Lounge Dining @ Spruce

[ Originally published Jan 24, 2012.  Just moving to blog now. ]

"Let's go get a burger and fries at the bar" -> multi course meal at a Michelin starred restaurant, starting with foie gras 2 ways and ending with warm apple pie with cheddar ice cream and oatmeal stout caramel sauce.  Whoops!  To be fair, we were seated in the bar area and there were burgers and fries in the middle of it all ...

Spruce is a swanky old place. People in the main dining room were dressed up, and even in the bar area people looked very nice. I was certainly the least dressed person there. The bar area was lovely - a bunch of seats at the bar (not bar stools of course, nice padded huge chairs) and then some tables with couch-like seats. Service was a little off - we got bread before water, had to ask for menus, etc but overall was good. You could order anything off the full menu in addition to the bar menu. I liked the more laid back feeling of the bar area, while still getting bread service, petit fours, etc. It was a nice compromise of being at a fancy place and being comfortable.

We got several starters from the main menu, burgers, and dessert. It was all good, but the foie gras starter was the tastiest thing I've eaten so far this year. INCREDIBLE. Of course, that made everything else in the meal pale in comparison. I'd love to go back and try some of the entrees from the main menu as well.

See individual photos for comments on the food (not pictured are the slew of drinks my dining companions had, all of which were high quality and nicely done).

Cranberry bread.

Bread to start was a choice of cranberry bread or a warm sweet roll. The cranberry bread had nice tart chunks of cranberry in it, but was otherwise a little boring. The roll was warm, sweet, fluffy, and the better choice, particularly when paired with honey butter.

Regular butter, honey butter.

Of course, one type of butter isn't enough. Regular butter was fine, but honey butter was delicious, as honey butter is!

Arugula salad, bresaola, cornichons, mustard, raisin compote.  $7.

Arugula was crisp, fresh, and lightly dressed, mustard complimented the meat well, meat was flavorful, cornichons and raisin compote pretty forgettable.

Grilled bread (to go with charcuterie platter).

Kinda oily, not all that memorable.

Hudson Valley foie gras 2 ways (seared lobe, cold pate rolled in pistachio), Vadouvan waffle, and pear 3 ways (ramekin full of pear jelly, pear syrup poured over waffle, slices of asian pear).  $23.

ZOMG. ZOMG. ZOMG.

INCREDIBLE. Described on the menu as foie gras, waffles, and pears. Sounded interesting. Basically, think of a classic waffle, with the butter replaced with foie gras and the maple syrup replaced with pear syrup. It was an extravaganza of amazing flavors and components.

To start off, they pour pear syrup on top tableside. Sweet, subtle pear flavor. I appreciated that they didn't put too much on, but I wish they'd left the pot behind so we could add more.

In the ramekin is pear #2: pear jelly. This wasn't super flavorful, but did combine nicely with the foie gras.

Pear #3 was just some slices of asian pear. They were fine, but could have easily been left off the plate.

The waffle itself was well cooked, nice and crisp, with subtle vadouvan spicing. Better than the waffles you get at most brunch places.

The star of the plate is obviously the foie gras. The seared lobe was nice, smooth, creamy, flavorful. The cold preparation was even better (and I normally prefer hot seared foie gras over cold preparations). These truffle like balls were rolled in pistachio, and were super flavorful.

Most of these components were actually quite good on their own, but a bite of waffle, smothered in the cold foie, with some pear jelly or syrup ... AMAZING. The flavors and textures and concept just worked so well. Did I mention, ZOMG? ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG.

I'd go back for this in a heartbeat. How many trips can I make before July?

The Spruce burger and fries, with added gruyere and grilled onions. Served with tomato, lettuce, pickled onions, pickled cucumbers, ketchup, mustard on the side.  $16.

This is ostensibly why we were there, to finally try the Spruce burger. This burger has been #2 in the Burger Bonanza list for the past two years (http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/10-best-burgers-city-0), and it had remained elusive to us because it is only served in the bar, and during the burger crawl heyday, we always had too big of a group to go. Finally, we just 3 people, we could do it!

Lots of good options for adding to the burger: cheese choices were gruyere, cheddar, or blue. You could also add sauteed onions, sauteed mushrooms, a fried egg, seared foie gras, and a few other things I forget. I added gruyere and sauteed onions, one friend of course added the seared foie gras.

And good options for dressing it up yourself, on the side were tomato slices (mediocre at best, but I don't blame them, it isn't tomato season), nice crisp lettuce, pickled onions, and thin pickle strips. I loved the pickled stuff, and wish I hadn't added the sauteed onions to the burger, as the pickled things were plenty flavorful.

The burger itself was cooked really nicely, medium rare as the chef recommended. The beef had some decent flavor. The cheese was melted perfectly as well. The bun was an english muffin style (but a REAL english muffin, not a Thomas brand one). It soaked up the juices really nicely, but it was too buttery for me. With all of the other richness going on, I didn't want the extra greasiness there.

The fries were pretty forgettable, not bad, but not up to par with anything else we ate.

Served with ketchup and mustard only. In retrospect, I wish I'd asked for some aioli, I think I would have liked the burger and the fries much more that way, and most pictures I see on Yelp include it, so I know they have it.

Overall, certainly a solid burger, probably in the top 10 in the city, but not that memorable. However, I sorta blame the foie gras course, everything kinda pales in comparison to that.

Warm apple pie, white cheddar ice cream, cheddar cracker, candied apple, and oatmeal stout caramel sauce.  $10.

If you've been reading my posts, you know that I am a dessert-a-holic and that warm pie and ice cream is one of my favorite things. Thus, even though I was ridiculously stuffed at this point, we had to order dessert.

I grew up eating warm apple pie a la mode or warm apple pie with cheddar cheese melted on top. I always loved both preparations and could never decide how I wanted it more (ok, so I often had it with both melted cheddar AND ice cream). This dish sounded perfect - make the ice cream cheddar flavored!

The oatmeal stout caramel sauce was poured over the dish tableside. Again, I wish they'd left the pot with us so we could add more, as it was tasty and complimented the other components nicely.

The ice cream had a very subtle cheddar flavor, which I wanted to be stronger (perhaps because I wanted it to be more like the full chunk of melted cheddar cheese I was used to). The plating was cute, served in a cube shape, but that didn't really work, as I wanted the ice cream to be creamier/meltier. I would have let it sit and soften, but the pie was getting cold ...

