It took us a long time to figure out where we would eat out for
dinner on a recent trip to Santa Barbara as the city isn’t exactly known for
its cuisine. After many referrals and Yelp reviews later, we decided against
the multitude of tepidly written up Italian and Mexican restaurants and settled
on the self-admitted "wine country cuisine" downtown spot Bouchon.
What followed was a very strange roller coaster ride of highs and
lows that left has left me a little confused as to whether I really like the
place or not.
DOWN
We arrived to a house with plenty of open tables and Open Table is
exactly the service the Cute Gardener used to book our reservation so imagine
our chagrin when we were seated in the most unseemly place in the middle of the
packed dining room in the back where all the wait staff were constantly walking
behind and hitting our chairs with their hips, thighs and legs. And it was warm
enough in the room to make us sweat.
UP
Part of the reason it was warm was our proximity to the kitchen,
which I could see the top halves of the five chefs within as they bustled
around cooking. I love to watch the dance of sizzling foods and always admire
restaurants that let us glimpse the magic with transparency. Back home in
Venice Beach, I walk by Ado on afternoons right as the cooks are busy prepping
for the evenings and I always peek in and they know me by now so I get waves
and smiles. This makes me giddy.
DOWN
The tart that I had seen online on their menu was non-existent on
this one.
UP
A scallop trio was on the menu and it had to be shared because the
scallops were so plump and huge. There were three versions: an appetizer kin
that resembled caprese with a stack of tomato, cold smoked scallop, and bacon.
The scallop was dynamite with a texture like a cold beautiful cube of butter
and sweet on the tongue but it was a bit strange with its counterpart
ingredients. The middle version was an entrée kin on top of a dense and perfectly
crispy potato pancake that punched with flavor. The corn and basil sauces that
accompanied were dreamy and I sopped the remainder of it up with a chunk from
the ample breadbasket. The last was a dessert kin on top of vanilla risotto
that was delicious but a little watery. I could have eaten one of these alone
as my meal and am still thinking about that cold, smoked scallop slice in
variety one.
DOWN
As we realized that we needed the salt and pepper that was put on
the tables to season the third scallop version (a no no to have to season
anything from the kitchen), they delivered someone else’s soup spoon to us by
mistake.
UP
The CG asked for rare venison and it was purple as if its heart were
still beating. It was my first time trying venison, which tasted to me like the
forest trees and all I could do was think of Bambi while watching the slabs of
thick meat ooze with blood. (Yes, I realize this is an extremely hypocritical
inner conflict as I am as happy a carnivore as anyone else who believes that
animal flesh is part of the master food chain.) Still not sure how I feel about
that but the CG was happy as a kid in a pond made out of cherry Icee.
DOWN
My duck was really soft and tender but the fat wasn’t rendered at
all. Luckily, for some weird reason, it wasn’t gross congealed fat, just
strangely outlining the meat fat, and the meat ended up tasting like turkey
rather than duck.
UP
They had a variety of fun wines so we opted for wines to pair with
our dishes rather than a bottle. Every time our waiter brought us our wine, he
would pour us a taste, even though we were only ordering a glass. At one point,
we were even offered a sample of another wine we didn’t order by the gracious
waiter who was jibing on our picks.
So all in all there were some pleasantly unexpected crests that I
didn’t expect and then some serious nose-diving troughs that were just as
surprising and together they cancel each other out so that I am still stuck in
a state of neutrality towards the whole experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment