Californium - Eating Californian Food at Quince

Californium

In this extra post, to report on the wonderful meal we had in Quince, the element is the one named for this great state of California - Californium. The element with the atomic number 98 is very rare, first synthesized by Seaborg and his team, it stands out as a distinctive material emerging from nuclear reaction. Well Michael Tusk Quince's chef stands out as a distinctive person, creating astonishing food and getting a more positive reaction than the nuclear one.

Quince

San Francisco has three restaurants with three Michelin stars, an enormous accolade for the City’s dining traditions. I’d looked at all three before coming away and decided to try Quince, as I liked the reports on it on Trip Advisor and its delightful focus on fresh food from its own farm across the Golden Gate bridge. 

We walked to the restaurant, a short distance from our hotel on Pacific Avenue and were sat at 7:20pm. The restaurant is laid out in a series of 'rooms' separated by curtains. This has the effect of making the place more intimate. We were in an area with 8 other diners. Two tables of two and a table of four. The table next to us were about an hour in to their meal (judging by our timings) when we arrived.

The waitress who looked after us all evening, along with eight or nine other staff at various times explained the menu to us, and told us of the two choices we had, which we will discuss later.

We began with canapes:

First canapes, working from right to left as I look at the plate

Beef and parmesan macaroon – The tanginess of the beef was well accompanied by the parmesan flavour which give a salty richness to the little morsel.

Black olive macaroon with farro – the olive flavour was dominant, but it was extended by the wheaty flavour of the dish. It was sharp, but each flavour emerged as the macaroon melted in the mouth

Melon and feta – there was a very smooth melon flavour in the melon jelly. The jelly was not sweet, but rather tangy, it worked well with the saltiness of the feta running through the middle.

By this point of the meal I began to think – I like this chef. He does flavours, but they are of the sharp, tangy and salty end of the spectrum just like my palette. I hoped the rest of the meal would keep this practice, and it did.

Black rice cracker

Foie gras

Next among the canapes was a black rice cracker with pate de foie gras – the cracker was crunchy and crisp with a squid ink like taste. The pate was as rich as foie gras always is, so the cracker did a good job of carrying that earthy richness to the palette – this was a real winner for me. Drew, who isn’t always sure he, likes livery flavours enjoyed it too.

Fava bean croquette 

The third of the canapes was fava bean croquette – The croquette had pickled sweet red peppers on top, these were the dominant flavour, and suited both of us very well. The fava bean seemed more to be a vehicle for the peppers than having a purpose of its own, as its flavour is so light.

Tomato+

Our first course was entitled simply - Tomato - it was tomato with pine nuts and Monterey Bay seaweed, plus avocado and a delicious cucumber granita – which melted as it was poured. There were four different types of tomato only one of them looked like a tomato, the rest where all spheres that had been made to communicate the essence of tomato. Each of the spheres were strong, almost more tomatoey than a tomato, and were a delight to eat. Some were crunchy, others had a soft exterior and a liquid interior, each gave a wonderful flavour and none of them were sweet, which suits me. The cucumber granita acted as a seasoning for the rest of the dish, with suitable but pleasant flavours.

Fresh Farm Celtuce with Caviar

Next came Fresh Farm Celtuce with Tsar Nicoulai caviar, squid and lardo. The caviar was salty and squishy. They popped as they hit the tongue and had a fishy flavour. In the past, Drew has had a reservation for fish eggs since eating to many of them in dishes in a Spanish restaurant. If they had all been like these tender morsels, Drew wouldn’t have gone off them in the first place. The celtuce was chopped in thin batons and acted like celery would in a dish of this kind. The squid was cut in the same way as the celtuce, so it was part of the fun of eating this meal that it was not always clear what a baton was, squid or celtuce. This provided a fun element to the eating of this dish. The lardo surrounded the caviar and gave the whole dish a salty tang which was not overpowering but was delicious. 

We had been given the option of Golden Oestera Caviar Panna Cota, instead of this course, but with Drew’s reservations about fish egg – we didn’t go for it, but I can’t imagine a caviar dish that was a delicious as this one.

Freshly Dug Potatoes

The next course was Freshly Dug Potatoes with Oyster and Oyster Leaf. The potatoes came in chunks and spheres with intense flavours. It was like discovering new dimensions of an old friend. These potatoes were fresh from the farm and the flavour showed it. They were potatoes, but not like any we buy from the market or supermarket. The oyster was used as a sauce, so there were no texture problems for Drew. The dish was served with a onion bread, with salt crystals on top. Perfect for mopping up the bowl. The whole dish had the taste buds ringing with delight. Yum, I could have stopped now and asked for more of this delicious dish, if I didn't know how much more was to come.

Young Peas in their pod

The Young Peas in their pod was also delightful. The pea shoots with Goat’s Milk Butter and Balinese Sea Salt was delicious, unbelievably soft pea pods with the flavour baked in. The pods were cooked for so long that the pods were as tasty as the peas themselves. They were black in colour and pushing with the fork at one end brought the lovely green peas out the other. In a way the pods had become more of an attraction than the peas, though they were great too.

