![]() The common name is derived from the Lushootseed ( Nisqually) word gʷídəq. Can't wait to return next time we travel to Bay area.The Pacific geoduck ( / ˈ ɡ uː i ˌ d ʌ k/ GOO-ee-duk Panopea generosa) is a species of very large saltwater clam in the family Hiatellidae. When we mentioned this to Thomas he just smiled and thanked us. The entire meal was $125 per person and its easily worth $175 to $200. Here are a few of our dishes that I especially enjoyed: brown rice porridge with abalone and fermented artichokes, pacific oyster with lettuces, crispy pig's ear and California sturgeon caviar, slow poached egg yolk with smoked dates, alliums and malt, strawberry with almond and fennel. The food was spectacularly textured, umami and reminded us of another Bay Area restaurant for this type of creative quality food and service -Saisson in SF. Being as we are food and wine geeks, we spoke with Thomas, the wine director in advance, and brought great bubbly, white burg and red CNP, making sure none of our bottles were on his list. The food, service and ambiance were off the charts great. Physically, it's a little smaller place than I imagined but also longer, so it's about right size-wise. It's a first-rate experience, perhaps the best in the entire East Bay. ![]() dīeen wanting to try Commis and final got there last weekend. If you feel like a VERY special night out, go to Commis. Also, I found there to be overly generous use of salt, but that is a personal viewpoint. The food is ultimately rich and one leaves the restaurant very full. Finally, this is not a menu for calorie counters. It's what the chefs do with these ingredients that is brilliant. Looking back on these exact menu descriptions I think they come across as too dry and clinical and do not impart the complexity and composition of how the ingredients are actually used. Here are a few descriptions of the best courses: brown rice porridge with abalone and fermented artichokes poached halibut with fava beans, ramps and charred lemon grilled pork with braised tendon and cervil, renderings steeped with dried squid rhubarb with olive oil and frozen buttermilk. I never went for two minutes without my glass being filled or topped off. The pacing is also excellent and I have never been at a restaurant where the wine service was so attentive. Courses are very creative and attractively served. Dining out is chiefly about the food and Commis does not disappoint. One could also bring your own bottle for a very reasonable $25 corkage, but its the wine pairing seems the best choice. My advice is to buy the wine pairing at the restaurant for $75 which offers seven different wines throughout the course of the meal and seems very fair. There is a fine alternative Champagne on the list for $20 per glass. A glass of Krug Champagne costs $60! You can find bottles in wine stores for $135-150. That being said, wine prices are not cheap-on average bottles are at least double retail and low level imports such as white and red Bourgognes are $125-130 which which seems like triple or quadruple what a wine savvy buyer could find them for in the market. The staff is very, very friendly and the director of wine is very knowledgable. The restaurant is very small, with seating for no more than 30. Commis offers an 8 course, actually 12-13, meal for $125 and as stated above is quite a bargain compared to other restaurants in San Francisco whose prix fixe menus have reached $295 and are probably soon going even higher. One can quite contentedly never leave Berkeley and dine at Corso, Wood Tavern, Millennium and the like, not to mention Chez Panisse, and be very, very contented. ![]() Restaurants serving entries in the $20-30 price range thrive there and are excellent. If this is your view of a night out, Commis is perhaps the cheapest priced dining extravaganza and well worth packing your passport and ubering across the Bay Bridge to the East Bay, long a destination for knowledgable foodies for some of the best eating in the Bay Area. ![]() Well heeled locals, Silicon Valley billionaires and millionaires and deep pocketed tourists support these hours long dining experiences. There seems to be an "arms race" going on with restaurant after restaurant competing for the title of top multi-course, prix fixe, three figure dining experience-Benu, Quince and many others. LA is about fun in dining-try Bestia or Officine Brera for example, but San Francisco is just the opposite. The middle level restaurant scene there is exciting and recognized by national food critics as being phenomenal, but the one area LA seems to have no interest in is the formal, white tablecloth restaurant serving multi-course, self serious, frequently ponderous meals. To those in Southern California who were last visited by Michelin seemingly a decade ago, this is crazy. To locals of Babylon by the Bay this is just. The only city on the West Coast of America that Michelin rates is the San Francisco Bay area. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |