Last Thursday for the birthdays, we went to Boulevard Restaurant in San Francisco. And although the traffic was really bad getting into the city, it was worth the trip. We had a great dinner with great service. Here are our choices –
Both George and I started with the sauteed fresh Hudson Valley foie gras with steamed persimmon pudding, persimmon sauternes coulis and red flame and pomegranite relish. Although once again there is a noticeable difference between European and American foie gras, it was melt in your mouth delicious and the steamed pudding was a sweet counterpoint to the foie. He and I also ordered the same entree, the grilled Florida butterfish (escolar.) I’ve had this fish twice before, once in Florida and once in Utah (of all places) and it is a firm white buttery flavored fish. Kind of like Chilean seabass but without the guilt. This was served with butternut squash and fresh porcini mushrooms with an aged balsamic vinegar. Wow, yum. My fish could have been cooked a tad less but it was still great.
John started with the fresh Monterey calmari two ways – pan roasted and stuffed and crispy fried. He says the stuffed calamari was the real star. He followed this with a second appetizer, the char-rare ahi tuna with pan seared foie gras and once again, the aged balsamic vinegar. He said this was perfect.
Karen, who is more of a meat and potatoes kind of girl, chose a salad of hearts of romaine and the wood oven roasted Berkshire pork prime rib chop. Yay, they didn’t overcook the pork! The mashed potatoes with white carrot-parsnip swirl looked especially good and Karen wished there had been more.
Accompanying the first course we had an Alsatian Weibach Riesling, and a Sonoma-Cutrer chardonnay for the main course. John had a glass of pinot noir from Volnay with his main course.
Since it was birthdays celebration, we also had dessert. A huckleberry buckle and a 3 dessert sampler which included a sweet corn ice cream and an intense chocolate thing. The ice cream, I thought, was especially interesting and innovative.
So all in all a delicious over-the-top restaurant experience – worth the hassle and the price.
Table Consensus – A