Archive for January, 2009
Gary Danko…
We’ve heard good things about Gary Danko for years and have always had it on our must try list. A gift certificate helped push us one step closer to going, but we needed a reason to remember to plan 2 months in advance for a reservation. Finally we went last night.
You can choose the set tasting menu or build your own with 3, 4 or 5 courses. You can choose what courses you like and how many from each category (you could, for example, have 5 dessert courses). We went the traditional route but might take a different trip next time around.
We had:
amuse bouche of local crab over grapefruit this was a very cute presentation. It was an odd combination with the crab on a stringbean on grapefruit. If you liked grapefruit and crab you’d probably like this dish (I did). If you only like one (crab, not grapefruit) you’d find the dish a bit astringent. The stringbean was an added texture but an odd accessory.
Appetizer course
Lobster Salad with Persimmons, Pistachios, Chestnut Mousse and Pomegranate Seeds We deemed this the easy winner of the two appetizers and probably one of the most interesting dishes of the night. The chestnut mousse was very unique and was a nice complement to the pomegranate. Really a great dish.
Seared Sonoma Foie Gras with Caramelized Red Onions and Fuji Apples This dish lost the appetizer battle ground. The caramelized onions were a bit too flavorful against the foie gras and overpowering. The foie gras itself needed something with texture to balance against. I wish I’d gone for the lobster risotto this course instead.
Seafood course
Seared Sea Scallops with Parsnip Purée, Maitake Mushrooms and Sauce Maréchal we had a clear tie between these two dishes. The scallops were well prepared but a teensy bit overdone. The mushrooms had hidden bacon which is ALWAYS a bonus. Very tasty.
Pancetta Wrapped Frog Legs with Garlic Purée, Potato, Lentils and Parsley This was served in a sea of parsley sauce. The frog legs were easy to eat and smoky from the pancetta. The lentils were nice. A pleasant dish.
Meat and game course
Herb Crusted Tuna with Crème Fraîche Spaetzle, Toasted Pine Nuts, Belgian Endive and Orange I took advantage of the design your menu how you’d like option and went for tuna instead of meat here. The tuna was prepared exceedingly rare (as requested). The spaetzle was a crunchy delight. I declared this dish a winner; we ended with a split decision.
Guinea Hen Breast with Braised Leg, Chestnut Gnocchi, Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Pancetta The braised leg was the highlight of this dish. The gnocchi didn’t really have chestnut flavor. A well prepared dish, but not overly interesting.
Dessert (we swapped the order between this and the cheese course)
Lemon Soufflé Cake with Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta and Pomegranate Sorbet This was the dessert we both wanted to get and really was the star. The panna cotta was fantastic and the cake itself light. Would definitely get this again.
French Macaroon Ice Cream Sandwiches with Three Sauces Had we been thinking we would have opted for another appetizer course instead of a second dessert. Yes, these were all tasty (3 different flavors of macaroon with different ice cream flavors). But the cake as outstanding and blew this away.
and the cheese course.
The presentation of this is impressive. They roll out with the cheese cart and describe the dozen or so cheeses on it. You get to choose 4 of them (which meant we got 8). While I enjoyed this, I’ve been spoiled enough by eating plenty of great cheese from Whole Foods and Cowgirl Creamery, as well as from Bin36 in Chicago.
Bonus dessert
Because we were celebrating our anniversary they brought us out a lovely plate of mini desserts. Most of them were chocolate based (so for us only just OK). They also sent us home with pumpkin cream cheese muffin.
Overall thumbs: Up. The combination of highly considerate service and very consistent food make this a sure bet.
Tastiness rating: High. The food was consistently good but nothing was amazing or inventive.
Service rating: Among the best. From the moment we walked in we were well taken care of. We were offered drinks upon seating, a sommelier was sent over as we were making drink decisions, and all of the staff were unobtrusive in helping serve and clear. The only weak spot — our water drinks were close to empty and the non-wine drinker wasn’t asked for drink orders whenever his glass when empty.
