***June 15, 2006: Coi***

Coi
323 Brodway
San Francisco, CA
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I was almost surprised at myself for making a reservation at Coi. In many ways it was the type of place I always want to try out; it was new, had an interesting menu, modern décor, good reviews, and a chef who I had enjoyed at his previous restaurant Elizabeth Daniel’s. But, and it’s a big but, the chef (Daniel Patterson) was the same annoying man who wrote an article a few months back criticizing the Bay Area for getting stuck in a “California cuisine” rut. As someone who loves Alice Waters and the way of cooking and thinking about food that she introduced to us, I immediately labeled Patterson as arrogant and never thought that I would visit one of his restaurants again. Yet, when Coi opened and good reviews started coming out, I got curious and I had to find out if he really had anything fresh and exciting to the offer the Bay Area.
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My first impression of Coi was mostly positive. For a Thursday night the lounge was pretty deserted and I was a little put off by the lack of windows in the small dinning room, but other than that I really liked the minimalist décor. The dining room was decorated with muted tones which were spiced up by a varying array textures. The dining room had an earthy feel (one the art instillation was a moss covered log) and it was kept well lit by soft overhead lights and little candles on each of the nine tables. From the moment we drove up to the curve, the service was flawless. I would actually have to say that the best thing about the restaurant was the staff. Everyone was surprisingly friendly, helpful, and warm. We felt perfectly doted upon through out the entire meal and never wanted more or less attention than we received. It is very impressive that within only a couple of months of operation Coi has already assembled a phenomenal team of waiters and hostesses.
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Now the food. I really wanted to get the full chance to see what Patterson was capable of doing, so my group decided to go for the ten course tasting menu. With the exception of the sweetbread ravioli (which they graciously let me substitute for the risotto) every dish on the menu looked too tempting to just order the four course menu.
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The amuse bouche was a spoonful of small diced vegetables with vinaigrette and Corsican mint. It was very good, and a nice light way to start the meal, but not all that different from the California cuisine that Patterson was supposedly revolutionizing. However, the first course immediately separated his cooking style from pretty much every other chef I’ve tried in the bay area. It was a pink grapefruit salad spiced with pepper, ginger, and tarragon and covered in grapefruit foam. Next to this dish was a little puddle of grapefruit essential oil. The waitress explained to us that we were supposed to put the essential oil on our wrists (like perfume) and then smell it while we ate the salad so that we could have a full sensory experience. I thought the whole thing was a bit convoluted and while the salad was actually quite good, I’m not sure if the oil actually made much of a difference. Still, he made a point with the dish and it set the mood for the meal. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the salad and I actually loved the smell of the essential oil (I’m definitely going to buy some when Coi starts to bottle it which our waitress said was going to happen soon).
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The next course was bone marrow with beet puree and caviar. Once again, this is not something that I could see ever being served at Chez Panisse. I’m not the biggest bone marrow fan and I wouldn’t want to eat this rich dish every night, but I ended up enjoying this course quite a bit. The bone marrow was perfectly sautéed with a crispy outside, the caviar added a nice saltiness, and the beet puree helped to lighten this dish a bit and give it a familiar flavor.
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The bone marrow was followed by raw scallops over sweet California avocados decorated with colorful flowers. After the previous rich course, I really appreciated this clean and light dish. The flowers were the perfect touch for a late spring dinner and the scallops were some of the best I have ever had. There were also some slices of radish thrown in which I thought added a necessary crunch. My only problem with this dish was that it was slightly large considering how many more courses were coming, but no one was making me eat the whole thing (which I did all on my own).
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The next dish, the beet carpaccio with summer truffles, was my least favorite one of the night. The crunchy truffle shavings on top just didn’t really meld together with the thin slices of beet or the pieces of endive. Instead of being a comprehensive dish, I felt like I was just eating three separate items that just happened to get mixed together, which was disappointing since I normally love the addition of truffles to any dish.

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However, I didn’t stay disappointed with Patterson for long. The following course was a delicious chilled pea soup with ricotta sorbet. I was slightly worried that the ricotta sorbet was going to be too strong, but it was the perfect accompaniment to the pea soup. Besides looking beautifully striking surrounded by the bright green soup, the coldness of the pure white sorbet added another interesting sensory experience to the meal. This dish almost made me wish I had ordered it off the four course menu so that I could have received a larger portion!

Patterson kept up his winning streak for the next few dishes. After the soup was a small slice of sea bream over braised lettuce and the most delicious wild asparagus. I’d actually had wild asparagus the first time a couple of nights ago, and I was thrilled to find those sweet little stems underneath my fish. The fish was also perfectly prepared (flakey and not dry at all), and I would have finished it all if I hadn’t started to get worried about having room for dessert. My only challenge to Patterson is that the fish course was exactly California cuisine. Not that I think he really needs to do something different for every course to prove his point, but I just find it interesting that one of his strongest dishes of the night was very “Chez Panisse”.