Speaking of the pie, it was indeed served warm, although it could have been warmer as it lost its warmth pretty quickly. The pastry dough was nice, flavorful, and flaky. The filling was lightly spiced and the apples were cooked well. Overall, a decent pie.

The apple bits on top of the ice cream and on the plate didn't really seem to go with everything else.

The cheddar crisp was super flavorful and went VERY well with the pie.
A bite with the pie, the ice cream, the crisp, and some caramel sauce was really quite delightful!

One diner described this as everything you ever wanted a McDonald's Hot Apple Pie to be, but never was.

Cranberry financier, mango pate de fruit.

As if we weren't stuffed enough at this point, some sweets arrived with our bill.

The financier was moist, with nice tart cranberries in it. I liked how they bookended the meal with cranberries (in the bread to start and here as well). I felt such a sense of completeness :) The financier was fairly forgettable though.

The pate de fruit seemed not very sweet and I thought it was grapefruit, and I convinced a friend to try it, although he doesn't like sweets. Apparently my tastebuds were just being crazy, as he found it very sweet (which makes more sense, as it is mango and rolled in sugar!).

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Dinner @ Benu, a la carte

We recently discovered that Benu offers an a la carte menu during the week.  Prices are pretty standard for the neighborhood: appetizers ~$15, mains $20-40, and desserts $12.  This seemed like a great way to try out some of the food, but not do the full on extravaganza of the $180, 18 course menu they always offer.

The space is well designed.  To get to the entrance, you walk by the kitchen, which is surrounded by glass walls, and even has a viewing platform.  You also pass through a really nice garden area.  Inside is swanky yet comfortable.  The bathrooms were really nice, with both hooks and shelves for your personal belongings, the toilet paper end folded into a V after every use, and high quality paper-clothes.  Yes I know, it is just a bathroom, but I was particularly impressed with this one!

Service was good, polite.  Dishes were presented and cleared synchronized.  Waitstaff were knowledgeable about all of the components of the dishes.  I tried hard to order one dish from the tasting menu that I desperately wanted to try (the foie gras xaio long bao that everyone raves about and I really wanted a chance to have before July 1), but the waiter wouldn't budge.

I was really looking forward to this dinner, but it just didn't wow me.  It wasn't bad, but there was nothing memorable.  I'm not sure if my expectations were just high given that they have two Michelin stars and I've heard such great things about it (although, always about the full tasting menu).  Or maybe it was just the seasonal elements being quite boring, as it is hard to get excited about things like fennel and cauliflower.  Either way, it really failed to leave an impression.  One of my co-diners had been to Benu a few times before, always for the tasting, and had loved it then.  His impression was that the small bites concept just didn't scale up to full size portions very well, and I somewhat can understand that opinion.

The most memorable part of the night was not the food itself, but rather the way things looked.  The serving pieces, particularly those that overlapped with the tasting menu, were very impressive.  I'd heard that many of them were designed for the restaurant, and that was quite clear, as these were unique, clearly single-purpose, pieces.  The plating and creativity in the desserts was also impressive, even if I didn't love the food.

I wouldn't go back for any of the dishes we had, although I'm still interested in the tasting menu, as it has some signature dishes that are supposed to be great.

Cute little stone that was used for all silverware placement. 

Each diner had a stone on the table in front of them.  When silverware was changed out, it was placed onto the stone.  I really appreciated this, even though I know they clean their tables, I still always hate my silverware sitting on them!

One annoyance though: I'm right handed.  I was the leftmost person at the table.  All of our stones were on our right, but the waiter moved mine to the left, presumably so he could better reach it?  But this made it so that my silverware was always on the left.  I moved it back once or twice to the right, but he moved it back each time.  Everyone else had theirs on the right.  It made putting down and picking back up my silverware kinda uncomfortable.

This spoon was our first piece of silverware, to go with our amuse bouche, which I somehow don't have a photo of :(  It was a cold sesame tofu dumpling, with a green asparagus broth and green asparagus chunks, topped with a tiny little bachelor button.  It was very cute, but I didn't actually like the tofu much.  It was firm, with no real flavor of its own.  I didn't taste the sesame.  The asparagus on the other hand was bright, light, and flavorful.  But overall, not very interesting.

Buckwheat lavash, toasted nori, sesame seeds.

Instead of bread service, you get a lovely wooden box full of these crackers, standing up in little slits.  Excellent presentation, the serving-piece clearly designed for this purpose.

I thought they were absolutely delicious.  The buckwheat and sesame seeds gave them a hearty taste and the nori added a saltiness and further flavor.  They were super thin, and crispy yet pliable at the same time.  They were flavorful enough to be good on their own, but I would have liked something to dip them into.

Brut Rose, $22.

I wanted only a single glass of alcohol for the evening, and wanted something that would pair with all of my courses, so went for the brut rose.  I expected this to be sweeter than it was.  It was surprisingly bitter.  I didn't like it that much.

Foie gras steamed in sake,  fennel, green grape, sea grape, arugula.  $16.

Of course we had to order the foie gras to start!  This arrived without the broth, which was poured over it tableside.  They didn't do any other tableside presentations on the a la carte menu (at least, given what we ordered), and this didn't really seem necessary.  A nice touch I guess?

The foie gras was a really interesting consistency.  It was really creamy and incredibly smooth like a mousse, yet firm and not fluffy.  It had clearly been processed quite a bit, as you can probably tell from the photo.  The foie flavor was weaker than I expected, again, more like a mousse than a torchon or pure lobe.  I didn't taste the sake it had been steamed in.

It came with fennel in several preparations.  First was the light fennel and star anise broth, then there were very thin slices of shaved fennel bulb, and a few, very flavorful, sprigs of the frond.  Fennel seeds were featured in the accompanying bread.  This was my frist fennel and foie pairing, and I'm still just not sure what I think of it.  I'm used to a sweet component paired with foie, which fennel isn't.  It didn't not work, but it didn't particularly work either.  Fennel is just kinda ... boring.  The frond however was really intense, and a bite with that really had a flavor pop!

The sea grape and green grape were interesting from a texture and visual perspective, but I didn't think they did much for the dish.  I guess the green grape added a little sweetness.  I didn't see any arugula, as was listed on the menu.

At $16, this was a decent foie preparation, but I think there was less foie gras in here than it looks like, with more filler making it as creamy as it was.  This dish wasn't particularly memorable, and while I'd eat it again, I wouldn't go out of my way to order it.

