dresese

Dinner at the Fifth Floor

To celebrate our wedding anniversary, Greta and I went to eat at the Fifth Floor in downtown San Francisco last weekend. We had previously eaten there a few years ago, but they have a new chef now, Chef Laurent Gras, previously of the Waldorf Astoria. The restaurant was awesome the first time we went, and this time it was even better. Greta and I got the chef's tasting menu, and here's what we got:

• An amuse bouche - Greta got a two cherry tomatoes in some sort of sauce, and I got a piece of chicken in some sort of rich tasty sauce. These details have escaped me, sorry. It was very good.
• A wonderful dish of a base of (raw) hamachi tuna, with oyster on top, and a light sprinkle of caviar on top of the oyster. The hamachi tuna had been marinated briefly in lemon, ceviche-style. It was absolutely wonderful. The hamachi tasted so fresh, and the oyster and caviar tasted like the sea.
• Scallop, in some sort of sauce, with very thin strips of chorizo. It went very well together, and it's the first time I've had chorizo so nicely prepared. I usually have it on a taco, with onions and hot sauce. That's good too.
• Skate-wing, on artichoke puree, with some sliced artichokes. This was the best skate-wing I've had. It was fried. Was it perhaps very lightly breaded? I can't remember, but it was perfectly cooked.
• Capon breast, two ways. I can't remember what those two ways were, but they were good ways. You may be wondering what capon is. So was I. I asked, and it evidently is a neutered male chicken. After it is neutered, the breast enlarges, and it is very tender. It was in fact very tender.
• Braised pork belly with black truffles. Not only was is braised, but it was exceptionally well carmelized. So much so that the bottom of the piece of braised pork belly was quite hard, like a piece of rock candy. I've never had a piece of braised meat like that. There was also braised apple and potato, each piece just beautifully done - a perfect brown glaze on everything.
• A lime sorbet in watermelon juice. To cleanse the palate. It not only cleansed, it also amused.
• Chocolate mousse and passion fruit sauce. The tangy passion fruit was a good balance to the rich chocolate.
• A selection of little desert things. It seems like every nice restaurant we eat at does this now.
• Little donuts with passion fruit sauce inside. This was a special for our anniversary. The plate had "Happy Anniversary" written on it, in chocolate. It was very nice, but we were so full it was hard to truly enjoy it.

It was a great dinner, and I would recommend it to anyone. As far as nice meals we've had, I'd say only Chez Panisse and the French Laundry have been better. Perhaps Charles Nob Hill was as good, but my memory is too faded to be a good judge.