Feast Blog

I know I live in a part of the world where holistic and healthy cuisine has a reputation of prevalence (although a Vegan friend in Southern California touts that is a better locale for such cuisine). I’ve walked by Cafe Gratitude a number of times and I finally availed myself of a visit during a lazy, shockingly warm Saturday afternoon. Less than half-full, I was having my first Gratitude experience. The room is inviting and full of communal tables, with the walls decoratively painted with life-firming affirmations.

Oh wait, those positive affirmations bleed over to the menu and every dish is a precursor to a saccharine world of Deepak Chopra-like mind/body/spiritual experience. For example, “I AM SUCCULENT” is a sweet, sour and savory juice made of grapefruit, apple, and celery garnished with a mint sprig. “I AM GRACEFUL” is an Indian biryaki bowl of Bhutanese red rice or quinoa tossed with fresh vegetables, basil, cilantro, mint and cashews all served with a coconut-curry sauce. Quite frankly, negotiating the extraneous words on the menu was a tad annoying. Just tell me the frigg’n ingredients so help me quell my hunger.

Overwhelmed with the menu, the Stepford-waiter arrived to announce the daily specials. All smiles and charm, I managed to edit out whatever aphorism was being applied to the actual dish and ordered whatever special had pesto included in the listed ingredients. An iced latté as well, please. Ooops — I forgot — this place is vegan and my much-needed requisite caffeine fix was to be made with some soy-based milk variation. I’m sorry; I like my dairy products the way they were intended — from a cow. Oh well.

The different waiter came back with my dish, “YOU ARE FABULOUS.” Huh? I am? Oh wait, that was the silly name given to what I wanted for lunch. Whatever. I just want to eat. What I had ordered was a pseudo-pasta made from shredded zucchini and studded with quinoa. “Meatballs” were made from tempeh and were definitely the most flavorful part of the dish, almost too spicy compared to the rest of the concoction which had nary a hint of classically-flavored pesto. I could detect no basil or garlic or pinenuts whatsoever. But maybe I had heard the waiter incorrectly through that flurry of goodwill falderal. And there was some salad. Ho-Hum.

Halfway through my meal, I was full enough and anxious to leave (and wanting a real latté) so I asked for my bill and a take-home box. The box arrived promptly, but ten minutes later, no bill had materialized. Since I had no idea how much the special actually cost — but remembering how expensive everything else was on the bill — I guessed my dish to cost in the $17 range. Other coffee-based drinks were astronomically priced in the $5.00 range so I knew I owed somewhere north of $20. Sadly for me, I had no small change so I grudgingly laid $30 on the table and walked out, with no acknowledgment from any other the servers that I had paid or not or was expecting change.

I find Café Gratitude to be pretentious, full of themselves, and shockingly mediocre as far as food quality is concerned. And I actually like vegan food. But not at these prices and not in this atmosphere. The next time someone tells me that I’m Fabulous, I want a heartfelt kiss to accompany it, not a lifeless attempt at lunch.

I repeatedly said that for me, going to Ubuntu is like going to church; my spirit is awakened, wounds in the soul are healed, and exaltation is experienced. I went in yesterday on the tail end of a very bad day and left with a sense of spiritual renewal. It is quite frankly, my favorite restaurant in the world and with the exception of one course (the carta de musica), every single dish that was served was brand new to me so my sense of wonder at the artistry coming from Jeremy and Deannie Fox continues to appreciate. As usual, I called ahead to pre-order a tasting menu (not yet available on a day-to-day basis, I understand, but something planned for the future). So what was served may not be on the standard menu…  My biggest regret is that my new camera dysfunctioned by the fourth course. Hopefully the guest I was dining with will give me a link to his photos since I have so few. When we arrived, I ordered a bottle 2007 Seps Estate Napa Valley Viognier for the first part of the meal. For the latter part, I brought with us a bottle of 1978 Château Beychevelle, Saint Julien. The Viognier proved a perfect pairing for the “cold” dishes and by the time our hot dishes arrived, the age and softness of the Beychevelle worked excellently as well.

1. Cool ‘Athena’ MELON and LEMONGRAS purée with whipped coconut milk, ‘diva’ CUCUMBER, basil seed “caviar.” A year ago I had the slice of melon which had been brûléed in a different, watermelon-based soup. Now it was paired with a creamier coconut milk soup but heightened with the basil seed caviar and cool, crisp cucumber. A beautiful start.

Immediately after our soup, our utensils were whisked away and we were told the next few courses were to be dined upon with our fingers.

2. Crunchy RADISHES, crème fraîche with nori, mustard-banyuls, HONG VIT, and black salt. Served on a hunk of sheet rock, the radishes were laid out atop the layer of decadently-scented crème fraîche. We had great fun scooping up the dressing with the radishes and when the vegetables were gone, scooping up the dressing with chunks of bread.

3. PADRONS with flowering ‘banana’ MINT, chickpeas in Napa Smith ale, sauce romesco, smoked maldon. This was a two-part dish; sweet fried peppers were topped with fritters of clustered, fried chickpeas. Served alongside was the Romesco sauce. I’m not sure which were enjoyed more, the pure essence of the padron peppers or the batter-encasing chickpeas.

4. Carta de Musica with virtually the entire SUMMER GARDEN, barely dressed with ’round pond’ olive oil, lemon and sea salt, truffled pecorino. Eating this without utensils was a new experience; more visceral and personal. Instead of the usual long, silvers of Pecorino cheese, now the slivers were rolled up into rounds and it made it easier to scoop up the bounty of fresh vegetables.

