|
Michael Mina
The
Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
The Arthur Hungry Review:
March 10, 2005
 Now
this post is gonna be a real treat. I was lucky enough to go to the
acclaimed Michael Mina with my dad and Geoff. Michael Mina has a very
strong pedigree, with a history that includes Aqua and Charles Nob Hill
(but also the ill-fated Redwood Park). The Aqua empire has spread quite
significantly, with major projects going on at the Bellagio and MGM
Grand in Las Vegas as well. Michael Mina is Mina's new flagship, right
at the heart of Union Square in the St. Francis Hotel, and is probably
the hottest restaurant opening of 2004. Geoff was a bit excited for this
meal because he apparently saw a Food Network special back home about
the construction of this place. The restaurant is in the hotel lobby, up
some stairs in a massive, open-air space. The decor is clean and simple,
with huge columns rising up to the ceiling. The result is a dining room
that is at once professional (even formal) but at the same time
comforting and relaxed. Simply put - the place looks great.
The place has a few options for ordering. You can get a $78 three-course
meal, which is deceiving because each course takes an ingredient and
serves it in a multitude of different ways (as many as six!). There are
also two $120 seven-course tasting menu options - one is a seasonal
tasting menu, while the other is Michael's classic menu, which includes
many of the dishes that made Mina famous. I chose the classic menu.
Ossetra caviar, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, egg,
fried potato cake
This was the freebie opener. My
dad and Geoff, who both got the seasonal tasting, got a slightly different
caviar based dish. This thing was delicious. I've never particularly loved
caviar, but in this dish it was perfect, a great combination with the salmon and
the potato cake. I thought it was a little funny to combine caviar with
something as simple as a hash brown, but I love hash browns, and it turns out
they're a perfect starch to soak up the saltiness of the caviar and the salmon.
It was also pretty decently sized - perhaps too big to be considered an amuse
bouche!
ahi tuna tartare, scotch bonnet peppers,
sesame oil
Tuna tartare seems pretty much ubiquitous nowadays, but I think
Mina deserves credit for popularizing the dish at Aqua - it's still the
restaurant's specialty. Michael Mina's tuna tartare is mixed at the table as it
should be, and as delicious as I remember it at Aqua. I think the thing that
really makes this tartare is the use of scotch bonnet (aka habanero), which
gives the tuna a legitimate kick that is not found in any other version I've
tried.
lobster pot pie, brandied lobster cream, seasonal vegetables
I wish I could have gotten a picture of this as it was being
served. It came out still in the pot, with the pie pastry still covering it. The
waiter served it by peeling the pie (almost like a puff pastry) off, putting it
on the plate, then carefully placing the ingredients and pouring the sauce over
it all. As a result the pie part is kind of buried, but believe me it's there,
under the lobster. And boy was it delicious - tender lobster, flaky pie, and a
mouthwatering sauce. It was almost like an extremely rich lobster bisque. As you
have probably guessed, I soaked up every last drop with my bread.
miso
glazed sea bass in consommé, shiitake, bok choy,
scallop dumpling
I'm often a bit weary about these Asian-style Western dishes,
but this one was excellent. The fish was cooked perfectly and melted in my
mouth. Neither the soy nor the miso were overpowering. The scallop dumpling was
creative and delicious, though I admit the skin was not as good as a great
Chinese dumpling's can be.
roasted foie gras,
Maui gold pineapple, young ginger
The menu listed just the roasted foie gras, but there was also a
torchon which you can see at the back. Both were good, but I preferred the hot
one. It had a nice subtle glaze, and didn't have the big chunks of overly sweet
candied fruit that foie gras always seems to come with. The brioche was nice as
well.
pan fried poussin, truffled macaroni
and cheese
By far, the lowlight of the meal. My dad, also underwhelmed by
his poultry course, played devil's advocate and argued that poultry is often the
hardest course to make "special" so to speak. My poussin was just okay, but I
remember a few bites of it being a little dry. The macaroni and cheese had too
much cheese and sauce going on to really get a good taste of truffle. The only
disappointing dish of the night. The veggies on the side (I think that's
broccolini!) were crisp and delicious.
steak Rossini, seared foie gras, pinot noir sauce
The steak course almost made me
order the seasonal tasting – their version had some kind of Kobe rib roast that sounded great. But I was
reassured by the presence of the seared foie gras and soldiered on. This dish,
though not quite as good as the Kobe version across the table, was still
wonderful. The sauce was a great complement, perhaps even more so to the foie
gras than to the steak. The side was a sort of potato au gratin, and very yummy.
banana tarte tatin, caramel sauce, cinnamon ice cream
Whatever points the classic menu lost to the seasonal one on the
steak course, they were made up with dessert. This banana tarte tatin really hit
on all cylinders. The tarte was smooth, rich, and not too sweet. The intense
banana flavor matched with the subtle cinnamon ice cream was a perfect
combination. In other words, I really, really liked this dessert.
milk
chocolate bon bons with espresso ice cream, dark
chocolate bon bons with raspberry sorbet
From what I understand, every meal
at Michael Mina ends with the presentation of these bon bons in 2 flavors. They
were both delicious and refreshing... I just wish I had a box of them in my
freezer. The presentation was delightful.
Overall, our meal at Michael Mina was fabulous, even despite high expectations
going in. Only the poussin wasn't extremely good (that doesn't mean it was bad -
just decent), and I'll let them slide on 1 out of 9 items. The service was
impeccably professional, and not the least bit pretentious or snotty, especially
given that Geoff and I were proabbly by far the two youngest people in the whole
restaurant. Also note that my shoddy photography does not do justice to the
presentation of the dishes - everything looked as beautiful as it tasted. Some
of the dishes from the regular 3 course tasting that we saw floating around the
room looked even more impressive. Mina apparently spent a significant amount of
time designing china and plates and whatnot, and you can tell some of them are
custom-made specifically for certain things on the menu. My dad thinks Michael
Mina is now the place to be in SF proper for high-end fancy dining, and from
what I've tried I think I can agree.
© 2005 Arthur Che. Used by
permission. All rights reserved. Arthur Hungry "eating one meal at a time"
www.arthurhungry.com
____________
|
