporate service unless it's really ass-bad nor price is a factor whether really cheap or expensive.

I didn't try their sangria, but curious after some bad reviews. And from those that didn't grow up eating squid, the legs are tasty as the body.

"They gave too many legs and not enough meat." Huh? Legs are meat. Obviously that person has only been to Americanized places that don't serve those icky legs! :)

My thoughts on the food...

First, the paella clasica was good.  The rice was al dente and I prefer fully cooked, fluffy rice but all good.  The seafood was fresh but the chicken made us work too hard to eat.  The rice had too much cayenne pepper for my wife's taste, but it was good enough for me. Probably for many people it will be too spicy, so a heads up.

Second, the cuban sandwich from their lunch menu you can pass.  They put too much mustard on it and no pickle. What's a cuban sandwich without a pickle?  In NYC, they would break your finger if you didn't give a pickle in the cuban.

A rundown on the others...

Kobe beef mini-burger: Tasty. Must try. The slice of chorizo blends well with the oaxaca cheese and the beef.

Braised short rib tacos: Okay, but something was missing from the short ribs.  It needed something else to bring out the flavor.

Steam mussels with chorizo: This was good, but not great. Also I wish they gave more.  When you order steam mussels, you expect a bucket of mussels or at least a good size bowl, right?

Valderon & queso fresco stuffed piquillo pepper: This was really tasty. The cheese paired with the pepper was a great combo.

Croquetas:  If you're a potato person, you'll like this dish.  It was okay for me, but my wife liked their croquetas a lot.

Warmed herbed goat cheese:  Nice starter simple starter to your meal, especially for you carb lovers.

Ahi Tuna Tartare:  Their tuna was fresh.  Really fresh.  I liked this dish, but wish they added a bit more lemon to accent the taste.

Chilaquiles of rioja braised duck: This was a Cinco de Mayo special and we liked this dish a lot.  It was excellent.