Levende East, Oakland
Broke my routine of dining at Tamarindo/B Restaurant last night & went to Levende East instead for the first time, and was promptly rewarded by a truly great meal (thanks for your recommendation, daveena!)
Started off with the roasted beet salad (3 types of beets: gold, red & chiogga) served with pecan-crusted goat cheese, haricot vert & mizuna. Simply LOVED the maple-mustard vinaigrette sauce.
The other starter, Maine lobster & shrimp cake, was a bit too "springy" for my taste, although the accompanying roasted corn with jalapeno/lemon vinaigrette & lobster nage was tasty enough to eat on its own.
Entree was roasted California pheasant breast, with maple baby carrots & green beans, with blackberry/rosemary sauce, I ordered it medium & it was perfectly-timed. The accompanying pair of porcini aroncini was a very pleasant bonus indeed.
Service was very warm & friendly (much appreciated on a cold, wet day).
By klyeoh
on Jan 9, 2008 10:29 AM
View »
Mmmm ... that beet salad sounds great. Thanks for the update.
-----
Levende East
827 Washington St., Oakland, CA 94607
Permalink | Reply
If roasted beets are your thing, Gregoire has an excellent roasted beet sandwhich in lavash on their lunch menu this month.
The one experience I had at Levende East was not a good one. Indifferent service, generic burger, meh fries - but that was back when they had just opened, perhaps it's time to try again.
It's tough to avoid getting sucked into Cafe 817, or even B, when I'm in the area though.
Permalink | Reply
Had lunch soon after they opened, it was okay, not friendly or especially tasty. Had dinner on Monday, it was really good. Lobster bisque was poured over a crouton with a round of lobster meat. Foie gras was a terrine, not the advertised torchon, nice jam. Lobster tail was a bit small, a bit overcooked, served with Jalapeno-cheddar biscuits (too spicy) and the corn salad with lemongrass. Filet Mignon was perfectly cooked medium rare, with gouda custard potatoes and asparagus. Nice treatment. Dessert was caramel bread pudding. Too smooth a texture, but decent flavor. Mojito and Rhapsody cocktails were good. Wine was small pours, at perfect temperatures. Coffee okay. Service very slow. We were there for three hours when the room had six tables seated. The busboy and runner were more helpful and attentive than the server. Ordering was slow, and getting anything else took forever. The busboy brought the wine list, and eventually the waiter, so we could order wine. The hostess eventually brought the dessert menu. We would have left after the mains, but I wanted dessert and figured it would take as long to get the check as order more food.
Permalink | Reply
The Chron reports that District will open a second branch in the space.
Permalink | Reply