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The cracked wheat risotto that came next made me very glad that I still was able to fit some food in my stomach. I’d never had cracked wheat risotto and I found it very similar to faro which I absolutely love. The risotto was really filling, as pasta normally is, but was utterly delicious. It came with little cooked fava beans, morels, and baby leeks and a round of ramp foam. At this point I started to notice the pattern of foam use. I don’t really have strong feelings about foam in either direction, but it clearly seems to be a way that Patterson is trying to distinguish himself. As long as he continues to use it in amazing dishes such as this one, I’ll continue to have no issue with the foam!
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I probably should have stopped eating after that course. The following courses, including dessert which I normally love, were disappointments. The final entrée was three preparations of lamb. There was a small bite of kidney, shoulder, and leg. Nothing was remarkable about this dish and just a taste of each part of the lamb was plenty for me. Lamb is my favorite type of meat, so I was really frustrated that Patterson failed to do anything inventive with his wonderful ingredients.
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The next two courses were palate cleansers. The first was a fourme d’ambert blue cheese ice milk over gelatin. I could barley eat this dish. I love blue cheese, but the ice milk was far too strong and the gelatin did nothing to balance out or add to the flavor. Instead, the gelatin just added a weird, unpleasant texture to the already overpowering ice milk. Thankfully, the next dish wasn’t nearly as bad. It was a rhubarb peppercress frappe that consisted of rhubarb mixed with crushed ice and I guess a little peppercress but I couldn’t notice it in the flavor. It was very refreshing and subtle, which was a huge relief after the previous course! I only wished that I could have had a larger portion or an easier dish to eat out of (it came in a tall glass that was hard to get a spoon inside of).

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Finally there were the desserts. I have one of the biggest sweet tooths ever, and I often run into the issue of wanting to order multiple desserts. The staff was once again extremely accommodating and instead of making us all have the dessert on the tasting menu the waitress allowed us to order one of each of the desserts from the regular menu. We received a chocolate tart, a strawberry bombe, and a cherry confit. I’ll have to admit that I was a little surprised to see a chocolate tart on Patterson’s menu. I feel like almost every restaurant has some sort of warm chocolate cake with a molten center (which is exactly what this dish was). He did help to make his version not quite as boring with the addition of toasted yogurt and a little square of tamarind gelee. But I was much happier eating the sides of this dish than the chocolate tart; the yogurt and gelee were far more inventive and flavorful!
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The strawberry bombe was more like a strawberry Napoleon made with ice cream than anything else. It was a layer of cake, followed by a layer of strawberry ice cream, followed by a layer of some sort of cream, all topped with strawberry sorbet. Both the strawberry sorbet and ice cream were delicious (as they should be with strawberries being so sweet this time of year) and I was pleased that neither the cream nor the cake layer were overpowering or took anything away from the strawberry flavors. Instead I thought this dessert was well executed and had the most beautiful preparation. I’ve heard that it replaced an amazing meyer lemon meringue pie that used to be on the menu, but I’m happy that I got to try the strawberry bomb!
- The cherry confit covered in triple cream mousse was served in a large bowl and was accompanied by two little slices of cinnamon toast on the side. The cinnamon toast should have been left out; it was too sweet and too hard and did not fit with the rest of the dish. The cherry confit and mousse however were great. Cherries are currently at the height of their season and I was delighted to see Patterson making use of California’s amazing summer produce. The confit was sweet and simple and was transformed into a gourmet dessert with the addition of the slightly tart triple cream mouse. I loved the natural combination of cheese and fruit with a slightly unusual preparation. This was probably my favorite of the three desserts.
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I finished off dinner with blue bottle coffee. After seeing other customers receive hot chocolate and cookies, I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t offered to our table. My only guess is that it is part of the regular menu and that the chefs rightly assume that you’re too stuffed for hot chocolate if you’ve just finished the tasting menu! At the end of the dinner I felt very full, satisfied, and well, impressed. Part of me didn’t want to like Patterson’s restaurant because I had been so annoyed by his article. I personally don’t find anything wrong with California cuisine. While Patterson’s use of foams and unusual ingredients was occasionally successful, I found that his star dishes were the ones were he kept things simple. Like the pea soup with ricotta sorbet or the risotto with vegetables; fresh high quality ingredients masterfully combined in simple ways. I’m very interested to see how this restaurant evolves and I’ll definitely be back in a few months for a second visit!