Farallon

Because the prospect of blogging about Jai Yun is so daunting, I'll cover a meal I had at Farallon about 2 weeks ago.


I've always heard more praise for Kuleto's interior design at Farallon than anything, so it was a chance to test if the food would stack up. We were seated right near the entrance, generally a good view of the restaurant, though we probably would have had a better view if we were seated in the mezzanine. However, the lighting was also better for my picture taking. Oh, the things that matter once you start a blog about food.

The decor was pretty nice, and I liked the glass jelly fish lights. I had the pleasure of sitting under one with particular fat tentacles and also next to a painting of a seahorse drinking a martini with a straw. Pretty hyphy.

Lobster bisque with basil oil

As it happens to be Dine About Town, we decided to go for the 3 course prix fixe, which sounded pretty good. The first course was a lobster bisque, which turned out to be the best course of the meal. It was rich and creamy, with an intense lobster flavor. It was seasoned just about right so that you could taste the lobster.

Pacing was sort of off; while we were having our soup, the bread and butter came out. Our server proved unattentive and unknowlegable during the meal; one of my companions recognized the signs of a hangover.

Steelhead with flageolet beans, salad of bamboo shoots and carrots, and arugula pistou

I'd never previously had steelhead and it turns out to be a nondescript tasting fish. Its flesh is colored a hue lighter than salmon, pretty much the same shade when it is raw. Whole foods sells it occasionally. The flesh, though sort of bland in flavor, had a very tasty skin. It was crunchy and flavorful, which went really well with the smooth flesh. The doneness was just right, so it had a good texture.

The accompaniments were alright. I liked the starchiness of the beans but they didn't add anything new in terms of flavor. The salad was a bit too crunchy to go with the fish but it was tasty. The arugula pesto was very pungent but just didn't really go with the beans or the salad. It looked nice on the plate but seemed a bit out of place with what we were eating. I would have enjoyed just the fish and beans.

Peanut Butter Mousse, chocolate glaze, candied peanuts, vanilla chantilly

This was a pretty blah dessert. Even as a lover of peanut butter, I didn't find the "mousse" very good. It just felt like eating sweetened peanut butter out of the jar with chocolate syrup. The mousse should have been really light to go with the heavy chocolate base. In addition, the cream and peanuts proved superfluous. I didn't eat much of this dessert since it was too heavy.

The lunch wasn't bad but wasn't outstanding either. Perhaps it was just the mediocrity of this menu, but Farallon's food didn't live up to the fame of the decor.
All the dishes were a bit lacking; nonetheless, I feel the restaurant has a lot of potential.

Today I leave for the blistery winds in Ithaca; I'll be updating again once I'm settled. Aufwiedersehen!