Fleur de lys - recent visits?
Has anyone been to Fleur de lys lately that can report back? I will likely be staying close to there in August and had it on my list of considerations.
I am looking at restaurants in that area of the city (or easy to get to on public transportation) at that price point (or around $30-$40 mains for a la cartes) that have both good mains and desserts and I thought it might fit the bill.
Of course, I will need a whole variety of restaurants and price points to fill the week, but this is my starting point.
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We were at Fleur late last year and Keller was NOT in the kitchen. The food was well below its usual standards, and desserts were a disaster - beautiful to look at with absolutely no taste. That included the chocolate, which is a (negatively) amazing feat to accomplish.
A week later we went to La Folie and were blown away. The food is more generous - especially the meat entrees, which can be massive (not always a good thing, if you're trying to get through five courses) - and Passot is frankly a better chef, IMHO.
Our other love in SF is David Bazirgan's cooking at Fifth Floor @Hotel Palomar, near Moscone Center. The feeling is much like Fleur but the cooking is consistently brilliant, intensely personal. Lovely quiet dining room, excellent service. La Folie is a little more old fashioned in feeling, in comparison.
We have eaten at all three restaurants multiple times. Fleur was one of my favorites for thirty years, but not after that disappointing dinner. Boulevard, also, which was my greatest love, fell off a cliff when Ravi Kapur left and I wouldn't waste my time there any longer. I once calculated I had eaten at Boulevard over 70x ever since they opened 18 yrs ago, since I used to work a block away.
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After not having been there for many years, and having heard some negative reports within the last couple of years, we went about three weeks ago and were definitely not disappointed. The food, service and ambience were all just as good as we remembered from earlier visits years ago. My wife and I both chose three courses: After two complementary amuse bouche, I had the foie gras appetizer which was outstanding, very rich and filling. I asked the server to select a fish course for my main and she chose the swordfish with a Basquaise sauce--also outstanding. I had the chocolate dessert which was wonderful. We were then served assorted chocolates and petit fours and were given a box containing a breakfast pastry to take home. I think it is one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the City and it has a great wine list and a very friendly and knowledgeable sommelier. It was a weekday night and the place was full by the time we finished our early dinner. Highly recommended!
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re: bobpantzer
I ended up going there at the beginning of August and it was a fantastic meal. I also had the swordfish dish and the sauce with it was one of the two best sauces I have ever had (the other was actually a duck sauce on duck pasta at Perbacco later that week, so it was a good sauce week).
All of the courses I had were great, including the bread they offer. I liked the apricot almond bread te most.
After our desserts, we also got additional assorted desserts, which included a caramel tart, madeleines and chocolate dipping sauce, macarons, a truffle, a berry mousse cake, and much (much) more.
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