Spoon & Stable - October 12, 2015
If you’ve seen my Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook accounts on a few Sundays you’ve probably noticed that I’m a fan of Spoon & Stable’s brunch. The cocktail program is great, the bartenders and staff very friendly, and the food? It’s great, the reason to go and go back.
Getting there for dinner is a little bit different. As a solo diner, I’m totally cool going to brunch or lunch alone and eating at the bar. Dinner on the other hand is a different beast in a restaurant like Spoon & Stable. Like La Belle Vie, which I’ll be posting about soon, it’s a memory restaurant. People go there for dinner to celebrate birthdays & anniversaries, to woo, to make memories, dining alone in the dining room proper with that going on around can be a little daunting. So I gravitate to the bars and edges generally. It works.
This time I had a dining companion, and they, like myself, enjoy taking pictures of food and seeing a wide variety of dishes as they come out the kitchen. Luckily, Spoon & Stable has a very good set up for this. Normally covered with a spread of some of Pastry Chef Diane Yang’s amazing pastries and incomparable crepe cake, there is a row of low bar seats that abut a beautiful single tree bar top, and if you sit in the far left seat you get to watch as every dish that is made for service is finished and sent out across the pass.
So, back in mid-August I made a reservation for mid-October that would work with my companion’s work and school schedules and specifically requested the far left seats of the aforementioned bar. Having witnessed the magic of the pass from the far left seat, I wanted to make sure my friend was seated there and got to experience it themselves.
Black Truffle Arancini with Fontina Cheese Sauce: A staple on their bar menu and occasionally served as an impromptu amuse in the dining room, these are always good. The rice is perfectly cooked to just past al dente, and the truffles pair really well with the fontina.
Roasted Baby Beets with goat’s milk yogurt, hickory nuts, shaved fennel, and saba vinaigrette: Subtle herbaceous anise pairs well with a light earthiness of young beets accented by the tartness of the goat cheese, the nuts brought a great texture and needed fat.
Epi Baguette with butter: I have a confession, the first time I dined at Spoon & Stable I HATED the bread. This was back in January, I’d just done a solid year of baking, even getting really good at sourdough in a 550 F oven, and was getting ready to go to Tartine in San Francisco the next month. It was flat, tough, and yeah. I’m very glad to say that I now love this bread - I was sad when it went off the brunch menu. It’s now crusty, salty, and has an amazing crumb, great without butter, but like most things, better with.
Farro Cavatelli with goat goulash, parmesan flan, and garlic-infused breadcrumbs: Totally solid. Goat is becoming one of my proteins of choice and this preparation really reinforces that choice. The textures and flavors on this are quite amazing.
This is just a picture I took of the lights shining through the Nebbiolo I was drinking that reminded me of the Eye of Sauron.
Autumn Vegetable Salad with spelt berries, figs, pecans, and buttermilk dressing: Great, the spelt berries tossed in dressing were a favorite of myself and my dining companion. All the flavors and textures worked really well.
Seared Halibut with matsutake mushrooms, napa cabbage, apples, and chive beurre blanc: This was a nice surprise. Great flaky texture and fresh flavors, paired with my favorite mushroom. The small disc of apple provided a nice tartness that paired with the acidity and fat of the beurre blanc.
Tamarind Glazed Pork Chop with delicata squash, peanuts, endive and toasted basmati rice: This was my favorite savory dish of the night. That being said, the crispy rice on the greens was a discordant combination of textures. The pork chop though? Bone-in and perfectly cooked to just under medium with lots of moisture still present, the sugars in the glaze lent to an amazing char that complemented the meat perfectly.
Smoked Wild Mushrooms with salsa verde: We both enjoy mushrooms so couldn’t pass these up. They were very good, the cheese added some nice salt and amped up the umami to amazing levels.
Cotton Candy: Simple and perfectly sweet.
Pumpkin Custard with apple cider sherbet, candied pepitas, and brown butter: If the pumpkin spice latte and apple cider crazes of fall were taken to their logical, beautiful, and delicious extremes, it would probably resemble this dish. So many textures, flavors, and temperatures this isn’t a dessert you settle for, it’s a great experience.
Manjari Chocolate Panna Cotta with toasted brioche ice cream, and milk espuma: Rich, chocolatey, malty, delicious.
Chocolate Banana Financier with milk chocolate ice cream, popped sorghum, and peanuts: Another adventure of textures and flavors. This was probably my favorite dessert. Rich chocolate and banana flavors. Playful popped sorghum and peanuts were a great visual, texture, and flavor combination.
Toasted Coconut Parfait with coffee granita, pears, and coconut mochi: This is an interesting one. Great combination of textures and techniques. Eating this from the top down is like a longitudinal voyage - pears lead south to coconut which points even further south to coffee. Very good.
Petit fours or mignardises of fruit gelee, pistachio biscotti, and macaron: A lovely parting gift. Small, tasty, and my favorite, a variety of textures.
I think we both enjoyed a great evening of food and service. A lot of people seem to go in to Spoon & Stable for dinner with a certain expectation and don’t quite get satisfied the first time, but if convinced to try again, a switch is flipped and diners seem to get it. I know what that’s like, because I was one of them.
Gavin, Diane, Tony, and everybody else are continuing to do some of the best food, in one of the most beautiful spaces, in town. I’ll definitely be back.