Manresa

Los Gatos, CA

Over the past year when our foodie excursions really started ramping up, we've been extremely fortunate to dine at many of the best restaurants in CA including TFL, Cyrus, Coi, Meadowwood and Providence. The one that has stuck out in Chu-Toro's mind is Manresa, David Kinch's two Michelin star jewel in Los Gatos. Last October when we dined there, the lighting was poor, we didn't have our DLSR and weren't documenting our meals as we are now, so this past Saturday was our chance to make up with detailed pictures, assessments and hopefully meet and take a picture with chef Kinch.
Upon arrival, we were seated by general manager Michael Kean who was very accommodating to change our table to the corner where we would not disrupt other guests with our flash. Waiting on the table was a signed card congratulating us on our anniversary, a very classy and thoughtful touch right off the bat.

A sealed and signed Anniversary card sitting on our table

We went with the tasting menu ($160) titled "The Late Summer Garden," and started with the classic Manresa Petite fours "red pepper-black olive." The madeleine was olive flavored, soft in the center with a more firm crust, the gelee like our last visit was prevalent of red pepper, almost tasting roasted.

Petite fours

The following amuse bouche was garden beignets, vinegar powder. Atop the small circular marble slab were two small beignets and fried crispy kale. When biting into the beignet, the two foremost flavors, kale and vinegar explode into your mouth. I'm not a huge fan of too much vinegar, which I thought this dish had, but for the purpose of an amuse bouche to awaken your flavor pallet, it was a creative unique bite. 

Garden beignets

Next was a strawberry gazpacho with marcona almonds. We were instructed to shoot the fruity cold soup. It was a sweet shot with hints of red peppers and the crunch of my favorite almond.

Strawberry gazpacho

The final amuse bouche was Manresa's classic Arpege farm egg. During our last visit, this egg was one of the most anticipated things we read about. Although we felt this one was slightly overdone, it was still a great rich, creamy excellent dish. I could have this for breakfast every morning.

Arpege Egg

While we awaited our first course, we were offered a bread service slightly different to the one we encountered under a year ago. Infatuated with the bread service at Cyrus, Chu-Toro was happily surprised to see that Manresa had upgraded to offer five carb types including their original French, whole wheat, pumpernickel and fennel seed, rosemary olive and her favorite, the brioche. The buttery brioche was biscuit like, buttery, flaky and heavenly. Between the two of us, we ate about five of these bad boys.

Brioche and butter

Onto the first course, abalone jelly with cucumber noodles. 

Abalone jelly with cucumber noodles

This is the kind of brilliance that makes David Kinch so amazing. This delicate thin slices of citrus marinated abalone combined with dashi flavor gelee and cool stringy cucumber noodles was excellent. Although the flavors were not completely original, the combination of freshness, texture and flavor blended superbly, a wonderful start.

Squash shoots and snails in bonito butter

The next course was squash shoots and snails in bonito butter with toasted seeds. The first lightly fried squash blossom was best squash prep I've ever had which was difficult to say since the following bite underneath that with a snail filled squash was also delectable. The richness of the bonito butter acted as a soup, a savory dressing to the various pieces of squash shoots.

Into the garden

Kinch's quintessential "into the garden" dish was next, which represents how fresh picked vegetables and flowers from a garden can be a simple yet stunning fine dining experience. I don't recall every item in this dish, but it did include carrots, eggplant, beets, radishes, oca, fennel fawns, cherry tomato, arugla, potato, simulate dirt for texture as well as as foam and vegetable purees that can only be describe as an extremely thought provoking, meticulously plated unbelievable course. It still remains completely original to any other restaurant that we've experienced and is a greatly appreciated offering.

Pumpkin veloute "potmarron," nasturtium ice cream

Our next dish to our delight was a pumpkin veloute. Besides pumpkin pie, most people don't appreciate pumpkin as the focus of a dish, we certainly didn't before our last visit to Manresa. But just like time, we instantly fell in love with the pumpkin veloute, a creamy soup that you want to drink on every cold winter evening, served in a large stone bowl, poured atop a small arrangement of nasturtium ice cream, fresh and fried flower. The fried floret was particularity enjoyable.

Black Cod and carrots with exotic spice, coriander

Following four remarkable courses, we had our first just "good" dish, a black cod with carrots. I guess when you think you might have your best dinner ever after four home run plates, you have to be brought back to earth with a single. Although it had a tasty India inspired flavor, I'm not sure an extremely delicate lightly flavored piece of cod was the right combination other than a textural contrast. The carrots offered a pleasant sweetness to offset the heavy handed spices.

Farm chicken roasted with matsutake, green gage plums

Chicken is always a tough sell for me, since I find it boring. Unlike the perfectly juicy flavorful squab we had at TFL, or the very good chicken at Bottega and Bouchon, Manresa's roasted poulet was pedestrian. The matsutake felt out of place and the extremely sweet plum sauce was mis-used. Unfortunately a forgettable main entrée. 

Young lamb, golden marjoram and tomato jam

The lamb was prepared two ways, a very thinly sliced rare cut and underneath it a braised smoky lamb offered. Underneath the large leaf was a tomato jam with a grilled eggplant. Regrettably, another misstep entrée, the rare lamb was just a little too undercooked, difficult to cut and chewy. The braised lamb, although extremely tender was gamey. The tomato and marjoram jams were great, but could not save the lamb preparations. 

Garden melons with rose geranium ice cream

The pallet cleansing yuzu flavored ice cream and thinly sliced melons were sweet and clean. The tiny bars of meringue added a bit of texture and variety to the dessert. When it was served and described as yuzu flavored, I was extremely excited since some of my all time favorite desserts (at Coi, Providence, Zo) include this lively citrus ingredient. But this version was too watery almost if the yuzu was simply poured on top of the dessert instead of being incorporated into the dish itself.

Fromage blanc soup with homemade granola with fruits and brown sugar jelly

This send off course righted the ship with a familiar flavored but complex dessert, a play of a deconstruction fruit cheesecake with a granola crust. Like the starting dishes, the harmonious medley of components complimented each bite of the delicious confection. Not too heavy and not too sweet, the fresh fruits and crunchy granola had us licking our spoons until the last bite.

Petite fours

Just like we started, we ended with petite fours of "strawberry-chocolate."

We did tour the kitchen in hopes of meeting chef Kinch after our meal but to say the chef was stressed out was an understatement. Under duress of cooking and plating, which he was doing both, he was clearly focused on offering the best dishes possible without any other distraction in mind, including meeting a couple of foodies at 11 PM. He raised in voice at his staff yelling for servers while three plates of lamb sat cooling on the counter. We definitely did not want to add to his busy night and left without interruption. 

Chu-Toro's favorite fine dining destination remains Manersa and its hard to disagree. With the exception of a pair of underwhelming proteins, the meal was near flawless, displaying David Kinch's unequaled imagination on the use of techniques and ingredients. The point of our constant search for the perfect meal is to taste flavors we didn't know could be or should be integrated together and you're lucky to experience two to three of those types of courses at premiere restaurants. Chef Kinch is able to produce those epiphanies throughout our two visits and is clearly one of the best food minds in the country. 

Rating 9/10

September 4, 2010