An Oasis in the Desert!
My girlfriend and I have been meaning to try out this place for about a year now. Her and her fiance are moving to Australia next week so I sent her a text telling her we have to have a going away dinner and we had to try this place out before she left! So we double dated and all 4 of us were blown away.
We had a table in the courtyard which is just simply amazing. The word that kept coming to mind with the decor was "quaint" I don't know if that is the right word but I can't think of a better one! Loved it. You get a 4 course meal for $55 which for the quality and atmosphere is very reasonable. We all elected to add the $25 for the wine pairing (3 wines).
Each week is a brand new menu! One of the things that I loved was since there were no decisions to make except your meat (It is a pre fixed meal and you choose one of the 2 entree dishes) I tried ingredients and dishes I might have skipped over under other circumstances.
The Food-
We started with an Amuse Busch (spelling?) which was Lobster and Ricotta stuffed squash blossoms with a tomato curry sauce- FANTASTIC! Our next course was a watermelon and yellow beat salad with marcona almonds and a lemon vinaigrette - all the ingredients were so fresh.
For dinner my boyfriend got the Halibut and I got the Ribeye so we could try each dish. Normally I am not a big fish fan, not that I dislike it, I just like meat better! But this Hazelnut-Brown Butter Halibut was just superb! It was served with sauteed Wild Ramps, Roasted Sweet Corn, Forbidden Rice, Red Quinoa and Couscous, Cockle Clam Vinaigrette. It was served in a sort of "patty" next to the fish. All of it went great together! The Ribeye was sooooooo tender! Would give any steakhouse a run for their money! It was a 4 chili rubbed Ribeye (I ordered mine Medium Rare Plus and it was perfect). It was served sliced instead of whole and came ontop of a potato Leek-Lobster Hashbrown that has mushrooms and spinach in it. The other couple did the same thing (splitting the 2 meals) and were as equally estastic about it!
For desert we a White Chocolate Key Lime Tart with a Raspberry Sorbet. It was the perfect end to the meal!
For the Wines-
Our Amuse Busch and First Course was served with a French Chardonnay which complimented both dishes great. The Napa Blend (Hahn) was OUTSTANDING! I even ordered another glass and took note of the name so I could purchase it for my home! The dessert was accompanied with a desert white white served in a champagne glass, seemed like a cross between a Muscato and an ice wine but this was the only wine they didn't bring the bottle out for and I never asked what it was. We decided at the end of our meal to order a round of champagne to toast their moving to Australia and to Cheers to our fantastic evening at Monarch Cafe!
All of it was just superb and service was spot on! Will definitely be back!