Gary Danko
What a week! I enjoyed one fabulous meal after another (with a minor hiccup), successful business meetings, and generally pleasant weather. My week of fine dining could not have ended on a higher note. Last night, we dined at Gary Danko.
Consistently rated one of the best restaurants in San Francisco, Gary Danko successfully converged the elegance of fine French dining with the comfortable style of Northern California and the service excellence commensurate with
We walked into a small, stylish, and sophisticated dining room decorated with large well-designed floral bouquets and dark wood panel. Three of us arrived and reviewed our dinner choices while waiting for our fourth guest. My colleague Eric spied the cheese cart on first glance and planted the seeds of cheese in our brains.
Our servers were extremely attentive. Our ordering options allowed us to either choose a tasting menu of five courses, or design our own menus in three, four, or five course options.
I was pleased to discover that the wine list offered a healthy selection of ½ bottles to choose from so that we could alter our wine selections to parallel the ascending richness of our pending meal —- and again, my dining companions preferred red. We began with a ½ bottle of 2001 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevry-Chambertian that personified the delicacy of the Pinot Noir grape while presenting its telltale dark cherry and cedar-smoke perfume. At the same time, we opened the ½ bottle of 2003 Chateau Lascombes Margaux
We began with an amuse bouche of Thai duck soup that delighted my taste buds through distinctly different flavors that came together in a delectable delicacy. The creamy broth enveloped the strands of duck with what I think were hints of lemongrass and coconut.
I had a tough time deciding upon my meal. I truly wanted to taste everything on the menu. After much contemplation, I decided upon the sweet white corn soup with lobster, radish and cilantro to start. This refined, delicate slightly sweet corn soup created the backdrop for a delicious ravioli that disintegrated into the soup as I opened it.
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Switching now to the 2003 Chateau Lascombes, we found this wine to be expectedly bolder than the Burgundy, the subtle and complex tobacco and black currant notes of this refined Margaux Bordeaux wine paired well both with my Quail and my colleagues' bison main courses.
For my main course, I ordered the Ouail Stuffed with Porcini Mushrooms, Cipollini Onions, Foie Gras with Artichoke Purée and Chickpea Galette. Almost completely boneless (except for their little limbs), these two perfectly roasted fowl were stuffed with what tasted like porcini mushrooms suspended in a fois gras cream sauce. With each bite, my senses heightened, elevating me into an altered state of pleasurable consciousness.
"For your cheese course, we can serve each of you individually or —- because you are a party of four —- we can put together a sampling of each cheese on the cart," our server informed us.
Of course, we decided to try every cheese on the cart. I asked for a list of the cheeses we were to try and our server explained that they did not have a pre-printed list.
"I would be happy to write them down for you," he offered meekly.
Now I faced a momentary dilemma: do I annoy the server by asking him to write down every cheese on the list, or do I forgo the list and just hedonistically enjoy the cheese?
I guiltily requested that he write down the names of the cheese, dear reader, do that I may share them with you…
Goat: Garristxa, Ciana de Cabra, Redwood Hills Farm
Sheep: Fiore Sardo, Dante, Brebiou
Cow: Brillat Savrin, Le Demon Du Midi, Marim French, Reblochon, Au Lait Cru Gruyere, Hooks Cheddar, Winchester Boere Kaas, Epoisses
Blues: Robure Creamery, Roarin' 40's
Our meal completed with a duo of sweets; we alternated between the trio of crème brule and the divinely decadent chocolate soufflé, which they cracked with both chocolate sauce and crème anglais.
At the conclusion of our dining experience, the servers brought me a small wrapped cake to indulge in the following morning and arranged for a cab to bring us back to the hotel.
The taxis arrived as I was paying the check and I rushed to leave, forgetting behind the hand-written cheese notes and the wine-bottle label. I called the restaurant to thank them again for writing everything down as I forgot them in my hasty departure, when the most miraculous thing happened…
"Where are you staying this evening," the gentleman asked.
"At the Clift Hotel," I replied.
"Well that is on my way home, if you tell me your room number, I'll be happy to drop them off with the concierge," he offered.
Absolutely floored at such a level of service, I thanked them profusely and headed off to sleep before my early morning flight back east. Sure enough, when I woke up this morning, both the wine label and the cheese notes were slipped under my door, awaiting my rising.
Now, that is truly outstanding service!
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