The dining room is breathtaking, with a series of tables in the slightly lower level and a mezzanine of tables around the edge. There are columns all around the perimeter and grand chandeliers over the lower level. As we sat down, they brought additional seats for our handbags. Yes, fancy very fancy.
Since it was a special occasion (well and because I love cocktails), we decided we’d start with one of the fabulous sounding house cocktails. I ordered the Basil Haven which is gin, St. Germain, basil, lime juice, cucumber and a dash of pepper. Susan had the Tarragon Tipple with Pisco, white vermouth, yuzu juice and tarragon. Karen had the white cosmo with vodka, St. Germain, lime juice, and white cranberry juice. Karen’s cocktail totally won…A cosmo glass with a round ice cube with a hibiscus flower inside arrived and the fabulous white cosmo was ceremoniously poured over it. The ice in each of the cocktails was very obviously uniquely cut and all of the cocktails were so delicious that they totally deserved the special, custom ice.
The great thing about a restaurant that is established, fine dining like Daniel is that they usually let you sit and enjoy a leisurely full night of dinner out. Our waiter didn’t approach to take our orders until we neared the finish of our cocktails. Oh and when I say waiter I mean the person that seems the most in charge of service for the table. There were multiple people that served our table.
As it’s the middle of the summer and appetites and clothing are much smaller, we decided to go with the three-course option and wine pairing. Minutes after we placed our order, our amuse bouche was brought and in perfect synchronization placed on each of the plates in front of us. This synchronized waiting would continue all evening. The evening’s amuse was a homage to cauliflower with three separate bites. The first was lemon marinated shrimp with cauliflower, the second was pureed cauliflower with curry and apple, and the final bite was a cube of smoked salmon with pickled cauliflower. The other two bites didn’t stand a chance versus the curried cauliflower puree that was just a velvety delight.
As you know, I LOVE bread baskets. Daniel’s blows away the competition….I think there were somewhere in the ballpark of 6 choices. All three of the ones we had (olive, nut, and sourdough) were excellent. But knowing we had a lot of food ahead of us, we tried to avoid further eye-contact with Mr. Bread basket because we knew if he returned none of us would be able to refuse the opportunity to try another of the options.
All of the wine pairings we each were given with our dishes were perfect. The pours were a little smaller than I like for the price of three glasses. I mean, sue me I wanted more wine. I think perhaps the better choice at Daniel is a full bottle rather than the pairing option.
I have to say for each course I couldn’t pick a clear winner. Everything was fantastic and every bite revealed a new depth of flavor that the previous bites hadn’t. Karen began with the Peekytoe Crab with avocado, cumin-carrot coulis, crab craquelin and ginger. The crab was so fresh and the silky avocado and mildly spiced carrot cumin sauce was spectacular. The crispy fried crab craquelin added another layer of texture to the dish. I was rather jealous of Karen’s ordering. Susan had the special duo of octopus with olives, cheese, and hearts of palm. I’m such a sucker for hearts of palm that this dish immediately had my love. My appetizer was the lobster ravioli with vadovan spice. The ravioli was served in a thin broth with that slightly curried flavor and a buttery finish. The ravioli was wonderful but since there was a supplemental charge to order it I felt it should’ve been even better. Regardless, all the first courses were just fabulous.
Susan stuck with the duo theme and chose the duo of beef for her entrée. The duo was a black angus short rib with beet marmalade and seared wagyu beef tenderloin with braised cabbage, chickpea panisse and bordelaise jus. Holy cow…Literally! Both pieces of meat were insanely tender and the sauces on each had such a rich, deep flavor. Karen ordered the slow-baked black sea bass with sumac, figs, fennel mousse and syrah sauce. This is one of Daniel’s signature dishes and I could understand why the second I tried a bite. The bass melted in your mouth and the flavors were so perfect. And surprise of all surprises, I ordered the Trio of Pork that was a roasted chop with glazed turnips, braised shoulder, and smoked ribs with fennel apple coleslaw. The plating was spectacular, with the pork surrounded by a thin crown of shaved cucumber. I mean, after all, all pork should be treated like royalty, right?! But enough about the plating, because the important part was how incredible and moist the pork was. It wasn’t the best pork I’ve ever had but the flavor combinations were impressive and gorgeously harmonious as was all else about the restaurant.
The dessert menu was divided into fruit and chocolate options. The three of us all chose something from the chocolate side and joked with our waiter about our table’s chocolate addiction. I guess they thought perhaps we should be a little more open minded because when our desserts arrived there was one additional one from the fruit side of the menu. I ordered the warm guanaja chocolate coulant with liquid caramel, fleur de sel, and milk sorbet. This was a classic study in how molten chocolate cakes are supposed to be…a delightfully rich melted chocolate interior and a slightly crisp chocolate cake shell. I was in heaven. Karen had the caramelized hazelnut sable with dulce de leche cream, caribe chocolate mousse and horchata ice cream. Susan had the caramelia chocolate mousse, brown sugar biscuit, Haitian coffee cream and toffee muscavado ice cream. The extra dessert that they brought was vanilla slow cooked rhubarb with yogurt mousse, caramelized phyllo and acacia honey ice cream. I loved all the desserts but I’m glad we stuck to the chocolate side because I far preferred them over the rhubarb one.
After dessert (since we clearly hadn’t had enough food!), they brought a basket of warm pillowy lemon madeleines dusted with powdered sugar (amazing and so good they were addictive despite how full I was), a plate of six different petit fours (little cherry tart, panna cotta, passion fruit macaroon, caramel chocolate bite, and a peanut butter chocolate bite), and trays of six different chocolates for us to choose from (Peanut Butter, Passion Fruit, Lemon Verbena, Caramel were the ones we choose).
We had such a lovely, leisurely dinner that evening and it made my birthday so special. I will definitely not wait too long before I find a special occasion worthy of going back to Daniel. It is undoubtedly worthy of each and every one of the three Michelin stars it has.
No comments:
Post a Comment