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| - We had a great dinner at Legume last evening. This was a very pleasant evening in North Oakland with just a hint of rain in the air with the pre-summer weather being some the best in recent years. One thing for everyone to be cognizant about is, Legume does has Valet parking across the street which is vital in this part of Oakland.
The hostess greeted us with a great smile and we were seated immediately at our reservation time and given a four top for a party of two because all the others were occupied. Some restaurants will not do this and make you wait. Legume was very generous and hospitable in this aspect.
The menu here changes frequently, actually daily, so you can come and enjoy the revelations when you arrive or visit the menu online which they post each day after 5 P.M.
For our meal we started with a sharing plate of Goot Essa Blue Cheese with Oat Biscuits, Honey, Candied Walnuts and Apples. This was an excellent Blue and the Oat Biscuits were delicious and unique. We finished every morsel and were happy to be left want for more, since we had two more courses to come.
The service at this point was very good: water glasses filled; drinks promptly arrived; silverware efficiently exchanged. Speaking of drinks, we had the house cocktail 'full stop' which was expertly made at the Butterjoint, which is Legumes connected lounge. You will love this drink if you as we like Boyd & Blair vodka; green Chartreuse; St. Germaine; and lemon.
Next course we had a house salad Mixed Greens with Bistro Vinaigrette, Radish and Croutons which was just so light and delicious. The radish was sliced so thin as to be light as the greens and the croutons were also so thin, light and crunchy and matched perfectly. Also we enjoyed today's soup which was Chilled Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk Panna Cotta, Preserved Lemon and Dill. This soup was remarkable, unique, outstanding and delicious enough to rave about it.
Service, again remains outstanding at this point with team service, refilling water, clearing and replacing utensils and always unobtrusive but very attentive.
Training here is obviously a key part of the business. For my companion we asked for a wine recommendation to match her next course. Our server was extremely informed and trained on the wine list and recommend two that would match. One of her recommendations I had also considered as appropriate so we chose that one. There are somewhere around eighteen wines by the glass all well chosen to have a high likelihood of matching anything you may be having for dinner. The list is quite international with sparkling, whites and reds from around the world. So what did we choose, well the Villa Pillo, Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot from Tuscany which was perfectly delicious.
For our entre course I chose the Salmon and Linda decided to have an appetizer size and whet with the Chicken Livers. I will explain each preparation a little more so it may make your mouth water like it did ours. Linda's was Chicken Livers with Polenta Croutons, Bacon, Pickled Cherries and Spring Onion Linda just kept saying,, oh this is good; oh this is delicious; oh this is wonderful between complementing this dish with a sip of the great Tuscan wine to go with it. Tender, altogether delicious, unique, and great culinary talent from the kitchen best describes this dish in the fewest words.
Mine was the Wild King Salmon with Crispy Potatoes, Asparagus, Nettle Salsa Verde and Spruce Tip Hollandaise. With salmon, I can only eat it 'wild and king'. King is called king for good reason. The salmon was cooked a nice medium rare that maintained its soft unctuous wild salmon flavor with skin so crispy that it crunched and melted in our mouth. All the ingredients on the plate were a great complement to the salmon and to each other. This dish was very well matched and beautifully plated. The asparagus was favorable and tender. The hollandaise was light and a perfect example of how it should be made. This sauce performed its role well by being just perfect on its own, deliciously complementing the other components without taking over, and being very memorable. The crispy potatoes were small pieces that were light with a nice crisp on the outside with a tender wonderful potato flavor on the inside.
That was pretty much one outstanding meal, prepared and plated perfectly with numerous excellent service interactions and darn, no room for dessert.
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