San Francisco: Jardiniere

Our first dinner in San Francisco was at Traci des Jardins' Jardiniere. We were really looking forward to this dinner. We've heard so many good things about Jardiniere and when we mentioned we were going, San Francisco folk raved about it.

The space in Jardiniere is fantastic. The feel of the bar area was definitely 20s. I loved the bar lamps. Billie Holiday was playing when we walked it. The ceiling glistens like a bright moonlight sky. Totally awesome.

We arrived slightly early for our reservation, so we sat at the bar first. Josh went with A Midnight Prayer, a house cocktail, made with gin, elderflower, creme de violette, and reagan's bitters. As I recall, Josh said it was a little overly sweet, having simple syrup in addition to the elderflower liqueur, but otherwise, good flavor. I requested a blood and sand, but they don't have cherry heering so I asked the bartender to make something for me. I am not sure exactly what I received, but it had copper fox rye whiskey and was reminiscent of toronto.

When we go to any restaurant with a chef's tasting menu, we always lean towards it a little, and, at Jardiniere, we didn't hesitate before choosing it. What a delicious list of courses.

Well, it's hard to be in San Francisco and not get oysters, right? Six Kusshis and six Beau Soleils. Freshly grated horseradish really goes great with oysters. These were delicious.

First course was a carpaccio of local halibut with haas avocado, chioggia beets, and golden steelhead caviar. This was a simply fabulous dish. The tastes were so clean and delicious. Some dishes just make me happy. This is one of them.

Next up was a California white seabass with sweetbreads, shortrib broth, and burgundian truffles. The flavors of this dish were delicious. The shortrib broth was rich and flavorful. The seabass was sadly a little overdone. And the precision of the brunoise! Wow.

Next we had Liberty Farms duck breast and seared foie gras. The server advised us that the chef prefers to prepare to medium-rare, which we also prefer though we do tends towards rare, but this was clearly medium. After the seabass dish, I had thought about asking the server to reorder ours as rare, and after this arrived, I was sad I hadn't tried to turn the tide.

Nevertheless, the flavors on the plate were tasty. Sugar pie pumpkin, young escarole, and huckleberry jus. And the foie gras was tasty.

Last of the savory dishes was a loin of venison with chanterelle mushrooms, parsley root puree, and white alba truffles. Happily, this venison came out medium-rare, but only in the middle. The meat looked as if it hadn't rested properly as it as was a bit grey at the edges and was mostly medium except for the immediate center. Still, the flavor was good, the truffles divine.

The cheese course was a pecorino toscano with medjool dates, fennel, and wildflower honey. A good contrast course, but really not too interesting.

Lastly was a chestnut glace with fuyu persimmons, turkish apricots, and quince syrup. It's hard to say what I really thought of this dessert. It wasn't very exciting to look at or to eat but, of course, I did finish it.

Overall, I did enjoy the dinner at Jardiniere and the wine pairings were delicious. I'm disappointed in the poor cooking technique that would overcook the proteins of three courses. I feel that is something even a home cook like I would not make and at Jardiniere, I definitely wouldn't expect it.

I hope to come back one day to perfectly cooked proteins. I hope it's truffle season then, too.