584312 Thu Jan 01 15:00:57 -0800 2009 0 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4288211 We last went to Manresa for a special occasion in September and were wowed at how much the service and wine list had improved over the years - plus the food is as amazing, or even more so, than ever. This visit elevated it to our #1 celebration place, so we went back earlier in the week for another special occasion. The "Into the vegetable garden..." dish remains the standout here - the most memorable dish, and the one most special and local to both the chef and the Silicon Valley locale. It was great to compare the September and December versions. We've been having a lot of foggy days lately, so the garden had a lot of fog thanks to a vegetable juice foam. This not only looked great but lightly enhanced the flavors of whatever it touched. Some things stayed the same - the dirt from roasted chicory and whatnot is always a highlight - and others differed. As you would expect, there were more root vegetables this time of year. But with our year-round growing season there's always going to be a wide variety of things happening in this dish. It is really rare for me to remember a vegetable dish over a meat dish or dessert, but I think this is the one real "must have" dish on a visit to Manresa. I'm looking forward to trying renditions in spring and summer as well! We both went with the four-course meal, which as usual started off with three amuses. This time we had a mustard green beignet, a foie gras broccoli royale, and the ever-popular Arpege egg, which would probably cause a riot if it ever were removed! The foie gras broccoli royale was a layered dish like the egg, mixing a broccoli liquid with pieces of foie gras. It seemed an unlikely combination at first, but Manresa knows what it is doing with these dishes and it was exquisite. Our first courses were the aforementioned vegetable garden and a sweet onion and toasted brioche soup with egg and white pepper. The soup was another hallmark of an out-of-the-ordinary combination of flavors into a remarkable whole. Second courses were medai (butterfish) with black sesame vinaigrette, salsify and onion with sea urchin, and winter vegetables in exotic spice. The winter vegetables were a cousin to the vegetable garden dish, so I had the garden while my wife had the winter vegetables. I am not a big sea urchin fan when it comes to sushi, but here it was used in a sauce that served as an accent rather than the star ingredient. Butterfish is one of my favorite fishes, so the combination of the great fish with the two unusual and complimentary sauces of black sesame and sea urchin was magical. For our meat dishes we had roast squab with walnut fondant, endive, and meyer lemon, plus a rack of veal, slowly roasted, with caramelized sunchokes with fall fruits (like some wonderfully marinated comice pear). The squab was one of the best renditions I have ever had. The squab flavor on its own was so pure, rich, and deep, which you could then accent at various times with the walnut or meyer lemon components. First place is probably still the squab stuffed with foie gras and truffles at Le Grand Vefour - this is about as far away from that as you can get in a fancy squab dish, but oh so delicious. The rack of veal, served off the bone, was similarly wonderful - great meat tastes with wonderful supporting flavors in the sunchokes and fruits. Desserts were meyer lemon cake with ricotta mousse, accompanied by dried apricot sorbet, honey souillion and almond praline, and a brown sugar custard and bananas with salted butter ice cream, mini-profiteroles, and candied pecans. They both tasted like you would expect from the descriptions - wonderful dessert combinations that provided a variety of sweet tastes without overwhelming richness. Plus there was the armagnac chocolate truffle accompanying the check along with the yummy salted caramels as you walk out the door. We had a half bottle of Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with dinner. Manresa has some of the best tea service in the USA with a wonderful assortment of whole tea pods. Last time I had the jasmine pearl green tea, so this time I had one of the flowering white teas which was just exquisite. I had led a sheltered tea life before seeing and tasting flowering teas in our trip to China! There are several cuisines - most notably Italian - where we have to travel north from Silicon Valley to get really top-notch food. It is such a joy to have a world-class restaurant like Manresa so close to us, with its distinctive only-in-Northern California approach together with the clear expression of David Kinch's culinary personality. Places like Manresa, Chez Panisse, and the Ritz will never be confused with each other, but each offer that magical combination of local Californian flavor with an inimitable culinary personality. (At least I hope Chez Panisse and the Ritz still do - it's been way too long since we've visited them!) Michael Thu Jan 01 15:00:57 -0800 2009 10707 mdg