Chef Mike Lanham’s pop up restaurant has been in existence for quite a few years but only since the beginning of this year he finally has opened a permanent location on Sutter Street. It’s a nice location with an elegant yet relaxed ambience. The food turned out to be quite sophisticated and well executed and plays on a Michelin star level - mixing classical preparations with modern techniques and unusual textures and flavor combinations. The wine pairings (also including sake and cider) were really nice and well thought out.
The service was good but also a bit chaotic, e.g. somebody brings new wine glasses, 30 seconds somebody else puts them away because they thought the glasses were already used - nothing really bad just a bit inexperienced. Pacing of the courses was OK but could have been a tiny bit slower (often an issue when everybody gets the same courses at the same time). It would have been nice to also get a printout of the menu as the cooks and server tend to be hard to understand and so we are not always sure about many of the ingredients
Nice open kitchen with a good view
Tapioca chips with dip
Dashi potato with egg yolk jam and puffed rice
Hot nettle soup with cold snow (and a “roll”)
“Salad” with rhubarb granita
Asparagus with truffle and fried runny egg yolk
Sunchoke royale with caviar
Scallop with black truffle panade and dashi yuzu taragon
Aged duck with black garlic puree and scallion oil
Strawberry and lavender
Apricot mousse with honey ice cream
Peach gummy
Mint chocolate
Mochi
