Dine About Town

Its that time of the year again when normal people can go to those nice, up-scale SF restaurants for a lower priced fixed menu. Along with our good friends and neighbors, J and P, we decided we have to go to a restaurant together. J was given the task of picking the restaurant and she chose CORTEZ RESTAURANT AND BAR located at the Hotel Adagio right by Union Square. Their Dine About Town menu was the following...

Amuse

Soup shot

Starter Choice of:

Various chicories with house-cured sweet pancetta, semi dried spring fruits,fresh soy bean puree

Roasted heirloom beets & their greens, blue cheese mousse, candied pecans, chermoula & argan oil

Entrée choice of:

Whole wheat farro with grilled baby leeks, slow poached Jidori egg & honey roasted garlic

Roasted monkfish with its liver, caramelized cabbage, green mustard & tamarind

White wine braised beef short ribs with grilled cauliflower, spinach, polenta & coriander oil

Dessert Choice of:

Chocolate genoise terrine, blood orange mousse, olio nuovo ice cream

Goat cheesecake with Asian pears, 5 spice caramel

Discussions went on about how many times any of us have ever had an amuse bouche to start our meal. I can't exactly remember what was in ours (I know there was a red pepper) but it was great way to start the meal. The soup shot was also top notch. It was some sort of cabbage thing. Sorry, I am not a critic. I just want to say the dinner was absolutely fabulous. There was so much taste in every bite. The goat cheesecake was amazing.

But I am writing to tell you about how good monkfish is. If you have never seen monkfish, now you have at the top of this entry. What was amazing was how something so ugly could taste so good. The white meat of the fish was thick and juicy. However, the onlly problem was there was a VERY bitter crust around the fish. The tamarind sauce took away much of that taste but not all of it. But all I could think about right now is how I want to try more monkfish. They say its the poor man's lobster. I just know its damn good and I want to try without that crappy bitter crust. Maybe my palet is not yet sophisticated enough to enjoy the bitter taste and the more bitter after taste but I know when I ate the fish without the crust it was great. Even better was the monkfish live. Apparently, some countries see monkfish liver as a delicacy. Well, now so do I. It was made perfectly and completely took away that bitter after taste. So next time you go to a restaurant that you can't afford, try the monkfish (w/o crappy crust) and let me know how it goes!