Whole wheat fennel seed roll.

This was the roll that game with the foie gras.  It was served really nice and warm, perfect temperature. Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside.  Like the lavash crackers, it was really hearty tasting from the whole grains.  The fennel seed flavor was really, really strong.  I actually thought it was too strong and overpowering.  I enjoyed spreading some of the foie gras on the warm roll, as it would slightly melt into it like butter.  But so much better than butter.

Whole steamed bass with crispy skin, gai choy, turnip, mustard seed.  $32.

Hmm, where to start.  This dish was not really a success.

The turnip came as tiny little cubes.  Nothing much to say about it.

The gai choy was a fresh nice vegetable component.  It paired really well with the mustard sauce.

Speaking of the mustard sauce.  It was the downfall of this dish.  It was insanely strong and intense, and totally, completely overwhelmed the light flavored bass.  It was great with the greens, but just took over everything else.  A few bites with this, and I felt like my palette was blown.

And speaking of the bass, it was cooked decently I guess, just simply steamed, flaky, but really, really boring.  It had no flavor to speak of and there was just absolutely nothing noteworthy about it.

The crispy skin however, was amazing.  It was completely separated from the fish, lightly coated in a thin breading, and fried.  It was as crisp as can be.  Spicy.  Salty.  Like the best chip you've ever had in your life.  I couldn't get enough of it.  While the rest of this dish fell down pretty hard, the skin really almost made up for it, it was that fantastic.  It actually brings a smile to my face just thinking about it as I write this.

I wouldn't order this again, but I'd tell someone else to, and steal the skin when they weren't looking :)  For $32 though, this was a very reasonable dish, and although I really didn't care for it, quality-wise and component-wise, it is on par with many fish entrees at lesser establishments in the area.

Lobster glazed in cognac sauce, cauliflower, ramps, celery, pine nut.  $38.

The cauliflower came two ways: chunks and pureed.  The chunks were cooked well, left slightly al dente.  Good enough, but at the end of the day, just cauliflower.  I didn't think it paired that well with the lobster.  The puree was more interesting, as it reminded me of creamy mashed potatoes, and the cognac sauce was like a gravy with it.

The ramps were pickled, with a really awesome tartness from the vinegar that made your mouth pucker as you ate them.  They went well with the cauliflower.

The celery and pine nuts came in the form of a ragout.  This went really well with the cognac sauce.

Finally, the lobster.  There was a generous chunk of tail meat, two chunks of claw meat, and another piece that I think was also tail?  The largest piece was really quite chewy, and I didn't like it much at all.  The medium size piece was better, but still not that great.  The chunks of claw meat were tender and fantastic.

The cognac sauce was good, with a very intense cognac flavor.  If you don't like cognac, you would not like this dish at all.

Besides the claw meat, the only part of this I really liked was a spoonful of cauliflower puree, with some of the celery, and some pickled ramp, and of course, the cognac sauce.  Those were tasty bites, but certainly not $38 worthy bites.  I wouldn't order this again.

Black truffle bun.

This came with the lobster.  It was a warm, doughy bun, filled with lobster confit, served nice and warm.  I liked this.  The truffle flavor was very strong in the breading.  If it had been served on its own I think this would have needed more filling, as it wasn't that plentiful or flavorful.  In fact, I couldn't really tell what was inside of it, was guessing there was lobster but couldn't distinguish it, and had to ask the server.  This was sooo good with the cognac sauce however.  The truffle and cognac were a fantastic pairing.  My favorite bite of the evening (ok, perhaps tied with the crispy skin!) was a chunk of this bun, smothered with cauliflower puree and cognac sauce.  It reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner, where I often take a chunk of warm roll and load it up with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Really tasty.  Honestly, this dish would have been better without the lobster itself, as there were some good things going on here!

Lamill Decaf Coffee, milk, sugar. $5.

As is my standard practice these days, I asked how the decaf coffee was.  The server very strongly said it was good, so I went for it.  I love sweets and desserts, but I love them even more when paired with a nice bitter coffee!

This was indeed fairly complex for a decaf, with some real bitter quality to it.  However, it had a strange, almost chalky aftertaste that was a little unpleasant.  Served with it was steamed cream (I usually drink my coffee black, but I love it when they steam it!), raw sugar, and then, hidden under the wooden lid, some assorted other sweeteners in packets.  I was very amused that they hid those unsightly things! :)  Nice presentation all around, with wooden coasters and handless mugs.

Chocolate ganache,  peanut pudding, miso ice cream.  $14.

I have been staying away from ordering chocolate desserts in the evening these days as I've found them causing me problems with sleep (yes, my caffeine tolerance is that low these days ... long gone are my zillion shots of espresso per day days!), but this was on a bunch of lists as a top dessert, so I had to try it.

I had seen photos of this one before, so I knew what to expect, but it still was a sight to behold.  It was beautiful, well thought out and nicely composed, with a lot of contrasting textures, colors, and flavors, but it certainly looked better than it actually tasted.  Not that it was bad, but it just wasn't that good.  Chocolate and peanuts ... how do you go wrong with those???

First, what should have been the star: chocolate!  The chocolate ganache came in the form of some little logs.  Soft, creamy, but it was only ok.  I was a little surprised, as I expected more flavor intensity from the ganache.  The next chocolate component was the chocolate sponge cake.  It was a little dry, again, not very chocolatey, and just not that interesting.  You certainly wouldn't want to eat it on its own.  The best chocolate component was the chocolate shards.  These were totally surprising.  They were insanely thin and insanely crunchy!  I'm not sure what made them so crisp and crunchy.  I really liked them.  There was also some chocolate "soil" on the plate, adding a little texture to the creamy pudding, ganache, and ice cream.

Next up: peanut components!  The peanut pudding was piped on as a rope.  It was very creamy, and peanuty, but again, just not that interesting.  I'm not sure what it needed, but it needed something.  It was certainly more like just plain old peanut butter than "pudding".  Peanuts also appeared in their whole form, crispy, roasted, and slightly candied.  These added a good crunch.

And finally, the most interesting parts, the miso components.  The meringues were apparently miso flavored, but I didn't pick up the miso, they just tasted like plain meringue to me, which was pretty boring.  They were crunchy though, and added something texture-wise to the dish.  The miso ice cream was by far the most interesting thing on the plate.  It was sweet, a little salty, and really quite good.

