| rev:text
| - True Food is full of sensory surprises - and a little full of itself. I genuinely like having such a distinct menu in the neighborhood, but the food, service and entire operation is uneven.
TASTE: pan seared chicken with root vegetables is one of my favorite dishes in the Valley. It not only tastes good, my whole body feels better after I eat it. No zippy sauces, just simply and deliciously prepared. The rest of the fare, like pizzas, teriyaki bowls and signature drinks, disappoint as often as not.
HEARING: It can be loud as a bar inside - too loud for a concept restaurant focused on conversational food. Our waitress was also one of those softtalkers, so I caught a verb in the specials - and what I believe was a noun just before dessert.
SIGHT - It's an attractive, contemporary space but not well lit, and I couldnt read the printed menu. We were seated under a Bunyanesque dim sum steamer masquerading as a light source, so I walked under an actual lamp at the bar to read about these entrees they whisper of. My eyes arent the greatest, but I can drive without hitting brightly clad pedestrians, so for a place to be open over a year and be this opaque seems, well, opaque.
SMELL - There's a perfume of pretense. Small portions married with high prices, and the whole earnestly ballyhooed dietary schtick whose taste and execution is hit and miss. I will say the servers have been uniformly nice, which goes a long way. They just forget stuff and dont seem to have the cadence and rhythm thing down too well for a Biltmore-priced eatery.
TOUCH - there are some nice touches. The patio is a pleasant place to sit. They wrap up To Go orders really well. The people watching is good (my wife spotted Sandra Bernhard last time). And you can order things here you probably cant anywhere else. That's notable and fun.
But there's an oddness too. Nothing sinister or belligerent, just amateurish. I'll give you the silliest little example. You know how top kitchens resemble machines, with staff bustling to make it all work? Everyone gliding past one another, in a purposeful way? True Food service seems more an artist colony than machine, compromised by individual quirk and ethic more than guiding principle or practice.
A young lady brought our To Go order to the table. It was in a heavy paper bag and she presented it with a big smile. Perfect. But when she walked away, back towards the kitchen and bar area, I noticed she was wearing unusually high heels and could barely walk in them. Her job, or part of it, is to walk around - and I'm serious - she can barely balance herself and locomote in these things. I know that's a goofy little observation but it struck me as emblematic of an establishment too eager to make the wrong impression, and maybe a little confused as to what makes a fine restaurant.
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