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| - Housed in the place previously known as Fate, Matt Carter of Zinc Bistro and The Mission and Chef Jay Bogsinske have finally opened up their newest restaurant after many months of construction. This is one of three in this location that will be opened, coming soon, Canteen and El Rey...so I've been told.
After you get through the very heavy front door (grandma is not going to eat tonight if she has to handle that door) you'll notice the place has been improved quite nicely with metal framed windows, door frames and a large mirror. Also notable are the 70s style prints throughout the cozy space. Although it's still warm (they're working through A/C issues), you'll find the staff and kitchen (visible) will greet you with a smile and in our case at the soft opening, a choice of a glass of chilled chardonnay or a cold sake!
The menu is still in flux and not all items were available, but the selection was still quite large. We sampled quite a few items and in most cases, they were all very tasty. The prices for the items available ranged from $8 to $13 for the starters, and when the full entrees are available, they appear to be in the $15-20 range.
Bottles of wine are $30-40, with glasses from $8-13. The selection is fairly minimal with only about 7 reds and 5-6 whites from Spain, New Zealand, South America, and California. Cold Sakes are $12 for 300ml (a bit high) and there are about 5 choices. I find these prices slightly high for the quality of wines and sakes available, but at the bottled wine price, not so bad. As much as I love chilled sake, unless there is a special I probably will pass unless the quality improves.
Food: Along with the fantastic service, we found the food to be very delicious. We started with the duck confit buns, which are really a play on Hong Kong style duck where you'd make up your bun, crispy duck skin, hoisin sauce and shrimp cracker... however this version consisted of a larger Hong Kong style steamed bun, duck confit, a different play on the sauce and green onion along with a slice of green apple. I thought the confit was good, but not excellent (like Christopher's), the steamed bun too sticky (over steamed?) but all around not a bad effort. I think this one can only improve and I will try it again as I love confit. This was the only item I thought that needed some work, it could have just been the gooey bun that threw me off.
All of the other items were top notch, very flavorful and perfect temperatures with the right amount of seasonings. Some items such as the Shrimp and Coconut fried rice were spicier than you'd expect but well within reason and added a little kick to make them perfect.
The fried rice was excellent, I really loved having the texture of the shaved coconut with the rice and although a lot of egg, it was the perfect amount to make it rich and delicious. I would actually prefer a small poached egg or overeasy quail egg on the top just to get some yolky goodness, I guess I'll have to do that at home with the leftovers...
The shrimp lettuce wraps were among my favorites, nice spicy perfectly fried shrimp in a cool lettuce wrap. As all starters come in threes, these are difficult to share with two.... I will order this again next time, it's a nice cool and spicy treat.
My very top favorite was the pork belly crepe. Although the crepe in texture was not so different from the 'bun' of the confit dish, the crepe with the pork belly is absolutely magnificent paired with the wasabi yogurt. This was pork belly at its best (well, yes, Filipino fans, you know the other best pork belly), but Matt's subtle and delicious pork is among the tastiest I've had. He knows his pork and the belly he serves here in several incarnations is well worth the trip.
The last dish was dessert, which the wife had the blueberry (cake?) and lychee ice cream all made on site. Very sweet but perfectly delicious. I cannot pass up tapioca and this paired with toasted coconut, strawberries, and butterscotch was a fine finish to a terrific meal. I actually might have preferred the tapioca with only (add more please) coconut, but the overlarge (shareable) portion was a nice subtle and not oversweet finish to a very nice meal.
This is a nice destination for a delicious meal and I can't wait for the weather to cool off so that they can open up the large garage doors and open the interior to the beautifully set up patio. Inside they have about 11 tables (2 and 4 tops) and outside looks like a treat once the weather behaves. I think this is going to be a hot spot when the cool weather starts.
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