Bitter – Charlie what are you doing to our taste-buds? Who would opt for an entire dining experience that is centered around ‘bitter’ as in the adjective of having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste, like that of quinine. I guess we would and it was a delightful surprise and so unexpected. Bravo. Well done.
OK I lost the menu, so I can’t recall everything that we devoured in detail …. so past the intro course … we start to get a sense for the theme of the meal …
…. we start to get into the heavy stuff like milkfed poularde [chicken] with braised rhubarb & cilantro loved the combo of brightness here. The steamed halibut with spot prawn and crispy hominy was a hit at our table, especially the crispy hominy, the wait staff must have heard us going on and on about it as they brought out a bowl of crispy hominy for us.
There were actually 3 dessert offerings, one was consumed before I could snap it with my camera… I really loved the chocolate thingy with the popcorn and corn foamy stuff and the corn sprig wish I could have another now actually. There was some campari jello in their somewhere too. We really enjoyed every bitter bite to this meal, it truly was unique and well executed.
Now onto the decor, really that was distasteful, time to hire an interior designer or start doing dinner in the dark with blind folds, and some of the plates, well maybe a garage sale is in order. Other than that we loved it, and the service was fantastic and the servers fun and interactive.
We have eaten at some amazing places all over the world, however I had never got around to eating at the world-renowned Charlie Trotter’s and it is right in our own backyard. Thanks to some VERY generous friends they provided me with a gift certificate as a 40th Birthday Gift so that I could finally get there to check it out for myself. Thanks guys it was a wonderful night.
