a “social club”, “communal tables” preview of jaca by daniel patterson. review forthcoming?
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Going in a few weeks- but if anyone is going soon lmk how it is! (Although I hate communal tables)
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This was fun! It’s roughly two 6 person tables. Daniel Patterson comes and describes each course. Never made it to Coi, but some dishes from that era made an appearance like the popcorn grits. Was also my first time have the long sous vide short rib, served medium. In my mind, lots of technique and execution that doesn’t get in the way of the food. Tomato dishes were 
I had enough food, but maybe @PorkyBelly and @bluebarb will contribute their impressions.
At $325/person with tax and gratuity, including wine/non alc option, it’s a pretty good value for an intimate tasting menu meal served by a chef who’s held 2* and small team of pros.
His wife Sarah does a good job breaking the ice for folks and subtly seeding the room with interesting tidbits about the people there. I don’t think the communal table is a dealbreaker, especially this early when the only people there are ones who are pretty into food.
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Nice!
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I…didn’t love it.
Maybe it was the price - while I liked the wines I wish I didn’t have to do a sort of pairing. If this is what the menu at Jaca is like and commands a 250+ price tag sans alcohol I don’t know if I’ll be compelled to go.
While everything was technically precise - nothing stuck out to me as memorable dish. In some ways the food felt…dated? Not that I need modernist cooking - just that it felt like a meal I would’ve had at Coi all those years ago. Like someone pressed pause. And…distinctly lacking in a POV unless the POV is “gluten is bad” and “produce is nice” which…yeah totally.
Feelings about communal dining aside - that part isn’t my fav but i knew Sarah from forever ago in New York when I worked in music and she’s a delight of course.
Wish I spent the $$$ elsewhere.
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pretty much what i remembered from coi: grain and veg forward, light on the fats and proteins. not my favorite. highlight for me were the sweet flavorful tomatoes and the egg yolk and caviar which i think is a carryover from coi
foh with gregory and sarah was excellent especially for a pop-up and beats out many b&m places.
review forthcoming @butteredwaffles?
puffed brown rice crackers, charred avocado
frozen tomato-watermelon gazpacho
caviar, egg poached in smoked oil, creme fraiche, chive
cherry tomato, wheatgrass, herbs and flowers
popcorn grits
line-caught vermillion, mango, fig leaf oil
morels, new potatoes, fir tips
short rib grilled over charcoal, suya, shallot-marrow, wheatberries
rose bowl, beet-blackberry sorbet, rose, yogurt
chocolate-almond-cherry bar
double double animal style whole grilled onions, whole raw onions, extra toast
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Lol, you’re describing what I like about this meal, which is really just different tastes! I enjoy this kind of meal sometimes. I also liked that things are not overly garnished, having recently experienced some meals where sometimes they actively detract from the balance of the dish. Of course, I benefit from not having experienced Coi before. If this was much like what Coi of 5+ years ago and I had already been there I may have felt different? There is definitely a benefit to the novelty of experiencing a chef’s style for the first time.
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your sky all hung with jewels
found the old Babette’s menu between grits and vermillion. hadn’t even seen Lion King at the Regal Jack London yet
Some heat came off that central Venus gravity point in the tom-wat-gaz-pac, balanced between gelato, meringue and creme fraiche.
a lot of spinning and friction, slowing down a bicycle wheel with your hand. chewing a tomato skin to create vibration behind the ears. Cold but not cold, give yourself the chills.
climb up tunnel to skyline, drop pinehurst to redwood, there’s fog and trees, climb back up pine hurst and drop snake or joaquin miller. go fast
I’ve fallen apart so many times, thrown as much self away as possible to strip whatever isn’t core, and even then it’s okay how little of the core is necessary? Can I rebuild without?
That’s where you find the things that stick, the okay this is me can’t really deny it.
Pair of chinos, a button up, some basic walking shoes. I’ve gotten as much joy out of wearing cool sneakers as I possibly can. I don’t care anymore, maybe someday I will again, but for a while it’s been this is what I wear.
Kinda how I felt reading the Babette’s menu.
then you fall apart again, but that’s okay. there’s a jean jacket in a box under the bed you haven’t worn in years.
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I was surprised to find reservations still available.
Menu was presented at the end. My notes during:
sparkling rose of Sangiovese
papadum with radishes and avocado puree
tomato grape ice with wild sea salt
homemade soft tofu with Monterey Bay fresh seaweed, gelee, and Astrea Schrenckii caviar
A la Source Montlouis
beets, sweet onion puree, nuts, seeds, chiles, burnt onion powder
chilled eggplant soup, roasted peppers, fresh shelling beans, cilantro
smoked steelhead trout, dill yogurt, coastal greens
2022 Givaudin Irancy
roasted and raw matsutake, rice cakes, shiso buds, sauce with white miso, sake lees, matsutake, etc.
pepper seared duck, wild huckleberry sauce, salad with pickled shallots and crackling, duck bone broth
passion fruit baba, passion fruit and basil lauce, white chocolate
chocolate, almond, and cherry bar
One surprise for me: most of the other guests heard about it on Reddit.
I guess there’s caviar coming.
Was the hint of smokiness from the caviar?
Before stirring.
Guess I forgot to photograph the trout or the photo somehow didn’t take.
Where can I get a simple pile of roasted matsutake? I was jealous of David Chang’s guests this week. Chef told me his sous works on that show.
Basil oil was too strong, only misstep of the meal. Chef said it was a last-minute substitution since he didn’t want to use cilantro twice.
Solid meal, a fun experience, and a good value. I like Patterson’s cooking, Plum was maybe my favorite restaurant while it lasted.
The new place will not be in the old Son of a Gun but somewhere else on 3rd. They hope to open in February. Goal is more affordable ($100-200) fine-dining tasting menu.
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Oh wow do you know why they bailed on son of a gun?? That’s surprising.
And yeah the place is ALL over r/finedining. A baffling place to me that loves molecular gastronomy and anything novelty (so the idea of a dinner in someone’s home makes their heads explode)
The Son of a Gun space would have cost more to remodel than they wanted to spend given their goal of relative affordability.
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it is? all i see are a couple comments and this post started by his wife:
https://www.reddit.com/r/finedining/comments/1lc8e24/chef_daniel_pattersons_return_to_fine_dining/
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Lots of people recommended in threads when they ask for LA recs. And maybe on the LA food subreddit too and I’m combining in my head