Terra

Terra Restaurant, located in  St. Helena, CA features eclectic cuisine by chef-owners Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani. Placed in a dimly lit dining area, we dined with Midas and Goldie on a foodie excursion in hopes to find amazing food.  These same owners own another Michelin Star at Ame, a similar upscale version of Terra (who have a star of their own) located in San Francisco. Asian flavors are prevalent through many items on the menu, but a range of dishes span global influences. 

I started off with a heavy and creamy Monterey squid soup, a fine appetizer, but lacked any depth of flavor. I'd prefer the clam chowder at Hog Island.

Monterey squid soup

Chu-Toro's fried rock shrimp salad was better, providing an abundance of tasty, lightly, breaded rock shrimp and a bold chive mustard sauce. A hearty and flavorful starter.

Fried Rock Shrimp with Organic Greens and Chive Mustard Sauce

Chu-Toro went with the Broiled Sake Marinated Alaskan Black Cod and Shrimp Dumplings in Shiso Broth, a house  favorite. The dish was a bit salty, but the fish was well prepared and not overcooked, my pet peeve. A good dish, but not a memorable one and can't compare to a similar dish we've had at Cryus.

Broiled Sake Marinated Alaskan Black Cod and Shrimp 
Dumplings in Shiso Broth

I went with the Fried quail, which on paper sounded awesome. It was actually a pretty good dish, really heavy and filling. But I guess at $33 bucks, I was hoping for more. There was nothing really disappointing about the dish, but I don't know if I would've been any less happy with some Popeye's chicken for five bucks.

Fried quail with bacon, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts

We ended with the most sub-par chocolate bunt cake I've ever had. Really don't have anything else to say about it other than we didn't finish it.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

The service was uninspired, it felt like we were the last people on Earth that our server wanted to speak with. The water was so awful that we had to order sparkling. The food was average at best. There were some good parts, the shrimp was the standout, but otherwise, not a meal that was worth over $150 dollars. Good thing we had great company to distract us from the disappointment of the meal. The good thing is we can cross it off or list (Ame too) and move on to the next foodie excursion. 


Rating 5.5/10
March 20, 2010