Description: Day 4 dinner was at Gary Danko. We had an 8:30pm table for four but ended
up waiting thirty minutes to be seated. The kitchen sent us amuses to enjoy with our starter drinks at the bar. Since one of us is vegetarian, they
prepared an extra one without salmon for him. It was a Tuesday night, but the
restaurant had the busy buzz of a weekend crowd with all the diners around us. As much as we promised ourselves not to compare The French Laundry to Gary Danko, it was disappointing to see that the service here was not up to par. Apparently tonight's performance was not representative of the Gary
Danko my companions were familiar with. When a restaurant charges $70 for
four courses, I expect the service to be better than what we received that
night.
When we were finally seated, they forgot to give us the wine list. We had to request for it when the sommelier came to our table to ask us if we had decided on wine. When I decided on a glass of zinfandel, the sommelier walked away with the list without asking the rest of the table for their drink orders. When they brought us a second round of amuses, we had to remind our waiter again that one of us was vegetarian. No one told us about the
specials until we inquired. It also took a while for our waiter to return to take our orders. We spent four hours at dinner, not because our courses were perfectly paced but because we were waiting for our food to be served.
In spite of the service mishaps, however, once the food finally arrived, I began to appreciate what Gary Danko was really about. I started with the seared Ahi tuna with avocado, enoki mushrooms, and nori. The lemon soy dressing was almost too tart, but the mushrooms and avocado provided the right balance. The tuna was wonderfully tender and pink. The size of this dish could almost have made it an entree.
Next was the roasted Maine lobster with chanterelles and white corn. Tarragon was the strongest herb in this dish, and it tasted like it. I would have been happy without the potato puree, because the lobster was rich enough to make the dish a complete meal.
I greatly enjoyed the frog legs wrapped in pancetta. The garlic puree was a nice touch to the lentils, and both kept the saltiness of the bacon at bay.
For dessert, I chose the apricot tart with almond cream and Beaumes de Venise ice cream.
The food was excellent. It was unfortunate, though, that I had to be there on an off-night from the waitstaff.
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