A Good Evening Indeed

Do you remember when I went to Bonsoiree with Leanne back in February? I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean really, check out all that we had to enjoy on our visit. I was so excited that my work bestie, Kelly, was in town from Philadelphia and wanted to try it. I secured our reservations several weeks ago and last night was the big night.

We chose the seven course menu:

The amuse was Kona Kampachi Sashimi with yuzu and fresh wasabi. The perfect bite. It was served on a tiny shark skin grater used to grate the wasabi.

Our salad course was so fresh and green. Shaved cucumber, pea tendrils with Verjus dressing. Accompanied by bacon cubes, house pickled Japanese eggplant and a bruleed kumquat. Wow! That kumquat was something else!

Our third course wasn't off menu and was the Scallop Motoyaki that was had last time, too. I actually think that I enjoyed it better this time!

The next course was really interesting, a green tea smoked, oil poached baby octopus with rhubarb gravlax and a beet chip. I don't usually love octopus, but this was very good. Octopus is usually chewy and this wasn't all all. It was nice. Probably my least favorite of the dishes, but darn good!

Our soup course was next with a delightful roasted yellow tomato soup paired with butter poached shrimp with shiso. The soup was great and so was the shrimp, the shiso really made it. I have to say that I was really missing something crunchy hear for a textural balance. I, of course, would have loved some kind of interesting twist on a grilled cheese. Maybe that's too pedestrian for Shin.

Moving on to our fish course of a pan-seared grouper served over an almond farro risotto with maple syrup and braised Globe artichokes. Yum! Wow! I love grouper and this preparation was divine. The maple syrup sounded odd, but gave a great underlying sweetness to the dish. And the artichoke, well it was just stupendous!

Finally, a meat course, a duo of lamb -- lamb loin served very rare and a deep fried, housemade lamb sausage. This was served with a "death mustard" (it wasn't that hot!), haricot verts and a saffron cauliflower mousse. Seriously, that lamb loin was super, duper rare...I mean, it didn't even look like it had been cooked at all. Fine for me, but not what I was expecting. It was tender and flavorful! The sausage was gamey and salty and just right!

Oy, are you getting full yet?

All the while, we're enjoying our wines. We stopped into In Fine Spirits right down the street from my place to get some guidance from the great staff there. Our Champagne in fact wasn't Champagne, but it was a 2005 Sainte-Hillaire Extra Dry, which is reported to be the oldest sparkling wine maker in all of France. Even older than any Champagne. It was dry, dry, dry. I loved it.

For our white, we chose Errazuriz 2007 “Wild Ferment” Chardonnay from Chile. It came very highly recommended from the staff at In Fine Spirits and they didn't lead us astray, I'm not usually a huge Chardonnay fan, but this was so nice. It wasn't too oaky or buttery. It was just mineraly enough and powerful enough to stand up to the food.

Our red was a 2002 Madonna Estate Reserve Pinot Noir from Napa. I actually bought this bottle back in 2003 on a trip to Napa. It's been carted around the country so I wasn't sure if maybe it had turned as it hadn't always been stored in the best conditions. It turned out to be a winner. We opened it right away and decanted it. It was a winner for sure.

Finally, the end was nearing and our intermezzo arrived. A delightfully refreshing and tart yuzu and raspberry sorbet. It made me pucker! Loved it.

Dessert was a grilled banana bread pudding with hard sauce and a ras el hanout whipped cream and granulated honey. The bread pudding was crunchy and creamy and not too sweet, the cream was the perfect compliment.

What do you think?

I really love the service at Bonsoiree. It's pretty much just Ryan, he's the maitre d'. It's either him or the Chef/owner Shin serving and explaining every course to you. The service is very relaxed and comfortable. It's not stuffy at all. Make not mistake, it's not lax or sloppy, but it's not the least bit pretentious! We were there in blue jeans and felt perfectly comfortable.

Now, I can't wait to go back when Laura and Andre are in town next month.