{"id":125,"date":"2011-08-16T23:33:40","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T06:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/?p=125"},"modified":"2011-08-16T23:33:40","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T06:33:40","slug":"baume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/archives\/125","title":{"rendered":"Baum\u00c3\u00a9"},"content":{"rendered":"

My parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago, so we went out to a fancy restaurant, as we often do on the rare occasion that they’re visiting. They still think of me as their cash-strapped son, so they treat me to dinner. I don’t complain.<\/p>\n

This time, we went to Baum\u00c3\u00a9<\/a>, in Palo Alto. After it recently received a Michelin star, and hearing positive reviews from some friends who went there, I was interested in trying it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0196\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The very simple menu. The ingredients are listed on the left side, and the right side has the very few choices available. Basically, there’s a short menu and a long menu, with and without wine pairings. We sprung for the longer, more expensive “Menu D\u00c3\u00a9couverte” ($168).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0197\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This fancy plate was sitting in front of me when we sat down, but they promptly took it away, without food ever having touched it. Apparently, this is called a charger<\/a> plate. Seems like a big waste of a nice plate, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0199\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The server told us that we must not eat this. But it’s on a plate and everything! I obeyed his instructions, though. What if it had rat poison in it?<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0202\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Avocado glace, cilantro, masa.<\/p>\n

This was served on a cute little spoon. Even though I hate cilantro, this was a nice little bite to start off the meal.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0203\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They then suddenly poured water on the little coin, and it expanded into a towel. How did they do that? We were told to use it to clean our hands, if we wanted.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0205\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Olive – boquerones.<\/p>\n

The server told us to eat them like open-faced sandwiches, which was why we needed clean hands. It was a tasty little bite with sardines and some olives.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0207\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wasabi puffs. Thankfully, these weren’t too spicy. I could definitely taste the wasabi, but it didn’t have me tearing up or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0208\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Carrot – cardamom, wasabi puff.<\/p>\n

The carrot-cardamom drink the wasabi puffs came with. It had some liquid-nitrogen-frozen stuff in it. The cardamom was a bit strong, though.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0210\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bread came with this butter and parsley tofu spread. We ended up going through a whole tub of the parsley tofu spread, but thankfully, they brought us some more.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0211\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bun in front is lavender, which was delicious.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0213\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Caviar, radish – salt.<\/p>\n

These were tasty little bites that went well with the bread. Without the bread, though, it might have been a tad salty. The presentation was pretty.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0216\"<\/a><\/p>\n

62\u00c2\u00b0 egg, vermouth espuma, artichoke puree.<\/p>\n

The 62\u00c2\u00b0 egg is their signature dish. I usually don’t like runny yolks, but this one was cooked nicely, and the artichoke and prosciutto went well with the egg with their saltier flavors.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0220\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Salade D’ \u00c3\u2030t\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what the name of the dish means, but the server said everything was edible. It certainly was a pretty dish, but I’m not sure about how everything went together. It was like I was eating a lot of individual bites of fresh vegetables, but not really anything that tied them together. There was a nifty verbena spray that the server spritzed on right before we ate, though.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0221\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Foie gras brioche cherry.<\/p>\n

There were some special truffles there too, the server said. I really liked this dish. The foie gras didn’t have that metallic taste I feel like it usually has, and the cherry was a good complement to the richness of the foie gras. And there was brioche, too, which was warm and buttery.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0225\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bathroom break! The sink is a green bowl.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0227\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tomate far\u00c3\u00a7ie.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0230\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The inside is a branzini mousse. It was nice and creamy without being overwhelming, and the freshness of the tomato with the pesto sauce went really well together.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0232\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sea of Cortez shrimp, peanut-Thai curry.<\/p>\n

It tasted like Thai curry, but it was in the foam. Very interesting. There were quite a few shrimp in there, too; usually, nice places (and not-so-nice places) are quite stingy with the amount of shrimp. I liked this dish. But I’m sucker for shrimp.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0234\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cherry sorbet, thyme snow.<\/p>\n

A refreshing little palate cleanser before the meat courses started.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0237\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Canard abricot, balsamic.<\/p>\n

The duck was nice and tender, and it wasn’t too gamy. I liked the apricot flavor with the duck.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0240\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Elysian Fields lamb, zucchini, saveur du maroc.<\/p>\n

Very tender piece of lamb, with nice accompanying vegetables. I forgot what the green blob on the left was, but it was tasty and creamy.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0244\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cheese composition.<\/p>\n

It came on a nifty stone plate. In front was a blue cheese, and in the back was a goat cheese. A bit pungent for me, but the jam helped.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0247\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nectarine port syrup.<\/p>\n

They seem to like these little Chinese-ish spoons, since they served the opening avocado amuse-bouche on one. This was a nice little bite with sweetness.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0248\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blueberry cobbler.<\/p>\n

It was a nice little dessert of blueberry cobbler, but nothing out of the ordinary, just the ingredients kind of split up, with some sorbet in the middle.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0250\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Banana split.<\/p>\n

I thought this dish was really cool, it was a deconstructed banana split, with freeze-dried strawberry and chocolate and some fresh banana.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0251\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jasmine tea eclair.<\/p>\n

My camera refused to focus on this. But it was a tasty little eclair, and that pearl popped in my mouth. I couldn’t taste the jasmine too much, but it could be because I ate this last, and I had all the sweetness from the other two desserts before it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0254\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Macadamia mochi pineapple.<\/p>\n

These were tasty little bites of mochi. I liked the acidity of the pineapple against the starchiness of the mochi.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0255\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mignardises.<\/p>\n

Chocolate marshmallows they gave us as gifts. Even the men! They’re not sexist, unlike other restaurants.<\/p>\n

A very satisfying meal overall. But I was actually expecting more molecular gastronomy-type stuff from them, given what I had read online and what I heard from friends. Would I go again, if I had to pay for it myself? Maybe, for a special occasion. I definitely enjoyed it, but it just didn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, like some other places have. I can’t explain why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago, so we went out to a fancy restaurant, as we often do on the rare occasion that they’re visiting. They still think of me as their cash-strapped son, so they treat … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining","tag-baume"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}