Bottoni Pasta

Now it was time for some Bottoni pasta with corn, chanterelles and black garlic. The chanterelles were tiny and cut in half, packed with flavour and saltiness. I felt sorry for whoever had had to peel such small mushrooms, but even sorrier for the person who had had to make such a delicate pasta which opened with an intense corn flavour from the liquid within. There were small bits of corn too. The little leaves gave a gentle lemony flavour. The combination of the pasta, corn and mushroom had me whimpering in delight – and Drew telling me to keep quiet. Amazing. 

Viennese Pretzel Bread

Black rye bread with sesame seeds, nearest the camera
A crunchy onion and cheese bread further away

We then came to the bread course that was to go with our mains. There were three types of bread, a white Viennese pretzel bread, a dark black rye bread with sesame seeds on the outside and a crunchy onion and cheese Bread

We enjoyed them so much we had another lot before the lamb course arrived!

Watson Farm Lamb

The main course was Watson Farm Lamb cuts from heel to shoulder this was served with melanzane alla parmigiana, allium and capsicum. The lamb was tender and delicious, each cut giving a different flavour. The melanzane put me in mind of chicken parmesan, except this was lamb parmesan. I think this was the intention. The allium gave a tender onion flavour to the whole dish, and the peppers, cooked in a light crumb brought crunch and juiciness. The sauce in the middle of the lamb was a creamy spinach flavour, but even more exciting were the two little black blobs which turned out to be an aniseed flavour and created a zing when eaten with the lamb. Overall this was a tongue tingling success. 

We had been given the option of replacing the lamb with Wagyu Beef, but as Welsh men proud of our own lamb, we wanted to taste the Californian variety. <<Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, think Wagyu is exceptionally overrated, slimy murky mess. That is a dis-service to other types of beef.>>

Bread for cheese

We did however take up the option of a Cheese Course. The cheese was served with pieces of white baguette lightly toasted and a nut and raisin bread. 

Pickled walnuts, home crated Honey and golden raisin preserve

There was also pickled walnuts, home crated Honey and golden raisin preserve. Drew concentrated on these more than the cheese. The preserve was sharp, the honey was delicious, and the pickled walnuts were sweet and crunchy. Note the flickering candle, which was the only light source, not making photo taking easy.

What - no Cheese?? You can see we had very clean plates

We had four cheeses to share – Plas, a smelly, soft cheese that Drew claimed winked at him. It oozed over the plate, needing a spoon to eat it. Sofia; an Indiana blue goat’s cheese with ash, this was also soft, but had a real tang. There was a hard blue goat’s cheese from Umbria and a hard blue sheep’s cheese from Brooklyn, New York. While I took a photo of the accompaniments when they arrived, I got so exited talking about cheeses to the waitress that I forgot to take a photo until the plate was empty!! My sister will not be pleased!

Then came the desserts. First was a dessert simply called Strawberry, it came with tiny, sliced strawberries from the restaurant’s farm and was served with Anise Hyssop, Verbena and Lime with a milk chocolate parfait with cream. The lime was a great counter to the strawberries. The chef managed something, I didn’t think possible, a sweet that was not to sweet. I’m beginning to think this chef is related to me. His emphasis on spice and tang, with saltiness is exactly my flavour profile. Being able to produce a dessert which is fresh, tasty, but not sweet enough to turn my sugar alarms on is some kind of miracle. This like the cheese didn't get a picture!!

Yellow Peach with mascarpone

The next dessert was Yellow Peach with mascarpone, Bee Pollen and Lemon Leaf. Again, with the bee pollen handed over to Drew, it would be too sweet, the rest of the dish wasn’t just edible, but was fruity and tangy. Another triumph. The tweel had a light crunch.

Mignardise

We were then provided with Mignardise, what I would have called petit fours. There was a wide selection, but Drew choose eight of them. The macaroons were strawberry sweet with a strawberry cream inside. The two jellies tasted like sweetened strawberry and fig. The tayberry topped item tasted just like a cheesecake, Drew thought they were remarkable. The biscotti were crunchy but soft, a cross between a biscuit and a sponge cake, with an almond sweetness to them. I didn’t join in at this stage. It was clear these were all too sweet.

Chocolatereat

They then brought us a semi-sphere of milk chocolate with a sponge cake sandwich with a creamy filling. Drew managed to complete this on his own

Finally, they arrived with another post-dessert, dessert – these were a French pastry with a sweet syrup poured over it. The overlying taste was honey, but Drew felt it was to much as he had to have mine as well as his own. 

Espresso

We completed the meal with double expressos. 

As we were led out of the restaurant we saw that we had been enjoying our meal at the same time as a god of the catering world, Clare Smyth. Smyth formally a Three-Star Chef at London’s Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and now a two-star chef at her own recently opened restaurant called Core by Clare Smyth, was eating with someone I didn’t recognise. I wish I could have gone over and asked what they thought of the meal. <<Co-pilot's note: There, dear readers, would have been blood, pouring from each of his orraphases. Just because they are famous they don't need a Mr B chatting to them. It was no to Jason and now it is no to Clare, leave them alone!!>> But I felt it might be a bit much having a fan disturb your meal.

As we left the building we were given a tisane – lemongrass and ginger – to take with us. This was a warming flavour, without sugar, went down very well as we walked back down Montgomery Street and up Bush to the Hotel. We got back in at 11:15pm