This week’s Photo Friday is coming to you one day early because I’ll be doing some behind-the-scenes tinkering with my site this weekend. Just in case it all explodes and I have to rebuild it from the ground up (cross your fingers that won’t happen), I wanted to make sure these photos got out a bit early since they are so yummy. (Besides, Thursday’s the new Friday. It is!) Without further ado … pretend it’s Friday!
Last weekend we went to Absinthe, the San Francisco restaurant where Top Chef alum Jamie Lauren is executive chef. We were a little early, so we walked around the neighborhood for a bit, and next door to the restaurant we saw Jamie herself — clearly dressed to go out with her friends — so we were a bit bummed that she wouldn’t actually be cooking the food.
But we need not have worried. Every single thing we ordered was absolutely scrumptious, beginning with the excellent rye manhattan I ordered (later, I had another). I took photos, but the light was very low (anybody have tips for taking photos in low light with an automatic camera while avoiding the blinding flash?). So I’ve attempted to enhance them a little, but let me assure you — the food tasted even better than it looks.
First, we ordered a plate of oysters. We chose three from Olympia, Washington, and three Marin Miyagi oysters from nearby Tomales Bay (they’re the bigger ones).
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| Click photos to enlarge |
For my main course, I ordered grilled scallops with sunchoke purée, slow-cooked artichokes, baby fennel, and wilted chard. Every single bite was unforgettable — frankly, my mouth is watering right now remembering the flavors!
Amy had saffron-and-cinnamon-braised lamb shank with Israeli cous cous, oil-cured black olives, fava greens, and Meyer-lemon gremolata. I tried it. It was fantastic (but I am still partial to my scallops).
For dessert, I ordered buttermilk panna cotta with meyer lemon gelee, huckleberry compote, and lemon thyme tuile. I just couldn’t resist ordering something with “gelee” in the name. It was creamy, cool and tart — perfect! And since it was served in a cocktail glass, I loved it even more.
Amy ordered the warm chocolate-banana tart with salted caramel sauce, malted banana ice cream and macadamia brittle. I took a photo of the chocolate tart itself, but it didn’t turn out too well (looked mostly like a lump of brown stuff), whereas the bananas looked positively luminous.
All in all, I adored the food at Absinthe, even though Jamie was not cooking! I would totally go back (again and again) just to eat those scallops, but I’m pretty sure I’d like to try everything else on the menu, too.
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{ 2 comments }
She is Top Scallop as fellow chef-testant Fabio nicknamed her. If you have the same camera I do there should be manual settings for dim light photos. Or a pre-setting for indoor lighting.
(http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/webcontent82.htm)
I went to Absinthe yesterday for dinner but they did not have any scallops
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