Manresa food of the gods.

On Saturday night Shira and I along with a couple of friends went to Manresa in Los Gatos. I know that a lot of you that read this are not real foodies,but this place is really something special. Its hidden in a back alley in down town Los Gatos and from the outside is totally unassuming. And once you step inside the place is modern and very classy. Maybe I should start with why we chose the restaurant. I love the scientific way of cooking and have wanted to try a real macro gastronomy style restaurant. The problem is that there really are none in the bay area right now. While investigating where I might get a taste of this style of food Manresa kept coming up. Did a little research and found that it was a must try place on all the best lists and reviews around the world. It has 2 Michelin stars which for such a young restaurant(7 years ) is amazing. In the April issue of Saveur magazine they call it one of the 12 restaurants that matter in the US. David Kinch the chef and owner has put together quite a package. The get all their produce from Love Apple Farms which David visits many times a week to get the best and freshest for each days menu. He changes it almost every day depending on what is fresh. He has also established relationships with local sea food and producers of organic meat.to say the least everything is of top quality,which you can taste. This is the real focus ,fresh ,strong  and interesting flavors. Some of the preparations are unique and  might sound odd, but I cant stress how good everything was. 

The way the restaurant works is you pick a 3 ,4 or seven course meal at a fixed price.You can choose from a list of about 20 items ,from soup to desert. The servers will explain everything ,they are phenomenal. In between each course you will get an amuse bouche and these are where you get the items that will expand your palate. The first was a carrot and beet granata,which is an Italian style ice treat.It smelled like fresh veggies and had an amazing full flavor like nothing I have ever tried. For the first course I had the vegetable soup with hand crushed potatoes and mustard creme.Best soup I have ever had . Shira had a dish called into the vegetable garden.Its a variety of veggies in their own juices and a flavored foam mixed in.Loved the taste ,its a salad on steroids. Our friend Jeff had an asparagus dish which was some raw and cooked with a soft cooked egg  ,sea salt and an infused oil of some kind. Now I am not big on asparagus but this was just perfect. Then came the most confusing,but amazing dish of the night.A soft cooked egg yolk in its shell,maple syrup and a chive oil foam. Sounds weird,but each bite was different and special.Two of those would have been a treat. The next dish for me was farm raised baby abalone with sun chokes and sorrels. I have had a lot of abalone over the years and have never has such a soft perfect preparation.It was so tender and full of flavor. Shira had a cod dish that was the low of the evening,but it would be a star at any other restaurant. The last savory course was beef for me and lamb for Shira. She had a small bit of lamb tongue along with a nice cut of lamb shank all cooked to perfection. Same  with my beef dish.Along with all of this was amazing bread and butter with sea salt sprinkled on top.mmmmmmmmmmm.The desert course was a treat.Normally I skip this,but this was special.I had fresh strawberries with goat cheese and a super tasty fruit reduction.Shira has a super rich chocolate treat that was not my style,but she loved it.As if this was not enough you get a truffle at the end,rich but what a way to end the meal.

We finished at around 11 pm as the place was dying down,only a few couples left .Our waiter then asked us if we wanted to see the kitchen.Of course we jumped at the opportunity.There were 13 people back there in a place that was half lab and half assembly line. The head man took us aside and explained a lot of what was going on.We did not get to meet the chef as he was at an event in Monterrey,but it was still a great end to the night. 

This is not a cheap evening , and we did not even have wine. But for those special occasions its worth every penny. This is one of those places that makes you feel special and the staff work really hard at it.I am going to dream about this meal for a long time.