Monday, August 20, 2007

Coi

Restaurant: Coi
Location: San Francisco, CA
Chef: Daniel Patterson
Open: Tue-Sat 6pm-10pm
Date of Dinner: August 4, 2007
Cost of Dinner: $165
Recommendation: Would Definitely Try Again; Next Time the Lounge



Coi isn't a misspelled Japanese fish. Coi, pronounced "kwä," is actually an archaic French word meaning calm and is the root etymology for the English word "coy." It is also the latest offering of Daniel Patterson, he of Elisabeth Daniel fame and is the closest San Francisco has gotten to molecular gastronomy.

Located on Broadway and Montgomery, the first impression you get as you walk into the very serene surroundings of the lounge is that it is horribly out of place on Broadway amidst the stripper joints and bars.

Our reservation at Coi was a blessing in disguise and came because Cyrus in Healdsburg cancelled our reservation for my birthday dinner. Be warned not to change the number of your party in your reservation if you have one at Cyrus. Because a couple of friends cancelled, Cyrus cancelled our reservation instead of just reducing the number claiming that they need my table of 6 for someone else. Oh well! So within 2 days of the date, I was left scrambling for a reservation for another restaurant of that kind.

Thank Heavens we got into Coi! After having eaten at El Bulli, looking at a regular menu now leaves a lot to be desired. However, Coi's menu is just as innovative and exciting as El Bulli's, albeit at a smaller scale.

Daniel Patterson's technique has often been described as aromatherapy. In fact, while he was the inaugural chef at Frisson, he wrote a book called "Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance." He has not abandoned that technique here. In fact, Coi sells its own bottle of perfume. We'll go back to that in a minute.

The restaurant itself is very small, maybe around 6 tables or so. Only slightly larger than the pocket-sized Elisabeth Daniel. However, the food is big! Not in portions, but in flavor.

There are two versions of the menu: an 11-course degustation menu for $115 and a 4-course menu for $85 where the courses have bigger portions. A friend at our party detests small plates, so thank God that they offer the latter option or I would never hear the end of it. Now everyone is happy.

So for our dinner of four, two had the bigger menu while the other two opted for the 4 course meal (traditionalists!). This way, we were able to order all 15 courses on the menu.

So this is how our evening went.

Valencia Orange (green olive sorbet, pink peppercorn, litsea cubeba) - Now I'm not sure whether litsea cubeba was used on the foam which surrounds the sorbet and oranges or if it was used on the perfume. I do know for sure that this was my favorite course of the night. The very refreshing green olive sorbet and valencia oranges enveloped by beautiful white foam which tastes very citric was a great start for the dinner. The ball of foam and sorbet comes in a bowl and a saucer with a small dollop of liquid. You are instructed to take that liquid and smear it on your pulse points. This is the perfume I alluded to earlier. Interestingly enough, the fresh citrus smell of perfume enhances the taste of the dish. This would be enough proof that smell is important to the dining experience.

California Osetra Caviar (slow-cooked farm egg yolk, chives, creme fraiche) - One of the finest dishes in Daniel Patterson's arsenal of very creative dishes, this is a winner! Even though the caviar holds the title of the dish, it was the egg yolk that brings this dish home. The egg was slow-cooked (perhaps in very warm water) for about an hour until the yolk is somewhere between hard- and soft-boiled. What results is a very creamy egg yolk which was slowly separated from the egg white and topped with creme fraiche and the caviar.

Grilled Zucchini Terrine (nicoise olive, saffron, herbs) - A good starting course and a very good vegetarian dish (although I am far from a good vegetarian), this dish had the misfortune of being served next to the Osetra caviar.

Gazpacho Parfait (dirty girl tomatoes, cumin, mint) - Dirty girl produce is famous for the dry-farmed tomatoes that are as sweet as can be. Here, the tomatoes are used chopped into gazpacho with fresh cumin and mint. The result is sweet and refreshing.

Kampachi Sashimi
(white soy, yuzu, shichimi togarashi) - Kampachi is a fish native to Hawaii and is a cousin to the Japanese hamachi. They are prized for their high 30 percent fat content and thus, high in Omega-3's. The taste is of a very creamy and buttery fish which is not at all salty. Here it is served with only a small amount of white soy; yuzu, a small Japanese citrus fruit; and shichimi togarashi, a Japanese mixture of 7 spices.

