michael mina

dinner: 6 courses with wine pairings

1a. started with foamy oyster (very good) and decent tomato soup
1b. some crazy mexican vegetable that is supposed to be a delicacy but instead is fairly bitter. the one good part about it is that it had cured ham as well on it

2. wahu fish: super good cooked perfectly, definitely the best dish of the night. cooked with asparagus and light mole sauce

3. sonoma duck: duck breasts with a healthy portion of foie gras. duck was very good and had a nice savory sauce with mushrooms. foie gras was very good, i don't think i could have done a trio of three, so one was nice.

4. veal: good. a nice touch with little pieces of friend fat and potato. this dish was a bit too salty especially as everything else to this point carried similar flavor

5. forgetting what this was, so it must have not been that great.

6. cheese. not sure what i got, but it was a very nice cheese
- in addition half the wines were extremely good choices, the other were fairly good.

overall i thought i should be blown away by a six course and wine pairing from michael mina. while many dishes were amazing (wahu and duck), other were so-so (soup, mexican vegetable, veal) and overall no tastes were all that unique nor creative as i would have hoped. still, the meal was great. but so were the expectations.

rating: yum+ (wish it could have been YUM)

Myth

Went to dinner on a work expense account. I had:

Seared Marscapone and Potato Gnocchi with Peas, Pancetta, and Parmesan Butter Sauce

Braised Short Ribs with Baby Vegetables and Horseradish Potato Puree
Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta with Pineapple, Kiwi and a Lime Caramel Sauce

The Gnocchi was very good. It has previously been described as pillowy, and I have to say that is an accurate description. The sauce was delicious and the texture was amazing.

The Short Ribs were meh. Maybe I have a predisposition to be underwhelmed by short ribs - but I felt that they really weren't that spectacular. I feel like the short ribs I had at Universal Cafe were better seasoned.

The Panna Cotta was a great combo of flavors - interesting.

I tasted the Risotto appetizer - and that was very very tasty.

While there were some good moments - I didn't feel that Myth lived up to the hype (or price).

Verdict: yum

Boulevard

went to lunch on firm's expense account. had the following:

LOCAL SAND DAB stuffed with Rock Shrimp & Herbs, Sweet White Corn Grits, Spicy Louisiana Seafood Barbecue Sauce

WOOD OVEN ROASTED SNAKERIVER FARMS KOBE BAVETTE, Baked Fingerling Potatoes with Crèeme Fraiche, Smoked Bacon & ChivesSauteed Erbette Chard, Beef Sauce

WARM CHOCOLATE BUDINO CAKE with fresh cherries, cherry swirl ice cream, chocolate sauce.

the sand dab appetizer was AMAZING. definitely worth getting again. the kobe bavette was ok, but wasn't as flavorful as i expected it to be. the budino cake was very, very good - but then again, it's hard to mess up a warm cake doused in chocolate sauce.

i had the mint mojito presse (non-alcoholic) - which was ok. a friend had the elderflower presse - which was fantastic - it tasted like lychee juice.

i definitely would go back to boulevard.

verdict: yum+ but almost a YUM