5. A simple slice of ‘gem’ avocado, ‘cape’ GOOSEBERRY, local sea salt, cast-iron bread. A whole version of this avocado was served so that we could see just how monstrously huge it was and our charming waitress delivered it as “Av-foie-cado” has it has the highest fat content of any other type of avocado. Simply served, we were given large slices served next to a simple Cape Gooseberry and preserves. We would take a chunk of the avocado and spread it on the warm, salty flat bread which was served in a warm, cast-iron skillet (yes, at this point we were given our utensils back!). I was reminded of an anecdote where someone was served a simple peach as a dessert at Chez Panisse and now understand how the brilliant fresh taste of a single ingredient can be so impressive.

6. ‘Forono’ BEETS baked in a ROSE GERANIUM salt crust, ‘alpine’ STRAWBERRY, pistachio with soy milk, AMARANTH. Before this dish was served, the waitress brought out a Le Creuset cast iron skillet to show us the decorative smiley face that had been designed in the salt crust. When plated, we were each presented with quenelles of roasted beets, plated with the unctuous sauce and contrasted delightfully with the small, powerful strawberries.

7. ‘Oxheart’ CARROT mille feulle, NASTURTIUM panade, purée of peach and ‘noyau’, peppery NASTURTIUMS, ‘delfino’ CILANTRO. The ‘noyau’ was their version of a spicy mayonnaise. So much creamy goodness in this beautiful dish colored all with orange — from the carrots to the peaches. So rich, the nasturtium panade was an amazing complement to the richness of the carrots and peaches.

8. Chowder of barely formed BEANS & SUNFLOWER hearts, ‘luscious’ CORN, barigoule, TARRAGON, future sunflower seeds. I was getting full but this dish simply blew me away. A plate of of the beans and sunflower hearts was presented and the sauce was ladled tableside from yet another Le Creuset pot.

9. A ‘sunburst’ SQUASH, named “Merrick” by Chef Jeremy, with young COURGETTES scented with our vadouvan, BASIL. It was over this dish that the four of us dining bonded. Our server brought “Merrick” out to introduce us before he was prepared. Named after the Elephant Man, John Merrick, he was a mis-shapen squash of incomparable beauty and guile. Being one who names her creations, I had an affinity to Merrick and all that he stood for; Jeremy’s garden, the transmutation of the basic into the extraordinary, and the personalization of the intimacy of the ingredients. Once served, Merrick was plated alongside some miniature versions of himself, smaller courgettes and paper-thin slices of the squash, fried and served alongside the steak-like portion of Merrick. The vadouvan was the perfect choice to supplement the sweetness of Merrick with the well-integrated aspects of basil that did not over power.

10. Freshly-dug POTATOES, roasted then crushed, SHISO salt, garlic butter with lemon and miso, FICOIDE GLACIALE, smoked NETTLE. This was yet another dish that was shown to us before it was plated and served; three roasted potatoes, a Peruvian purple, a French fingerling, and a Rose (Klondike?) potato. Showed whole, they were trussed up with herbs but once served, were chunked alongside the ice plant and smoked nettle. Served as a dipping sauce was the miso butter. I had to fight the temptation to just dump the dipping sauce all over the potatos, but it was great to taste the flavors of the potato [i]au natural[/i]. I was getting full but these were so hard not to eat.

11. “French Onion Soup,” heirloom ALLIUMS, Deannie’s brioche, LEEK ash, “midnight moon.” I was fairly convinced at this point that I was going to burst, but the serving of miniature Staub pots with the aroma of the melted Midnight Moon cheese drew me in. Small roasted onion were hidden under generous slices of Deannie’s brioche which were topped with the melted cheese. There was only a hint of broth as the true joy of a French Onion Soup [i]is[/i] the cheesy crouton after all. They essentially did away with the complication of cutting through cheese toast that is on top of a bowl of soup by doing away with most of the soup and leaving all the rich oniony, cheesy goodness.

I have to emphasize the progression of dishes, from cool and light to hearty and satisfying was brilliant. At the beginning, one of my guests expressed concern about the small servings; he was worried that he would still be hungry, eating nothing but small plates of light vegetable dishes. By the time we were in the middle of the chowder, his fears were assuaged and I had to caution him that we still had a way to go.

——————

12. STRAWBERRY-hibiscus popsicles with ‘chocolate’ MINT. Served in a small shot glass, this was more of a clean, inviting palate cleanser. A juice with a bit of spritzer and yoghurt with the juice, small bites of tapioca were gems of strawberry flavor nestled on the bottom of the glass.

13. Stuffed SQUASH BLOSSOM fritters, stuffed with ‘santa rosa’ plum jam, NASTURTIUM ice cream, HONEYCOMB. The Fried Dough Ho in me was more than thrilled with this offering. The squash blossom was stuffed with jam, fried, and served on top of the ice cream. It was easier to go back to our earlier utensil-less fashion by scooping up the ice cream with the squash blossom and eating with with our hands.

14. Chocolate and BLACKBERRY soufflé with chocolate brittle and NASTURTIUM ice cream. Our server was downright giddy with the surprise ending as this was apparently a last-minute change to what had been planned for dessert. Perfect soufflés which were not too sweet were studded with fresh blackberries. I think the strength of this otherwise simple dessert was the fact that they were not overly sweet and the bites of fresh fruit were unexpected bites of richness. They were served with more of the nasturtium ice cream, a scatter of more berries, and sheets of chocolate brittle. But for me, it was all about the soufflé.