Earth and Sea (beet, soy salt, bonito powder / cauliflower, konbu, sea beans) - Lately, it seems that every restaurant I go to has some variation of the Catalan classic,
Mar y Montaña. In Coi's version, the Sea is represented by the bonito powder, the konbu, and the sea beans, while the Earth (or Mountain) is represented by the cauliflower and beets.

Corn-Brioche Custard (huitlacoche, cilantro leaf and seeds) - Huitlacoche, or corn smut, is a corn disease caused by fungus spores. While in the US, farmers try to inoculate their corn from these fungus spores, huitlacoche are highly regarded in Mexico for their earthy and intense truffle-like flavor. Invariably, huitlacoche have been called corn mushroom or corn fungus, even Mexican truffle. All of these are misnomers, however, because it gives one the feeling that huitlacoche is some sort of fungus. It isn't. It is the result of fungal spores invading ears of corn, disfiguring and distending each kernel. For this dish, huitlacoche is used in a savory flan that has the intense flavor of corn that has been calmed by cilantro. Truly incredible!

Yuba "Pappardelle" (charred eggplant, ras el hanout, basil) - This is the third dish I have tried within 3 weeks that uses yuba. In the evening's first quote-unquote course, the "pappardelle" really isn't pasta, but is made with tofu skins. The skins are then topped with a sauce made with ras el hanout, or what the waiter said was a very secret old family recipe. I don't know if I believe him. Actually, ras el hanout have different versions and literally means "head of the shop" because it is a mixture of the best spices that a seller has to offer. Because the "pappardelle" isn't really made from starch but from tofu, this dish is really quite light. Very good!

Ricotta "Raviolo" (chanterelles, summer truffles, bloomsdale spinach, squash blossoms) - I absolutely love squash blossoms, and here they are served with wonderful summer truffles and ricotta raviolo - ends in o because you only get one big "ravioli".

Kinmedai Grilled on the Plancha
(flowering bok choy, mushroom dashi) - Kinmedai, a type of snapper, is grilled on its skin and served with flowering bok choy and a nice mushroom-based soup (the dashi!).

Roasted Lobster Mushroom and Star Route Artichokes
(preserved lemon, corianer, purslane) - This was my least favorite dish. The artichokes, the lemons and the purslane combined to a nice citrussy taste. However, I really did not care for the roasted lobster mushroom.

Poached and Seared Guinea Hen
(vadouvan, fresh and shelling beans) - What on earth is vadouvan? Apparently, vadouvan is
a specialty Indian spice mixture that commonly includes curry leaves, fenugreek, mustard seeds, garlic and sometimes cumin. The guinea hen had been rubbed with vadouvan, poached and seared, and then served on top of shelling beans. The fowl was nice and soft, but the spices were very subtle. I don't know whether that is a good or a bad thing.

Herve Mons Salva
(lavender-scented local honey, knoll figs) - Herve is an aged cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk. They are usually very pungent. However, I did not find the cheese pungent at all and loved the combination of lavender honey, figs, and herve mons salva cheese.

Melon Soda - As a palate cleanser, we each receive a shot glass full of melon soda. Very refreshing. On to dessert, both of them!

Chilled Strawberry-Watermelon Soup
(rose geranium, long pepper ice cream) - Following the melon soda with another cold melon dish of some sort would seem anticlimactic. On the contrary, this chilled soup was wonderful. The soup is ladled onto a bowl with white long pepper ice cream in the center. The spicy goodness of the ice cream and the cold stawberry and watermelon combo somehow works quite well together.

Warm Chocolate Cake (avocado ganache, lemon balm) - Ever since I had a chocolate cake with grapefruit at Citizen Cake many years ago, I've felt that citrus fruits and chocolate cake go together. And here it is again! This time, the warm chocolate cake is filled with an avocado icing (the ganache). While interesting in and of itself having the avocado as icing, it was the combination of the lemon balm cream with the cake that makes this dessert hit the ballpark.

At the end of the meal, I was so glad that Cyrus cancelled my reservation. Coi was one of the most memorable birthday dinners I've had.

Last year, we went to Manka's Inverness Lodge for my birthday. Sadly, it burned down during Christmas weekend. That was an amazing dinner. I'm happy to say that Coi is on par with that meal...and so close to home.


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