I did have fun making myself different bites, trying to combine different flavors and textures.  There was a lot to play with here, but I didn't ever find a bite that really wowed me with flavor.  I appreciated this dish more for its texture than taste.

I'm glad I tried this, but I wouldn't get it again.  $14 reflects the plating and creativity behind the dish.

Rhubarb,  yogurt, quinine, lavender tapioca.  $14.

Crazy, right?  There was stewed rhubarb and raw rhubarb, hiding under a blanket of yogurt gel, on top of lavender tapioca, with some quinine ice cream on the side.

This wasn't my dish, so I only had a few bites, but it was pretty marvelous.  The rhubarb was fresh, crisp, refreshing.  The yogurt blanket was slightly sweet, but still tart, nicely complimenting the rhubarb.  The flavor of the ice cream was really, really strange.  The lavender tapioca was lovely.

Overall a light, refreshing, not too sweet, dish.  I didn't have enough to fully evaluate it however.

Assorted chocolates.

Another very interesting serving piece, clearly designed just for this purpose.  These came in a box, which the server opened to reveal the tiers of chocolates.  Interestingly, we had five people at the table, and received two boxes, each with two sets of chocolates in them, four different kinds.  Luckily for us, one person dislikes sweets and has been to Benu several times and tried these before, so he just passed on them, but I found it really odd to serve like this.  I'm not sure how we would have divided them up otherwise, as there is no way to evenly distribute them.

Each of these chocolate surprised me, as they didn't taste anything like they looked.  They were all very sweet and not really that good.  From top to bottom along the left hand side, as described by server:

• Dark chocolate with lychee pate de fruit: this was actually a very thin dark chocolate shell, filled with lychee buttercream, with tiny chunks of lychee in it as well.  It was very sweet.  Not at all what I was expecting from a dark chocolate.  Third favorite.
• White chocolate with dried mixed fruit and almonds: This was actually the least sweet of all of the chocolates, which is not what you'd expect from white chocolate.  It was filled with tiny bits of dried fruit, in particular, I detected some apricot, which paired very well with the white chocolate.  This was my favorite piece, which is so strange, as white chocolate is rarely what I go for.
• Milk chocolate and walnut: this was a thin milk chocolate shell around a walnut caramel goo inside.  Not at all what I was expecting when I bit into it.  Topped with a crispy candied walnut.  The walnut and chocolate were a good flavor combination.  Second favorite.
• Milk chocolate and toasted sesame with cherry compote: The sesame here was very subtle.  The cherry didn't come through very well, which is a shame, as cherry and chocolate is a great combination.  The salt on top was a nice touch.  I didn't like this one.  Least favorite.

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Frozen Yogurt @ Rockit Swirl

Today was gorgeous - 80 degrees in San Francisco.  When does that happen?

I decided to celebrate by venturing to a new frozen yogurt shop, partially as an excuse to get outside, and partially to use some LevelUp credits that were set to expire.  I didn't have that high of expectations, but I was hopeful ... I'm still looking for a frozen yogurt place in the city to love!

They have 6 flavors of frozen yogurt at a time, and plentiful topping choices, ranging from cereal, to all sorts of candy, to mochi/jellies, to brownies/cookies, to fruit.  They had both sweet and tart yogurt, surprisingly mostly low-fat rather than non-fat.  All self-serve, pay-by-the-ounce.  They also had Gelato Classico gelato, a huge menu of milk teas, smoothies, and shakes, ice cream sandwiches, and some random cooked food.  The other side of the store was filled with tons of gum-ball machines, free internet kiosks, and a couple giant claw machines.  A very strange place, indeed.

Unfortunately, Rockit Swirl wasn't very good.  If I hadn't travelled so far to get there, and didn't have the credits to spend, I probably wouldn't have stayed to get some after tasting the samples.  I made up for the not-so-good frozen yogurt by adding a ton of candy, of which they had plenty.  Not my normal way of eating frozen yogurt, but at least they can't really screw up the candy :)

After my frozen yogurt, I was still feeling unsatisfied, so I got a Thai boba tea.  It reminded me that I really miss Thai iced tea!  I'm not sure the last time I had one, but I used to get them once a week in grad school when we'd splurge and go get Thai food for lunch on Fridays.  While this was good in that it was milky, sweet, tea, it was lukewarm, with only a little ice in it.  It improved significantly as the ice cooled it down, but it would have been nice to have it cold to start with.  The boba were pretty decent, not at all gummy or stuck together or anything, but I think about half my cup was made up of boba, way, way too much!

I won't return here.

(Update, 10/9/12)
Except ... I did.  They had a Scoutmob promotion for 50% off, and were back on LevelUp.  I knew I didn't love it the first time, but I should have re-read my review to remember how much I disliked it.  Whoops.  I went back, and like before, found all of the frozen yogurt to be not very good.  Icy, fake flavors, meh.  And ... they wouldn't let me use both Scoutmob and LevelUp, saying it was a double promotion, which isn't really true, since LevelUp is just a payment method.  Double meh.  Now, I really won't be going back, I swear ...

• Frozen Yogurt
• Original Tart (non-fat): Good tart flavor, but really icy. [ Very icy, not great tart flavor, meh ]
• Raspberry-Pomegranate Tart (non-fat): Sorta sweet, sorta tart, couldn't really determine what fruit flavor it was.  Not exactly icy, but not creamy. [ Icy, very sweet.  Wy was this labelled tart? ]
• Vanilla (low-fat): Very generic.  Not creamy, no vanilla flavor, just sweet. [ Creamy, although not very vanilla flavored.  My favorite of the bunch. ]
• Ghirardeli Chocolate (low-fat): Very generic.  Not creamy, not particularly good chocolate flavor.
• Banana: Just sweet.  Very fake banana flavor.  Ok creaminess.
• Dulce de Leche: Insanely sweet, not refined flavor.  Ok creaminess.
• Cheesecake (non-fat): Very sweet, very fake, not good at all.
• Reese's Peanut Butter (low-fat): Icy, although it did taste a lot like peanuts.  Not very good.
• Toppings
• Brownie bites, cookie dough: really not good.  Not fresh tasting, just lumps of gross.
• Jellied bits: Not really sure what these were, but they were little jellies in a sweet sauce.  Not bad.
• Assorted mochi: soft, not bad.
• Heath bar, gummy peach rings, chocolate rocks, mini M&Ms: standard candy, not sure how they would have messed this up.  All good.
• Fruit: Didn't get any, as it didn't look very fresh.

