Thread: Manresa (bay area) - my favorite restaurant in the country

(L4P gets this about 2 months before my blog)

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Manresa is the best restaurant in the country - so that was where i celebrated my birthday last week.

If you watch Iron Chef, you saw the chef, David Kinch, beat Bobby Flay a few weeks ago. Not that is terribly difficult, but you got to see the care and thought that goes into his dishes - and he was just cooking cabbage!

Full menu from the other night is below, with photos.

Star of the night? The goat, curds, and whey - astonishing meat dish. The goat was braised and there was something magical going on between the texture of the goat and curds and whey. (This is significant, to me anyways, because I generally dislike braised meat.)

The cabbage and caviar did not appear on Iron Chef but it was also a winner. It was the least appetizing dish when it came out (maybe the poor lighting) - somehow, the picture below turned out great and looks just as delicious as it was in real life.

The bone marrow sauce in the sea bream was also quite special, and i look forward to seeing it in more dishes.

The Into the Garden dish is his trademark, sourced from his own garden in the morning, and it evolves through the seasons - you haven't had a salad til you tried this.

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Petit fours "red pepper - black olive"

Garden beignets, vinegar powder

Parmesan churro and crispy kale


Seaweed grissini, homemade lardo

Foie with smoked bread, ginger lime


Split pea royale "St Germain"



Kin-medai, sashimi style, with olive oil and chives



Buckwheat noodles, bottarga, and toasted seeds



Shellfish, a tapenade of toasted seaweed with yuzu-sea salt snow, buckwheat honey


Cabbage and caviar



Spot prawns, stewed onion, sorrel and corriander



Into the vegetable garden...





Root vegetable risotto without rice



A spring tidal pool - Uni and abalone



Sea bream, bone marrow and vegetable tears



Suckling kid goat, curds and whey



Spring lamb, slowly roasted with leeks, anchovy



Cheeses, refined and perfectly mature

Exotic citrus with honey and spices

New Orleans...

Petit-fours "strawberry-chocolate"

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My highest recommendation when you are in the Bay Area, particularly Silicon Valley, and want the finest dining option.

- chuck

thanks for the review Chuck..

gotta take wifey there

man that looks good. Thanks for the write up Chuck.

It all looks incredible.

mmmm.....your food posts are the best

alex911s - you should score some brownie points doing that

mexicoblue - when you finally make it out here, you know where we're going


- chuck

your experience looks 100x better than mine! I must go back

Chuck,

Phenomenal review/pics per usual. I am upset that:

1. I missed your B-day, Happy Belated!
2. We will not be partaking next weekend.

I suppose it's just an excuse to go back.

I am going back to the IRON CHEF version May 24!

1. Happy Bday buddy
2. Sweet pics and write up as always
3. Care to share the cost of all this?
4. Was all that JUST YOUR MEAL? or more than one person?
5. When i visit the Bay lets go there!!!!