Filed under: Food and Drink
I may be one of the few Americans whose first inclination upon hearing the term "steakhouse" is to cringe. Big slabs of red meat must be of supreme quality and skilled preparation so as not to come out in forms that remind me of shoe leather and beef jerky. Fortunately, I scouted Open table .com with an open mind while seeking a place for Thanksgiving dinner. Having decided this year that 5 hours worth of my cooking labor (not to mention 2 hours or so of shopping) was not worth it (and that I was not in the mood for Chinese).
Thus it was that Mom, Bro, P and I celebrated Thanksgiving at Arcadia, a Michael Mina restaurant that I have been reading about for months on end. The slogan "Modern American Steakhouse" was not enticing to me, but the mention Michael Mina was. And a 4 course prixe fixe for $65 sounded just right. Crossed my fingers and made the reservation thinking, "it better be nice as I am the one dragging my family to this joint they never heard of-and it’s in the lobby of the San Jose Marriot." We all know hotel restaurants tend to be rather grim & mediocre eating affairs after all…
Arcadia was, to put it simply, amazingly delicious. Beautifully presented and served, savory and subtle and each course improved upon the last. Bravo. For once, I agree with all the reviewers.
First Course: We went with the Roasted Butternut Squash soup (Butternut, oh, butternut how I love thy tasty bearing, but I’ll never buy one at home again lest I purchase an axe or giant meat cleaver). Their soup came with a generous gob of chantilly cream & the most perfectly formed sage leaf I’ve ever seen. Even Ben the soup hater ordered this soup. P has the endive salad with point reyes (oysters anyone?) blue cheese, pomengrante and toasted pumpkin seeds. YUM -o.
Vino: Being indecisive, P and I both went with the wine flights. Flights are the favorites of wine newbies, wafflers, lightweight boozers, and people on a budget (I guess we are all of the above) because you get 3 partial glass pours for one price to sample. Arcadia’s Chardonnay flight runs about $17 and the Pinot Noir the same. By night’s end P was scarlet red, and I was a happy camper, enlisted mom to have some chardonnay as well. Sorry, too busy eating to memorize the vintages and origins of each. And BTW the bread was yummy too-regular warm french bread as well as fresh olive studded rolls.
Second Course: I’m just partial to finger foods of all kinds, but this was my fave course. It was the teeniest one, but the most creative and fun. P ordered Lobster corn dogs. (Mina is known for creating a killer lobster pot pie) These 3 little dogs came artfully arranged with fennel slaw and whole grain mustard and they went down smooth as silk. We probably could have eaten 20 of them had the opportunity arisen…Ben ordered a stuffed quail. The tiny bird was roasted to brown bliss with couscous, dried fruit and almonds in a pomegranate verjus. Mum & I ate the biggest scallops we’d ever seen. They were served, 2 huge scallops on a small white rectangle atop shallot potato cakes, braised leeks, with a smattering of American caviar.
By this point, I am like, hey, we got our money’s worth no matter how the rest of the meal turns out.
After the artfully arranged small courses, we expected equally petite yet beautiful entrees.
Entree Course: Holy Moley THAT is the third course?? We all passed on the slow roasted turkey/bread pudding/sweet potato/sage gravy meal…it sounded great, it was Thanksgiving but we were too tempted by the other offerings. All 3 of them ordered American kobe Cowboy Steak. Instead of the artsy little cut, out came a honking 20 oz. cut with cramed spinach, a side of bearnaise, and a mini skillet full of scalloped potatoes rich with cream. WOW. Turns out this restaurant is known for its Kobe burger at lunchtime, made with the same fragrant cut as this steak. I was tempted by the Sugar Pie Pumpkin raviolis in brown butter sauce, but Thanksgiving was no night for my veggie meal. In search of something new, my order was the Ahi Tuna "Wellington" in wild mushrooms duxelle and pinot noir reduction. The seared tuna was inside a thin layer of pastry and amidst the mushrooms and sauce in 3 giant slices across the plate. Muy excellente. We all had to pack up a portion of th entree, knowing that next there would be a
Dessert Course: Pumpkin Cheesecake with fresh whipped cream and homemade fritter, Apple tart Tatin with cinnamon ice cream, and Chocolate molten cake like it’s never been done before. None of that cheap, overly sweetened stuff that passes for baked goods. All the flavors were clean, fresh, hitting the palate in layers of developing subtlety instead of the cloying goopy feeling most American desserts render.
We had to flee home before our stomachs exploded or our food coma rendered us incapable of driving. I was oh-so thankful that that Thanksgiving morn M, L and YM had agreed to run the San Jose Turkey trot 10k with me!! Started the day in good health with a brisk sunshiney dash beside friends, (with our adorable sweethearts at the finish line bearing Pelligrino), ended the day in sheer gustatory luxury con familia. For once, I could not be more thankful.
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
