a blog by Peter Leonard
Having dined at Aqua last year in Las Vegas, my friend and I decided to try out a new restaurant from the same chef, Michael Mina. While Aqua was a Nevada clone of the San Francisco original, nobhill, his newest venture, has no matching branch in the Golden State, despite proffering "San Francisco Cuisine." Would the cuisine meet the demanding standards of someone who grew up in California, and another who is a native of um, Brazil?
The meal started off on the right foot with a marble warming tray of freshly-baked bread (visible at far right) and three small dishes of spreads: plain butter, olive and pimento concoctions. After a brief moment of confusion where the spreads were suspected of being ice cream, the appetizers were sucessfully identified as such.
Hors d'œuvres
Gulf Prawn Tempura, New England Clam Fritter, Beef and Fois Gras Empanada
Never ones to let free bread preclude us from ordering something else, we decided on two appetizer plates: a seafood fest as well as another plate, below. The Surf & Surf was regarded as good, but we wondered whether any restaurant in San Francisco could get away with deep-frying three items on one plate without facing angry mobs of health food nuts.
Charcuterie Board
Hobb's Select Sliced Meats, Marinated Olives, North Beach Focaccia
The plate above got two thumbs up, if only for its strong selection of different deli mustards. We both regard the rest of the food on the plate as only the delivery mechanism for said condiments.
Classic Cheese Fondue
San Francisco Sourdough
I'd like to say that we got a good shot of the fondue, but the truth is that a viscous yellow semi-fluid slowly bubbling away tends to look exactly how it sounds. The fondue was delicious, but we realized about three inches into the 8-inch-deep-pot that a grevious miscalculation had occured: there's only so much cheese and bread you can eat during one sitting. The rest of the meal would be marked in grim comparisons to how many cubic inches of cheese were precluding us from enjoying desert.
Gilroy Garlic Soup
Steamed Clams, Parsley Pureé
The Garlic Soup -- named in honor of a Northern California town with famous annual Garlic Fest -- was unanimously declared "Best Garlic Soup with Clam" of the trip.
Spicy Tuna Parfait
Hawiian Hamachi, Ahi Tuna, Crispy Rice Cake, Shitake Vinaigrette
This was actually the highlight of the evening -- so much so that I embarassed myself, my dining companion, and several waiters who nearly tripped over me to get this profile glamour shot when overhead angles failed to capture the fish's personality. We think the crispy rice cake was a perfect textual balance to the raw tuna -- and that we'd never eaten green roe before.
Roast Filet of Beef Rossini
Mushroom-Potato Cake, Seared Foie Gras, Pinot Noir Sauce
In an attempt to sample as much variety as possible of a restaurant's offerings, my friend and I often discretely split entree's, dividing them between ourselves. The waiter must have caught on, because he actually brought this dish out pre-cut on two different dishes. Not that we're complaining, but of course one of the side effects of this thoughtfulness was to make the already-small porportions sort of laughable -- it looked like the Supermodel portion. Quite good, actually.
Dessert
Finally, there was some kind of apple tart for desert, but since the exact title isn't listed online, and since both of us could were nealy comatose from the Fondue, we'll have to make do with just the picture above.
Luckily, the bill woke us both up.