La Banane is a real culinary experience. It is NOT overhyped. I've come out of Yelp retirement to throw up this review. The ambiance of this place is lovely and traditional, something most new restaurants lack nowadays in my opinion. It is dark and moody, the perfect environment to eat a ton and have deep conversations.
We started our evening with cocktails and the dungeness crab from the raw bar. Delicious. We then had the following:
-bread with mustard (the house bread)
-liver and onions
-eurobass en croute
-pommes aligot
-broccolini
-roasted pineapple with tofu pudding
-Cranberry and Port CXBO chocolates
We enjoyed everything thoroughly over a bottle of wine. The eurobass is a must, it was absolutely delicious. We had a wonderful experience and I would not hesitate to return and eat myself into a food coma.
Additionally, all too often I find North American "foodies" zero in specifically on the "worth" of the food with no inclusion of the experience in the cost. From the moment we walked through the doors we were treated with nothing but respect. Our waiter was knowledgable and informative. The food was served in a perfectly timed fashion. And most importantly, unlike some other restaurants (La Palma, Bar Isabel) where your reservation is more like a timed ticket and they constantly remind you its time to go, this restaurant truly aspires to its French roots: we were not rushed out and allowed to savour our meal and bottle of wine.
Excellent evening, 5 stars. Kudos to Brandon, Sarah and their amazing team.