agree that Vespertine’s tonka bean dessert is amazing.
we ate a second dish on the list this year – the sweet potato at Alma Fonda Fina, which is the best dish we tried there in an otherwise unmemorable meal.
Just went to Vespertine 2.0 tonight and sharing my quick initial thoughts: Overall, I really enjoyed it! Would consider going again. Some true slam dunks in the line up. A great balance between art and delicious food. Experimentation/innovation and approachability. Found the service very warm and friendly. I appreciated all the information they provided on each course. Got the non alcoholic pairing and thought that they worked great. Both the service and food are great and this is unlike anything what I heard of 1.0.
I think the closest restaurant I would compare this to is what I recall of Somni 1.0 in a good way (haven’t been to Somni 2.0 yet). Of course, very significant differences but several similarities in the service. I caught some synchronization of movements and the explanations and engagement were friendly in a way that I recall fondly from Somni. Of course, this might just be a general fine dining thing at this level as I have limited experience in this arena outside of LA (which is why I also make a lot of comparisons to Somni).
I’ll try to update this post with pictures and my highlights next week. FYI, if this makes you consider visiting please note that Chef Kahn indicated he was planning to make significant menu changes in April.
Edit:
Highlights: Seasonal Paradox (snap peas), Obsidian Mirror (mussels), Deep Seven (fish), Quail, all the desserts (from pancake trio on)
Menu - hopefully you can magnify and see something.
Comparing to PeonyWarrior’s menu, the changes are in the details and the general dishes are very similar.
Seasonal Paradox - Peas are the hidden star of this dish underneath all the colorful garnishes. This might be there to take the place of a salad and was the star of the cold courses despite having no proteins. There’s a lot going on in this dish from flavors to textures but it works very well.
Deep Ocean - Prawns. Beautiful dish and the dishware is pretty neat!
Black Obsidian - Mussels; really neat presentation and lots of flavor.
Deep Seven - I believe this was a Sea Bass? Could’ve recorded that incorrectly. Regardless this was a 10/10 for me. Fish is probably my favorite protein and the one they served was perfect. Juicy, just the right amount of chew and bite. It’s up there with the high level Kaiseki I’ve been to, both in LA at Hayato and in Tokyo. I was pretty surprised how much I liked this. The sauces are also a great complement.
Quail - I believe they served Wolfe Ranch Quail and this was another 10/10 dish. I want to say it’s comparable to the quail at Benu (but it’s been several years so my memory is fuzzy). I definitely enjoyed this as much as the duck I had at my last meal at Hayato. Sauce here was also great. There was duck leg in a wrap and bread served as well and those were both good.
Lamb
Red Earth - This was considered a transitional. Actually a bit more of a slightly savory taste with some mild sweetness from what I thought were cherries but the menu says strawberries. I thought they mentioned pumpkin at some point but I could have misheard.
Pancake trio. Really great! Loved combining all the items together.
The birch ice/ice cream was great too. But the Layers dessert was both the most visually interesting and overall tasty of desserts. The top and bottom-most layers were my favorite but combining all the components was fun and delicious.
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Glad you liked it. We preferred it to Somni 2.0.
Updated my post with some pictures and thoughts. Pictures mostly focused on differences from PeonyWarrior’s last review on anything that differed or I had something that added on.
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