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Cocktails, snacks, and desserts @ The Alembic

Friday evening I was sitting at my desk at work, having just devoured a ton of food at "TGIF".  I was planning to head home soon, for a quiet evening at home, and just eat a light meal.  My plans were thrown out the door when one of my co-workers/friends/best-dining companions swings by and says "Hey, we are going to The Alembic for drinks and some bar snacks, want to join?  The uber will be here in 2 minutes."  I take a moment to consider it, but he is already headed out the door.  My hey-don't-leave-me-behind instincts kick in, and without thinking things through at all, I'm quickly chasing them down.

I'd never been to The Alembic.  I didn't enough know what part of town it was in, just that we apparently needed to take a cab there.  Adventure time!

The Alembic was unlike any bar I've ever been to.  I should have known, given who I was joining, that this wasn't going to be a dive, but I still never expected to be writing a raving food blog post about the place.  "Bar snacks"?  Um, the menu included bone marrow, cauliflower mousse, bacon dashi, caper gremolata, garlic confit, and horseradish soubise.  A plethora of spices, like honey-cumin, sumac, zaatar, and house-smoked salts.  The eggs were cooked souz vide.  Seafood cooked "a la plancha".  This was no ordinary bar food.

The cocktail menu was equally intriguing.  Amazing sounding drinks, massive list of liquors available, knowledgeable bartenders.

We were able to walk right in and get seated at a table.  The atmosphere was incredibly relaxing and casual.  Service was friendly and more attentive than many restaurants.

The Alembic is a fantastic place.  Casual, friendly vibe, great food at totally reasonable prices, and fantastic cocktails, all in one?  It is easy to see why my friends used to be regulars here.  I wish it were in my neighborhood!  And did I mention, one of the top desserts I've had all year?  I'll be back!

Pickled quail eggs.  $2.

These were great - tiny little pickled quail eggs!  The flavors were far more intense than I expected, with a good level of vinegar from the pickling, and awesome salt on top.  The most surprising part was how much I tasted the yolk, I wonder if quail egg yolk is just more intense than chicken egg?  I haven't noticed that before, but I think it is possible I've only ever had raw quail egg before.

These were tasty little bites, and I'd gladly get them again.

Shishito peppers with house-smoked salt.  $5.

Fairly standard shishito peppers, but well executed.  Oily, but in a good way and not too oily, with a nice salt level that made them addicting.  We were a little surprised by how spicy they were, aren't only 1 in 10 supposed to be spicy? It seemed like every one of these was!

I was shocked by how quickly these arrived, I think they were on the table within just a few minutes of ordering!  If I was in the mood for these, I'd order again.

Jerk spiced duck hearts with pickled pineapple and thyme salt.  $5.

My first time (I think) having duck heart.  If I'm going to eat their livers all the time, I may as well eat their hearts too ...

These were more tasty bites!  Nicely grilled, and the jerk spicing on them was really quite delicious.  The jerk flavors paired nicely with the pineapple, and the pineapple also served as a good sweet compliment to the earthy, mineral flavor from the hearts.  It was a shame to have just raw slices of pineapple though, why not grill them as well?  Or spice them in some way?  Or better yet, caramelize them?

I probably wouldn't order this again, but it was an interesting dish to try.

The Poop Deck: Cognac, port wine, blackberry brandy.  $11.

My cocktail.  I was encouraged not to order a drink from the menu, and rather just tell the bartenders what I liked, but this just sounded so good I couldn't resist.

I loved it.  It was a very well balanced drink.  Sweet, but not too sweet.  The blackberry flavor was intense - there was absolutely no doubt that you were drinking blackberry!  The frothy foam on top made the experience of drinking it enjoyable as well.

I'd order again in a heartbeat, but so many other cocktails sounded good too, I'd like to try them as well ...

Kona Kampachi Crudo: compressed cucumber, jalapeno, shiso, lemon.  $13.

When my friends ordered this, I couldn't help but thinking, "who gets crudo at a bar?" (But, then again, what bar serves crudo in the first place?)  But as soon as I saw this, I realized that this was really, truly not ordinary bar food.  Beautiful plating and edible flowers?  This is about as fancy-pants of bar food as I've ever had.

It was as good as it looked.  The kampachi was really high quality fish, on par with that I'd get at any sushi restaurant.  The jalapeno was sliced super thin, so a bite that included it wasn't overwhelmed by the spice, but rather it enhanced it oh-so subtly.  The cucumber, radish, and flowers added to the light and bright feeling of this dish.

I'd definitely get again, you know, when I go to a bar wanting crudo ... and at $13, this felt like really a great deal.

Crispy softshell crab: Ajo blanco, pickled green strawberry, radish, charred avocado, mitsuba.  $15.

Softshell crab season just began, so everywhere is featuring it these days!

This was the least successful dish of the evening.  The charred avocado was visually very off putting, as it looked somewhat like it was just avocado that had been cut up too far in advance and left to oxidize.  The fried crab was kinda meh.

I found the pickled green strawberries fairly addicting, with a strange tartness, sweetness, and sourness all at once.  The sauce was an ajo blanco, which seemed like a strange pairing with the crab, but was tasty enough on its own.  It needed more vinegar or maltiness to really compliment the crab, and was a little too thick.

I'd skip this in the future, but it was a creative dish, and I give them credit for that.

Caramelized Brioche: strawberries, ice cream, foam.  $8.

OMG.  That is really all I have to say here :)

I was full and had already eaten at least 6 desserts that day, including one just an hour before that was an amazing caramelized bourbon bread pudding infused with Bailey's and topped with whipped cream.  I really didn't need more dessert.  And if top restaurants can rarely make desserts that impress me, how on earth would this place?  But, one of my dining companions told me that I needed to order this, and it doesn't take THAT much convincing to get me to order dessert ...

It didn't even sound that good - "caramelized brioche"?  Meh, that sounded just like another bread pudding, right?  Wrong!  This was the lovechild of a bread pudding and a crème brûlée!  And you know how obsessed I've been with crème brûlée!  It was awesometastic.

The brioche was insanely moist, served warm.  It leaned far more on the custard side than bready side, just bready enough to really hold its form.  And the top was caramelized like a crème brûlée, giving it an intense flavor and slight bitterness from the burnt sugar, rather than the typical sweetness you get from just a caramel.  I'd have preferred that the brûlée layer be thicker, and more like a shell, rather than slightly soggy as it was, but this thing really was just incredible.

