The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton
Went here recently. The chef is
Ron Siegel. For high-end restaurant fans, here's his resume: cook at Aqua, cook at Daniel, sous-chef at French Laundry, chef Charles Nob Hill, chef Masa's. He also beat Sakai in the Japanese version of Iron Chef.
They have a few different options for menus ranging from three to nine courses.
Menu
We went with the salt and pepper tasting menu, where each course features a differnet type of salt and pepper used for seasoning.
You are seated and they offer you a cocktail or champagne before dinner, they have a nice chilled cart of champagnes to select from.
The decor is a tad stuffy, as this is an older Ritz that has not gotten the new-school hip remodel that some of the newer Ritz's have. It's not bad, just a little dated feeling. Also, because it is in a Ritz, the customers skew towards the old side, adding to a bit of the stuffy feeling. These are pretty minor issues, though. The chairs are nice and comfortable, the lighting is at a good level, the room is not noisy, and the tables are not too close.
Then about 4 of 5 amuse bouches (tiny pre-meal bites to whet your palate) are brought out one after another, they just kept coming. There was some soup, some caviar, a savory mousse, a couple others. One preparation that just blew me away was a smoked dish that was on top of a little plastic covered smoke-filled bowl. Tapping on the plastic released smoke, creating an incredibly seasoned bite.
Around this time the sommelier came by to suggest some wines we might like.
The courses were all very good. A couple of raw fish, foie gras, some lobster, duck breast, some cooked fish, steak, etc. In general, you get this type of mix, but the specific dishes are always changing. The lobster and pork belly combo was a real highlight, but everything was just delicious. The only minor complaint was that occassionally the pacing would be slightly off between courses, I am sure this is because of trying to keep multiple tables with the same tasting menu on the same schedule. This was never an issue of any significance, just could have been slightly more even.
The amount of food is very filling. There were substantial portions of everything. My friend could not finish her delicious steak course, so I had to help her out. Yum.
Sometimes the dishes just used the salt and pepper as flavor elements, but in a couple they really highlightest a special salt or pepper as a central element. Very cool theme.
After dinner had some espresso. Even though you are stuffed at this point, they bring by a tray with all sorts of little petit fours, mini cookies and cakes and tarts and cheesecakes and chocolates. You just point and pick whatever you want from there.
Dinner concludes and they give everyone a tiny little box with a couple of caramels in it as a little memento of your trip.
The whole dinner is 2.5 to 3 hours and you leave there feeling like it was an experience, not just a meal.