Muse back!
January 01, 2009 / Thursday
Manresa
I took Aaron to Manresa on Tuesday for his 30th birthday dinner. It met his requirement of not being far away (SF is far in this context), was on the list of restaurants we wanted to try, and has two Michelin stars, which is really what bumped it to the top of the list. After all, you turn 30 only once; might as well do so in a tasty fashion!
We had the four course meal, which turned out to be four courses plus a lot of additional smaller than a ping pong ball sized tastiness. I took notes, although I'm missing a *lot* of detail. It's hard to catch everything they say as the make each "presentation". Their word, not mine.
- Viv's Drink: I ordered a kumquat soda. The presented the bottle like it was wine. I tried not to laugh. I think the server was trying not to laugh also.
- Amuse-bouche 1: Warm, foamy, rich horchata with parsnip and something else. I called it a horchata latte.
- Amuse-bouche 2: Garden beignets, which were little round savory fried balls of darkish stuff. Mushroom?
- Amuse-bouche 3: Broccoli cream under a thin layer of what seemed to be really concentrated chicken stock.
- Amuse-bouche 4: Partially poached egg with sherry vinegar, maple syrup, chives, and other tastiness, served in an open shell. I could have eaten this all day.
- Bread: Endless servings of crusty on the outside, soft, textured, and chewy on the inside, savory bread. One of the servers walked from table to table with a fresh loaf all evening, filling plates as needed. The butter tasted extra rich, too. Plugras, perhaps?
- Viv's First Course: Sea bream sashimi. It's a white fish. It was yummy. It had a somewhat chewy gummy texture. I'd contrast this against suzuki, which is more crisp and light.
- Aaron's First Course: Creamy toasted onion and brioche soup poured over white pepper ice cream and an egg yolk. Really rich, and really tasty. Aaron liked it, even though he's not usually a soup guy.
- Viv's Second Course: John dory with salsify, onion, and black sesame and sea urchin sauces on the side. Another white fish, cooked this time. The sauces were quite unique.
- Aaron's Second Course: Black cod in a garlic sauce alongside some white thing that tasted like celery.
- Viv's Third Course: Roasted duck. I'm really starting to learn to enjoy duck.
- Aaron's Third Course: Roasted suckling pig. Mmm, fatty pig bits, so good. Update: Aaron says it had some marinated pear thing and some kind of cooked cabbage and a fried potato thing.
- Viv's Dessert: Some chocolate napoleon creation. It had crispy filo, milk chocolate mousse, dark chocolate sorbet, cranberry sorbet, caramel, fresh cranberries, and other mysterious tasty prepared fruits. Did I taste persimmon? Lots of tasty flavors presented fashionably together.
- Aaron's Dessert: Super moist meyer lemon cake with ricotta and sorbet. I can't really say more because Aaron inhaled it before I had time to examine it. I had a taste of the cake and it was pretty darned good.
- Coffee: I had a decaf coffee after that. Nothing special, just documenting.
- Post-dessert: They gave us each a mini chocolate madeline after dessert. Not bad.
- Take-home: On our way out, they gave us some homemade soft caramel and sea salt taffy to take with. I'm not usually a taffy fan, but these were really good. Aaron wished he'd grabbed more, so I gave him this rest of mine. It was his birthday, after all.
Mmm, that was some good eatin'!
Comments
Cool! I read Chuck Eats, he raves about Manresa, and I've wanted to get there, but also wanted a second opinion.
Now I have to get there!
Posted by: Dan Lyke at January 2, 2009 06:26 PM
Wow, Chuck Eats at some nice places. Stomach says, "Great blog!" Bank account is cowering in fear.
Posted by: Viv at January 2, 2009 07:43 PM
happy birthday, aaron! sounds like a yummy time. i must be watching too much top chef if i knew what "amuse-bouche" is...
Posted by: i, andrea at January 2, 2009 11:00 PM
Yeah, there are some games I can't even begin to play, and the lifestyle of Chuck Eats is one of them. I do, however, like the pictures and keep hoping to spend more time in the kitchen (once I finish building it) to use it as inspiration.
Posted by: Dan Lyke at January 3, 2009 08:13 AM