Also on the plate were some chunks of fresh strawberry and a sweet strawberry puree, adding a seasonal aspect to the dish.  They were fine, but not memorable.  I didn't catch the details on what the foam or ice cream were, but they were both fairly sweet.  I didn't really like the foam with the brioche, as it was kinda just too sweet and the textures didn't play together all that well.  It did go nicely with the strawberries however.  The ice cream had poppy seeds in it, and was a great cold compliment to the warm brioche.

This really was a fantastic dish.  It combined so many aspects of things I love - custard! Sweet and bitter! Warm dessert paired with cold ice cream!  One of the best desserts I've had all year.  I WILL order this again :)  Also, $8?  Most desserts I've had lately have been $12, and nowhere near this good!

Cheesecake in a jar: meyer lemon curd,  huckleberry jam,  candied coconut.  $8

I had just a bite of this, as I was far too busy with my amazing dessert to notice it much.  It was pretty good - decent creamy cheesecake layer, tart lemon curd layer, sweet huckleberry jam, and really crunchy shards of coconut on top.  The flavors all paired together really nicely, and the crunchy coconut was a really fun contrast to the other creamy layers.  While the jar was a cute presentation, it was a little hard to eat this way to get all of the layers at once.  The first bite I took was just coconut, jam, and lemon curd, making me think that it was a really poorly done cheesecake, as I didn't taste any cheesecake at all :)

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More pasta @ Cotogna

A month ago, we went to Cotogna for the first time, after having an absolutely phenomenal meal at their formal sister restaurant, Quince.  I enjoyed it so much that I immediately came home and made another reservation, as they book a month out in advance.

Tonight's dinner wasn't as memorable as the first time we went, with no no dish being quite as good as our previous visit.  We decided to only get pasta dishes this time around, as we had pizza last night, the appetizers and sides weren't really jumping out at us, and the pastas were far and away the highlights from the first time.  Since we were going to share a bunch of pasta dishes, they let us course it out rather than get a slew of dishes all at once.

Service was just as good as last time - friendly, casual, yet very knowledgeable.  We did have to wait a while for our table, even with a reservation, but I don't really fault the restaurant for this, as the the people at our table had finished and paid, they were just taking their time getting up.  There was a mistake and we were brought the wrong dish, which they quickly fixed once we inquired about it, and gave us the extra dish complimentary.

The entire restaurant had the same friendly, casual vibe, with us even chatting for a while with the neighboring table.  I was again struck by the nice feeling of just being there.

I wasn't all that impressed by anything this evening, but I can still say that Cotogna really knows how to cook pasta.  The pasta was all amazingly fresh and just perfectly executed.  The area where they fell down tonight was the sauces.  They were particularly heavy, all butter and oil based, and the flavors didn't seem that developed.  Dishes had a rather one note feel.  And they were all topped with unnecessary cheese.  But man, they know how to cook pasta!

I'm sure I'll go back, particularly when I have a pasta craving, but I'm not rushing to make the next available reservation this time around.

Focaccia, dipped in oil.

Like last time, we requested the complimentary bread, a focaccia.  The bottom layer is coated in olive oil, the top has some herbs on it.  It was basically the same as last time, perhaps slightly less oily.  Not bad, but not particularly good either.  The olive oil was very flavorful, but it was a little too saturated for my liking.  And like last time, I would have preferred this to be served warm.

I think I'd skip this next time, there is just no reason to fill up on this when the pasta is coming ... (and unlike last time, we didn't have the amazing cheese fondue to soak up with the bread!).

Red wine, $10.

All wines by the glass are $10 (bottles are $40).  I asked for a recommendation, and the waitress, after talking me through some preferences, suggested the Bardolino, Le Fraghe, 2010.  She brought it over and poured me a sip, and I really didn't like it, which she could tell.  She asked what I didn't like, and I explained (the tannins, the bite), and she came back with another offering.  I didn't catch the name :(  This was much ligher, slightly sweet, and I enjoyed it.  Not a very complex wine, but very drinkable.  And you just need a glass of red wine with your pasta!

I was really impressed with her knowledge of the wines, and with her quick willingness to bring me something else when I didn't like the first wine.  Also worth noting, in addition to their decent sized wine menu, the entire Quince wine menu is also available, if you are feeling the desire to go higher end.

Asparagus tortelli.  $17. 

This was an asparagus and ricotta filled pasta, with slices of asparagus, in a heavy buttery sauce, finished with cheese.

The pasta was perfectly cooked al dente.  It had a really great chew to it.

The filling was a mix of ricotta and asparagus, plentiful, but not particularly memorable nor flavorful.

The asparagus shavings were tender and fresh tasting, but again, not as flavorful as I'd have liked, particularly as it is aspragus season and I really expected to taste the asparagus more.

The sauce felt very heavy, too buttery, and just too much for this dish.  I'd have preferred something ligher, and perhaps with lemon.

This was my second to last pick of the night, but the first pick for one other diner, and the second favorite for the other, so I was clearly in the minority.  I wouldn't get this again.

Tagliatelle verdi with duck Bolognese. $17.

This dish was mistakenly brought to us.

Again, the pasta was perfectly cooked al dente.  I'm not sure what made it green, as I didn't taste any particular flavor in it.

The sauce was an duck bolognese, and it was again topped with cheese.  I didn't expect to like this much, as I don't really care for duck.  But, it didn't taste anything like duck, it tasted more like pork sausage crumbles.  The crumbles were moist, slightly spicy, and I quite liked them, except that it was odd to not be able to identify what meat they were.  We actually thought that they might have told us the wrong thing when they told us this was the duck dish, and thought it might be the goat instead, but that one didn't come with green pasta.  I appreciated this dish for the well cooked pasta and the meaty sauce, but the sauce was really lacking something.  It was just oil and the duck crumbles, it seemed like it needed something more to bring the whole dish together.

This was my third favorite of the evening, but the last pick for one other diner, and the first pick for the other.  We were very divided on this one!  I wouldn't order it again, but I did enjoy it.

Tagliolini with Oregon bay shrimp, spring onion & horseradish.  $17.

This is the dish we actually ordered.

Again, perfectly cooked al dente pasta.  If I had to pick a best execution on the pasta, I'd say this one was the best, but they were all very well cooked.

