Hello all! It's been a while since my last post on La Vida Deliciosa - not because I haven't been eating well, don't worry. I've been sampling so many dishes in so many places - alas, with work and life it's been hard to catch up on reviews! But sometimes a meal comes along that deserves - nay, DEMANDS - to be discussed. And last weekend, I had such a meal. Eventually I'll update you on some of the local places I've been trying, but for now, we're going to California.
San Francisco is known for its food - this is an accepted fact. I visited with my family in the 1980's and while I certainly remember some aspects of the trip (the redwoods, the Bridge, the Napa vineyards), good food is not something I cared about at that age. Fast forward to now, a time in my life when fine cuisine is a hobby, a passion, and a near-obsession.
I went to SF for a short last-minute wkend trip and while I hoped to try some amazing food, I didn't have time to do research and find out the best places to go. It was definitely a hit-or-miss trip, but I was prepared to take some risks. Enter the concierge at the hotel: she suggested a little French restaurant called "La Folie" in central SF. "Great fois gras" she said. "Intimate atmosphere" she said. And so, we said, "Let's do it!"
One cab ride later (about 10 minutes from the Financial District) we pulled up to a storefront restaurant. La Folie is actually 2 establishments next door to one another: a lounge/bar, and then the restaurant, both by the same name. We wandered into the bar and a kind employee personally escorted us next door to the restaurant. The owner/proprietor, an older woman, found our reservation and asked us to wait a few minutes to sit (the place was quite crowded). We waited outside and talked to the valet, a charming Peruvian man who was delighted to converse with my date who is proficient in Spanish. Minutes later, we were seated at a table that was in the center of the bustling restaurant. My date asked that we be moved to a better available table, and the owner obliged with an attitude that was more accomdating than I would expect for a restaurant of this caliber on a busy Saturday night.
La Folie dining room:
The menu: La Folie offers a course-based dining experience. Diners choose from fix prix 3-, 5-, or 7-course dinners. From what I could tell, the courses may be chosen from anywhere on the menu. We each chose an appetizer, a 2nd course, and an entree (later we said "we forgot dessert!" but more on that to come...)
The experience started with 2 standard amuse bouche courses on the house. First, a coddled egg, in the shell with brioche, with leek cream and a paper-thin potato wafer on top. AMAZING. I am choosy about my eggs (raw, for example, is not my preference) but the coddled egg was half-firm and tasted like heaven in the onion soup. The crispy brioche was a perfect accompaniment to the sweet egg.
The second amuse bouche was...I don't remember. But it was awesome.
Then, our first courses: for me, the fois gras. For my date, the butternut squash bisque, which arrived as a bowl with a single flaming marshmallow in the center. A second waiter arrived with a terrine of bisque which he dramatically poured around the marshmallow. Exquisite. My fois gras was generously portioned, seasoned to perfection, and set atop a sourdough crostini that soaked up the fois gras juices quite perfectly. The consistency of the fois gras was interesting - pudding like, with just a little texture on the edges to keep it intact. The taste was out of this world. La Folie is known for its expert fois gras and my dish did not disappoint.
2nd course: my date had the escargot, and I had the goat cheese tatin. His dish was actually called "Sauteed Burgundy Snails, Castroville Artichokes, Pernod Lemon Butter" but it was enhanced with bone marrow and was served IN A BONE. A piece of bone was standing on end, filled with snails swimming in a bone marrow/lemon butter sauce. Pure art!
My tatin was beautiful - real undiluted goat cheese layered with Roasted Eggplant, Artichokes, Tomato Confit, Portobello Mushroom, and Sauce Virge. I could have died. The vegetables were cooked to perfection - not mushy, not crunchy. The goat cheese was tart and present but not overwhelming.
3rd course: for context, and because you know I'm cheeky like this, let me explain that upon arrival I made a visit to the ladies room which happens to abut the kitchen. Spotting the chef du maison, Roland Passot, I shouted "What should I order tonight?" and he enthusiastically came over to tell me that the venison and the lamb would be particularly amazing. Then he promised to make them extra special for my date and I. So, of course, we ordered the venison and the lamb. And we were NOT disappointed. My date had the Pancetta wrapped Venison Loin with Apple-studded Potato Galette, Chestnut and Apple Confit. The venison was cooked to perfection - pink in the middle, tender, and just gamey enough to taste like venison but not so earthy as to be overwhelmingly dull. My dish- Niman Ranch Lamb Loin, with Carrot and Medjool Dates, Potatoes “Fondante”, Lamb Shoulder Crepinette - was so tender I could cut it with a fork. Again, pink in the middle, served on full bone, a most exquisite arrangement. The pairing with dates and carrots was divine, a perfect marriage of meat and sweet. No photos of the venison, sorry. I forgot my camera and I'm relying on borrowed internet photos, none of which have captured the venison. But, the lamb...oh, the lamb...
We were stuffed. Utterly stuffed. We had a bottle of St. Peter's cabernet, a California varietal which started out tasting a little too light, but as we ate through our courses, it matured into a perfect pairing with our robust food choices.
Then...dessert. On the house, a platter arrived with 6 small tasting portions of what looked like the following:
- Pink Lady Apple and Quince Bread Pudding, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Pomegranate Poached Apple, Spiced Walnuts
- Valhrona Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Bombe with Hazelnut Dacquoise, Black Pepper Gelato
- “Kabocha” Pumpkin Cake with a Chocolate-Oolong Tea Mousse, Kabocha and Caramel Ice Cream, Fuyu Persimmons
- Valhrona Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Bombe with Hazelnut Dacquoise, Black Pepper Gelato
- “Kabocha” Pumpkin Cake with a Chocolate-Oolong Tea Mousse, Kabocha and Caramel Ice Cream, Fuyu Persimmons
"Please box this up for us!" we pleaded. And of course they willingly obliged, but unfortunately on the way out our "to-go" bags were accidently mixed, and we didn't get the dessert to-go after all. Instead we got my leftover 1/2 lamb shank. I would kill to go back and try that dessert!
The atmosphere was intimate and romantic - low lights, candles, curtained walls. The service - inscrutable. Our waiter was attentive, and the house sommelier (nee owner, perhaps?) topped our glasses quietly throughout the night. The chef, who suggested the venison and lamb, stopped by to chat and to ask if we'd enjoyed. He even indulged my embarrasing attempt to parlez francais avec il, which I completely botched because I ALWAYS feel nervous speaking French with a French person. MERDE.
Chef Roland Passot:
3 courses = $75 a person, and while it may seem a bit crude to say this without having paid the bill myself, I must say that I believe it was worth it for the quality of service and food. La Folie was perhaps the best meal I've had in my life, and that's saying something. Never before have I eaten food that made me FEEL so much. I don't do drugs but I imagine the euphoria I experienced as I ate at La Folie is pretty close to being high. I didn't know food could cause such sensations.
Go to San Franciso. Eat at La Folie. Try to convince them to move to San Antonio and open up a place here, because I am still floating on my La Folie food high and I'd love love LOVE to experience this again.
