Manresa and other French restaurant questions
DH and I have a reservation at Manresa in a few weeks. I've only had French food in Paris so I'm not sure how it works here...please help with some questions:
Better half doesn't eat raw food or seafood (besides fish) - would a tasting menu be "wasted" on him?
How do the portion sizes compare, do menus with more courses have smaller portions? I don't want to be overstuffed on a Thursday night!
What dishes do you recommend?
We're not big on wine, is it a faux pas not drinking with each course?
MonkeyHammy
May 16, 2005 07:32PM
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I've had a couple of the best meals of my life there. I've done both the chef's tasting menu and a 4 course menu. It's not so much French as it is Spanish/French/Californian taste/texture/inventive. If you're looking for purely classical French I would recommend Le Papillon....
If you have the bucks and like inventive, do the full tasting....but it will leave you full.
If you go the "a la carte" route, 3 courses is plenty...I did 4 and left over full.
You'll both need to order the chef's tasting menu...it's kinda an all or nothing there...more to do the the timing than anything else. They've been very responsive to requests ahead of time...Just let them know, no raw food. The kitchen is inventive and creative enough to follow...although the egg amuse is out of the world! It's softly poached...is that considered raw?
If you do the regular menu, don't miss the onion soup...My husband ordered that and I still dream of the one spoonful he agreed to share...sigh.
You'll have a great time! Be sure to post back!
Erin
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I have also eaten there a number of times and would recommend against the chef's tasting if hubby doesn't eat fish. Of the 22 to 29 courses I have had on four different occasions, easily a third to a half of them were fish-based. Not that the kitchen couldn't do a whole tasting that has no fish, but if you go that route, I would advise calling ahead of time to notify the kitchen. Forcing them to make up an entire tasting menu that evening with no fish courses could provde unwise.
Alternately, ordering of the menu could prove just as enlightening and exceptional.
oh yeah -- and it certainly ain't French.
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I had one of the greatest meals in the Bay Area at Manresa last Summer. Its definitely not French-at all to me.
I liked it in the same way I liked Sensi in Bellagio, Las Vegas.
The menu is a surprise and the quality startles you. Both places totally surprised me-which is a fantastic feeling when its a surprise that you REALLY like. And its not a common "Ha Ha I found twenty-bucks!" or "Ha Ha I took the afternoon off and drank wine!" but a feeling about you totally liking your food.
yeah.
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more info
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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