The sauce was a light tomato and horseradish sauce, that reminded me of a bloody mary.  The horseradish flavor was definitely there, but I would have enjoyed this even more had it been more pronounced.  It was the most complex and developed of the sauces we had.

The bay shrimp were fine, cooked well enough, but were so small they weren't particularly memorable.  They did go quite well with the tomato and horseradish, sort of like a shrimp cocktail.

I appreciated that this sauce didn't feel quite as heavy as the others, not as loaded with butter or oil, and it wasn't topped with cheese.  A much more refreshing dish (insofar as a pasta dish is ever going to be light and refreshing ...).

This was my second favorite of the evening, and I'd probably order it again, although I'd pair it with a white wine.  It was the third favorite, and forth favorite, of my dining companions.

“agnolotti dal plin”  $17.

Another perfectly cooked pasta dish, in an oil sauce, topped with cheese.  Noticing a theme here?  This reminded me a lot of the duck dish.

The pasta was very, very al dente.  Perhaps slightly under, but with a great chew on it.

The filling was a ground mix of veal, pork belly, and chicken.  It had a rather gritty consistency, and seemed a little inconsistent.  We all kept having really mixed feelings on this dish.  We'd have one piece that had a nice flavor, and then one that didn't.  I think we were liking the veal and chicken and not the pork belly.

The sauce again just felt heavy, oily, and not developed in any way.  And, there was more grated cheese on top, that again just made it heavy and didn't seem to quite enhance it.

This was my last favorite of the evening, and I wouldn't order it again.  It sounds like they mix up the filling regularly however, and I'd try it again with a different filling.  It was also the least favorite for one other diner, and the second to last for the other.

Gnocchi with “four lilies,” vin santo & snap peas .  $17.

Oh yum!

Soft, fluffy little gnocchi pillows, in a cream sauce, with tons of assorted softened, caramelized onions.

The gnocchi were light little puffs of potato.  My dining companions felt that they were over cooked, and I agree that they were definitely on the mushy side, but it just reminded me more of mashed potatoes this way, which I liked.  They had clearly just been boiled and not pan finished, so there was no crust whatsoever on them.

The "four lilies" were a combination of a bunch of different onions, including spring onions and leeks.  There were tons of them, and they were all very cooked down, soft, and really flavorful.  I loved the flavor they added, and thought they went so well with the potato.

The menu said there were snap peas, but I sure didn't see any, which is too bad, as snap peas are in season right now, and oh so delicious!

The sauce was a creamy, cheesy sauce.  It was delicious.

This was ridiculous comfort food - mashed potatoes, creamy, buttery, cheesy sauce, and super flavorful onions.  So good.  No the most sophisticated or refined dish, but it totally satisfied me.  My first choice of the evening, and I"d order it again.  Second and third pick for my fellow diners.

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Sushi @ Okina Sushi

I'm always interested in finding good sushi, as my current favorite place for rolls (Sushi Zone) requires epic waits, and my favorite place for nigiri (Sushi Sam's, although, we had a horrible experience there last week), is down in San Mateo and is pretty pricy.  I've been slowly working my way through my list of recommended places from friends, acquaintances, etc.  (I'm actually almost near the end, so if you have a favorite, let me know!  I'm specifically looking for somewhere awesome, that takes reservations (or  somehow doesn't have 2 hour waits), for rolls or nigiri, with quality fish.  Bonus points if it isn't to pricy, but if it is great quality, I don't mind paying for it.  Bonus points for sushi bar seating and an interactive fun chef, but certainly not a requirement.  Bonus points for interesting selection of fish).

Tonight we went to Okina Sushi, after the places higher on my list were all booked (I didn't try to make a reservation until 5pm, my bad).  We were able to get a 7:45 reservation, at the bar.  So far, so good.

As we approached the restaurant at 7:35pm, I saw that it was basically empty.  On a Saturday night.  Yikes.  And then we got the menu, and I saw the sushi prices.  They were shockingly low.  Double yikes.  I tried to remember who recommended this place, and why it was on my list (it was a friend-of-a-friend).  I'd glanced again at Yelp before going, and it did have 4 starts.  I was a little anxious, but decided to trust my list ...

The restaurant is very small.  6 seats at the sushi bar.  3 additional tables.  The staff consists of a husband (the chef) and wife (the server).

The menu is likewise tiny.  There are no appetizers (not even edamame).  No cooked items (not even miso soup).  Just a list of ~15 nigiri (all the most common fish), a small number of very simple rolls (no more than two ingredients, no mayo in sight), a single beer, a single sake.  Or an omakase option.

We decided to just trust and do the omakase, which turned out to be only 4 pieces each.  After that, we asked for some recommendations, and picked a few ourselves.  Our sushi averaged an astonishing $2.17 per piece - post-tax!  And ... it was all good!  Not remarkable, but it was all solid, none of it was bad, and for the price, it really was a great value.  All the pieces were a good size and were nice cuts of fish.  I'd order any of the pieces again.  I really did not like the rice, it seemed really mushy and overly vinegary.

We were also served ridiculously quickly.  We left the restaurant less than 45 minutes after entering, even after taking a pause to decide if we wanted to order more or not.  We basically had sushi placed in front of us within 3 minutes of ordering, and it all arrived very rapidly.  Such an efficient meal.

Also, my concerns about it being empty were likely just a timing issue.  By 15 minutes into our meal, the place was full, and every table had been reserved.  We arrived early for our reservation, and I think they must allow for extra time to turn the tables, so we just arrived between seatings.

I'd certainly return, particularly given the value.  While this wasn't a particularly memorable meal, and none of it blew my mind, it was solid, good, simple sushi.  Unfortunately, they are only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights!

Wasabi, ginger, pickled diakon, shredded raw diakon.

The moment we sat down, this mound was assembled on the counter in front of us.  Sorta a mess, not explained in any way.  It had the wasabi and ginger you'd expect, along with both pickled and shredded diakon.  I really liked the pickled diakon, and found the shredded raw diakon to be really nice and refreshing.  I preferred it to the ginger as a palate cleanser between pieces.

We also immediately received mugs of hot green tea.  The tea had a lovely flavor to it.  I try not to have caffeine in the evenings, and was shocked to look down at one point and realize I'd totally finished my big mug of tea.  Whoops.  It was good!

Omakase pieces #1 and #2: hamachi ($2) and maguro (seasonal, I didn't see the exact price).

