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| - I almost didn't keep this reservation since I was interested in doing other things and had already splashed on food this week. But after a long day I felt like I needed to stay faithful to the vacation part of my trip. When I got there I had already decided not to do the tasting menu; I wanted a normal meal and I didn't want to feel fit to burst at the end of it.
The decor in the place is great -- very dark and though highly stylized, also unassuming in a certain way. You don't feel like part of a spectacle if you are alone. I was seated next to a lady and her son and we talked the whole time; they ended up sharing his birthday cake with me. You don't necessarily have to feel you must interact with your neighbor though. There were people on the other side of me who were having a perfectly fine time and I don't even remember anything about them.
The service is interesting -- the waiters, hosts, sommaliers, and servers are all behind the bar. It looks crowded at times but it's an interesting show.
I decided to have the lobster salad and hangar steak. They were both wonderful -- I will always remember them. The salad was a large amount of lobster formed in a perfect circle on top of chilled, dressed lettuce, with the claw meat sticking out at the sides. Very pretty and the sherry dressing was just right on the sweet tender lobster - a bit of zest but not too overwhelming while supporting the sweetness of the lobster. This wasn't too rich. I had a glass of Sancerre with it.
The hangar steak was highly memorable. I don't eat much red meat and I knew just what I craved in a steak that night, and it was perfect. Just the right size, seared perfectly on the outside with delicate carmelized shallots on top. I hear the hangar steak is not a common cut any more, but it's perfect - no bone and just the right amount of marbelized fat, very tender and easy to finish off. I had a cotes du rhone with this.
At the end, my neighbors shared a huge raspberry tart they gave the son for his birthday. A lovely layer of shortbread with just these big fresh birthday berries arranged atop -- the berries were huge and actually tasted like delicious raspberries (these days so many berries look great but taste like nothing).
I also enjoyed the chocolate pudding dessert at the end. I can't recall the exact name but I'll add it later. Essentially it was a mousse with a blob of delicious vanilla ice cream in the center, and they literally smashed up oreos and formed them into a dome on top of the ice cream. On the oreo dome was a round sheet of thin chocolate glazed with gold and dotted with yellow and red fruit puree which looked like jewels. There were also crispy bits of chocolate wafer at the very bottom of the dish.
I think almost anyone could find something to like here. The question is would the service, atmosphere, and definitely top standard preparation of the food really justify the price. I can't answer that for anyone else - I might consider going back here with friends. The thing I have a harder time with than paying that much for food (because the ingredients and preparation *are* top quality and the service *is* excellent) is the wine actually. Two glasses of decent affordable by the bottle wine were 40 dollars, and I could buy both bottles and perhaps a third for that much at Bev-Mo. Alchohol is of course a profit center for restaurants and it was a fine accompaniment to the meal, but I just don't quite get the point of driving the cost of a meal up nearly 50% with pretty much nice table wines. Other gourmands may disagree.
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