Agricole pt. 2

[snousle]

Went to Bar Agricole again last night. Maybe I'm getting narrow but this place serves very specifically my idea of what fine cuisine should be like. Straightforward presentations, nothing architectural or contrived. Medium sized plates that are sharing-friendly. Their consistently interesting ingredients make for one of the most impenetrable menus I've seen, but none of it is bullshit. Most interesting and exotic, yet so close to home, was the noyaux ice cream, flavored with apricot kernels. Best bet is to bring your smartphone and look it all up on Wikipedia while you dine.

Our table was late and I got kind of cranky so they kept us there with free champagne and appetizers. Glad we stayed, I had a dish of spaghetti with sea urchin, little yellow tomatoes, and bits of fried pork fat, and OH EM GEE was it delicious. My dining companion had a seabass filet, and I had to convince him that the skin was there because it was part of the dish and should be eaten! I really love the sows-ear-to-silk-purse approach to cooking because, like the apricot pits and the fish skin, the most wonderful flavors are sometimes in the lowest places, it just takes a lot of skill to tease them out. (It's hard. Believe me, I've had a LOT of failures along those lines.)

Curiously, my client for the ranch dinner a few weeks back is the chief provider of produce for this restaurant. If you check out the "Our Farms" slideshow, the very first photo shows the spot at Heart Arrow where that dinner was served. So if I drive a hundred miles for a $20 salad, turn around, and drive all the way back to where it was grown, does that make me a "locavore"? LOL.

Comments

[jstregyr.livejournal.com]

The wait was definitely worth it (although next time I hope they don't keep us for 40 minutes after arriving on-time). Sorry I was initially squeamish about eating fish skin, but - yes - it was tasty (albeit a bit salty). And I loved being introduced to cranberry beans: they are rather fat and savory.

Please do call next time you plan to hit Agricole!

Chef Brandon Jew

[broduke2000.livejournal.com]

The website says your chef is: Brandon Jew.

The website is state-of-teh-art and prevents me from copying anything on their site, including the name of the chef: Brandon Jew.

Fortunately I have still have somewhat of a brain left, so I could remember the name: Brandon Jew.

Why anybody would wanna prevent me from coping the name: Brandon Jew, is unknown.

Re: Chef Brandon Jew

[dhpbear.livejournal.com]

The site seems to be made of teh JavaScript. All that 'text' appears in graphics files.

[theotherqpc.livejournal.com]

i went there a while back for a drinks-snacks-socializing thing that Valrhona invited a bunch of local pastry folk to. i was impressed with the thought that went into the plating on the radishes and butter - various varieties of radishes sliced in various ways or left whole, lightly dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette, cool butter curled with a vegetable peeler, all gently arranged in that "beautifully fallen" look that was all the rage a couple years ago.