The omakase turned out to be only four pieces, which arrived all at once, in pairs, set down directly on the sushi bar in front of us, next to the wasabi/diakon/ginger mound.

The hamachi was good, firm, with a decent flavor.  Probably my third to last pick of the night, but it wasn't bad, just not memorable, and I'd get it again.

The maguro was better, soft, flavorful.  Third favorite of the night.  With the mushy rice however, it was a little off putting, as it made the fish almost seem mushy too.  I started skipping the rice on the nigiri at this point.

Omakase pieces #3 and #4: smoked salmon ($1.50) and jackfish.

The smoked salmon was my second favorite piece of the night.  It had a lovely smoked flavor, and a firm, yet soft, texture.

The other piece was jackfish?  I've never heard of that before, and I'm still not positive we heard him correctly, but that is what we both thought the chef said.  It reminded me of needlefish when I ate it.  Looking at the photo, it looks kinda like halibut.  Can you tell what it was?  Like the hamachi, this wasn't particularly flavorful or memorable, but it wasn't bad, and was clearly a good quality fresh piece of fish.  The addition of the crisp shiso leaf made it more interesting and accented the fish well, so I place this above the hamachi in my ranking for the evening.

Santa Barbara uni ($2.25).

This was our pick, as I love uni!  I've never seen uni this cheap before.  It wasn't a huge amount of uni, but still.  Crazy prices!

Today's uni was from Santa Barbara, but it sounded like the chef sources it from different places at different times.  It was creamy, and really quite good, with a milder flavor than I've had in a lot of uni in the past.  You can also add a quail egg to any piece for $0.40 - I'd totally try that next time, to further enhance the creaminess and richness.  Only complaint here is that it wasn't wrapped that well, as you can see it coming apart just sitting on the counter.  I found it easier to just eat with my hands.  The rice also didn't bother me as much in this form.

This was so good that we ordered a second pair.  My favorite of the night.

Scallop (seasonal).

The scallop was a recommendation from the chef.  Topped with tobiko and sliced scallion.  It was tender and sweet.  One of the better pieces of raw scallop I've ever had.

Like the uni, not very well wrapped, and again the rice didn't bother me here.

Fourth favorite of the night.

Amaebi (seasonal).

Another recommendation from the chef, and one that I'd read very positive reviews about.  It reminded me of the scallop, tender and sweet.

I liked this, but I couldn't help comparing it to the amaebi that I normally get at Sushi Sam's, which comes with a citrus glaze and sea salt on top.  The citrus and salt just enhance the flavor so incredibly, that this seemed really plain in comparison.  Fifth favorite of the night.

Crab ($2).

I'm not sure what kind of crab it was, I forgot to ask.  Probably snow crab?  Like the scallop, it came topped with tobiko and scallions.

The crab was cooked and shredded and unfortunately not very flavorful.  It wasn't bad, or fishy, or anything negative exactly, but it was just really flavorless.  My least favorite seafood of the evening.  I'd skip this next time.

Tomago ($1.25).

We didn't actually order this, it just appeared near the end.  Perhaps part of the omakase?  I'm not sure.  Good thing we knew what it was, as the chef didn't explain it either.

I always order tomago as my last piece of sushi, as it is my "dessert".  This tomago however, was not dessert-like at all!  It had no sweetness whatsoever.  It was basically just egg.  Not particularly eggy, not particularly ... anything.  My least favorite of the night.  I'd skip this in the future.  Very disappointing, in fact, so disappointing, that we had to go get real dessert after this.

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Dessert @ Luna Park

I had a great irish coffee bread pudding yesterday at work (moist, boozy, with a crispy caramelized top layer, topped with fresh whipped cream and caramel sauce ... sooo good!), and was left craving more bread pudding today.  I also wanted a warm dessert, paired with cold ice cream.  I remembered that a list of the best bread puddings in San Francisco included a warm chocolate chip version, served with ice cream, at Luna Park, which was two blocks away from where we were.

We were able to walk in and get seated at the bar within a few minutes, so it was time to try it!

Service was fine, pretty much exactly what you expect at a bar.  The bartenders were crazy busy, but once you got their attention, they took care of you.  The place was loud and energetic.  Our silverware was served on a silver platter :)

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Humphry Slocombe Vanilla Ice Cream. $9.

I'm clearly used to eating at fancy places these days, as this dessert seemed massive to me.  This was no dainty high end dessert!

It was served warm, topped with ice cream, and cold chocolate sauce.  This should be exactly what I love ... warm desserts with cold ice cream are some of my favorites (when I'm not busy on a crème brûlée obsession).  Particularly warm crisps/cobblers/crumbles/etc once stone fruit is in season (I can't wait!!!).  Anyway, like I said, this should just totally hit the spot for me.  This particular dessert is raved about and I've seen it on a bunch of "best dessert" lists over the past few years.

However, not only did this dessert not wow me, I actively disliked it.  It takes a lot for me to actually dislike a dessert.  For those of you who know me, let me say this: I didn't finish it.  (I have a uh, problem, with feeling compelled to finish desserts, even ones I don't love.  I can probably count on one hand the number of desserts I haven't finished in the past year!)

Anyway.  It was served warm, which was good.  In fact, some parts of it were downright hot, which I really appreciated.  Unfortunately, this also meant that the ice cream melted within seconds.  I snapped the photo the moment it arrived, and by my second bite, there was no ice cream to be found.  It had all completely melted into the bread pudding.  This had a number of unfortunate side effects.  First, obviously, I didn't get to enjoy the ice cream, nor did I get the contrasting pairings of warm and cold, crisp and creamy that I was looking forward to.  It also made the bread pudding itself just turn into a pile of mush.  And the bread pudding was fairly sweet, and now pretty homogenous, so there was no way to cut the sweet with a spoonful of ice cream.  The edge pieces of the bread pudding that didn't absorb all of the ice cream were still crisp, and fairly nice in that regard.  I'd say the bread pudding was well executed in the cooking sense, warm and crisp.

The chocolate sauce on top was thin, watery, and cold.  Basically Hershey's syrup.  Meh.

The bread pudding part was just sweet and lacking any dimension, was soggy and kinda nasty, and the chocolate chips, while decently melted inside, weren't particularly flavorful either.  There really was just nothing good going on in this dish.  I felt like this was a textbook example of a really bad bread pudding that gives bread pudding a bad reputation in the first place.  Of course soggy, flavorless, too sweet, mushy bread isn't desirable!  Would never get again.

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