Saturday Alan Weinberg finally talked my wife and me into joining him and his wife at Addison in Del Mar, California. First of all the entrance into the grounds is enough to make you start drooling, long before you even get to the food. There are some beautiful plantings and lighting all along the couple minute drive from the front gate to the restaurant. The restaurant is located in a building separate from the hotel so it gives a feeling of its own personality from the beginning. As a Relais et Chateau, the restaurant has some standards to match but I can tell you this one far surpasses most of any we have visited in the US and France. Starting with a grand covered entrance, you walk into the restaurant and are greeted by very personable staff which take you to your seat, walking past large flower arrangements, wine displays, and some beautiful contemporary architecture and furnishings.
We sat in near the fireplace, but not so close that we could feel any of the heat, just the flickering of the flames, giving some nice ambience to the room. The chairs were very comfortable and the table was set with some fine china and a contemporary glass centerpiece, reminiscient of small, clear glass Dale Chihuly bowl.
Then the fireworks started with the food. The menu is an interesting concept - four pages and you choose one of four choices from each page for a very reasonable $95. Alan had been before and tried the milk fed chicken, so he had requested that as a main course, but we still ordered one of each page with the chicken as an extra course. The first amuse was a “soup” of verjus with a raspberry split in half - quite a palate cleanser to start. I make a pretty mean gougere but Alan said this would rival mine, and did it ever! I think it was filled with mascarpone cream, and it just exploded in your mouth and then was gone. We were all hoping for another round, but no luck. Another bite came out on a little stone square plate of goat cheese tart topped with black truffle, with the perfect amount of crunchy sea salt. Another one that we could have had seconds or thirds. The wine for these was a 1985 Krug Champagne. I can only remember having this once about 15 years ago and loving it. This Champagne from this particular bottle was a golden color, perfect for a 26+ year old, but the nose had a hint of mustiness to it that we thought might blow off. It had a nice amount of mousse, and a good creamy finish, but in the end it turned out to be ever so slightly corked - not enough to deter any of the four of us from drinking it, however.
The courses were now starting to arrive, and with everyone ordering his own selection, we got to try tastes of many different dishes. My first course was Langoustine ala Robouchon - a langoustine on a crunchy wafer topped with some espelette pepper. My wife had crab ravioli with orange and basil broth - like a great dim sum she replied. My next course was lemon risotto with pine nuts and salami with some foam just around the edge of the risotto. Creamy and tangy goodness that I just couldn’t stop eating. It went down way too quickly and easily! My wife’s second course was her favorite of the night - foie gras with a balsamic reduction on top served in a glass and a brioche garlic crouton on the side - sinful stuff indeed. With each of us ordering an four courses plus the chicken, some ordered three appetizer/first courses before the chicken, while Alan and I ordered duck which was served after the chicken. Because of this, the service became a little disjointed with the staff bringing the wives third course before the chicken, while Alan and I sat there as they ate. Not that it was the restaurant’s fault for this, as I’m sure they wanted to keep the order of service with the chicken followed by the duck course. What did we care?? We were now drinking a 1999 Sauzet Montrachet!! As have been the case with some of the '99 Sauzets, including about a third of my case of Puligny Combettes, there have been premox issues. But right from the start as it was poured we knew this was going to be fine. The color was light golden, not showing any of its 12+ years. The nose was a little shy at first, opening up to reveal some lemon and toastiness. The taste of this showed its breed with the oily depth of flavor that few wines can offer, and a finish that just coated your mouth. It can probably continue to evolve many years into more honeyed and deeper aromas, but why wait with the possibility of premox looming with these wines. So while we sat and talked about the Montrachet and examined the large volume of a great wine list compiled by the sommelier, the wives had their third course - a mushroom veloute so thick you could almost stand a spoon in it and so much flavor that it was the essence of mushroom. Along with these course we had the bread service consisting of a lemony breadstick and buttery brioche - bread is a weakness for Alan and me, but we did our best to not go too crazy.
Then came the milk fed chicken (how do they do that anyway??) It was a very tender piece with some foie gras on the side and two sauces - date and pistachio. Fork tender, this chicken was creamy and you could tell that it wasn’t just your average chicken. The foie gras was sauteed and with either sauce was really a nice compliment to the chicken. And being the gluttons that Alan and I are, we had the duck for our extra course. Two nice sized pieces of breast served with a leek puree and port reduction, with a side dish of beets with licorice and foam. A beautiful presentation with deep flavors all around. All of this with the featured red wine of the night - 1947 Giroud Corton. I asked Alan if he wanted to guess the wine and he said that he’d give it a shot, so I kept it under wraps. This wine was brought back directly from the Giroud cellars in the mid 80’s and this was probably the fifth or sixth time I have had it. Being a 47 and a Corton this wine never has seemed to budge an inch over those 20+ years. The color was a ruby red all the way to the rim and could easily have been a well stored bottle from 40 years younger. The nose opened up right away with sweet candy and cherry notes and spice, and no VA. The taste, although warm and luscious and delicious, wasn’t quite up to the fireworks of the enticing nose. As for Alan guessing the wine, he took about 15 or 20 minutes of tasting and swirling and then blurted out 1947!! Then guessing the vineyard, which especially with this vintage and a wine this old is nearly impossible, he guessed Vosne, which I could see from the spice aspect. I took away his pain and unveiled it to him as the Giroud Corton. Nice job, Alan!! This was really a great wine with years left.
Dessert was a cranberry ice cream and apple granita - both excellent and nice palate cleansers. Then for my dessert I ordered the caramel apple spice cake with bananas and salted caramel ice cream- oh yeah!! Crunchy bruleed bananas on either side of ice cream on top of the cake?? I’ll have another one of those please. And to match that was a 2007 Coutet, compliments of the restaurant. A little heat on the finish but a great end to a fine meal.
A few comments on the service - very rarely have we had such trained and qualified first rate service by any staff in the US. Everyone seemed to be loving what they are doing and it showed, from the bus boys, to the wait staff and especially the wine service. Jesse Rodriguez is the sommelier, comes from the French Laundry, is very passionate about wine, and really has a friendly attitude in his wine service. The glassware is first rate with the Montrachet being served from Reidel sommelier Montrachet glasses, and the Corton in sommelier Burgundy stemware. I’m not sure what the glasses were for the Krug, but they were also nice,and Schott sauterne glasses to end. And obviously none of this wouldn’t matter if the chef, William Bradley, wasn’t creating some superb dishes in the kitchen. We did a quick tour of the kitchen after we were finished and it was spotless, even as they were still serving someone the lemon risotto second course I had.
Please do your best to try this restaurant - we need to keep this going strong for a long time.
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