ate at the grove last night. overall a very impressive meal with only a couple small hiccups that, really, didn't impact the overall experience at all.
we all opted for the 7 course menu, opened with 3 amuses, freshly picked radishes with a green cream sauce of sorts (that was somewhat lacking in flavour, although the radishes were delicious and fresh as you can find), the chips and curry ketchup (delicious), and a gougere-esque cheese square that was also very tasty.
shellfish broth with various herbs, shrimp, something else - delicious, light broth, poured tableside over the very nicely plated (bowled?) other ingredients. no complaints, but i wasn't blown away by it either.
asparagus with cinnamon cap mushrooms, citrus (i think meyer lemon?) - we all ended up having this course, and the portion of mushrooms was significantly bigger on one of the plates than the other 2. served with a slice of lemon as well as a couple of citrus-y sauces, overall a good opening dish and a good vegetable dish. i felt it was lacking something, perhaps a crispy component, but still good.
salmon with dill, kohlrabi, cucumber, apple, something crunchy - this was a huge winner. everyone enjoyed this dish thoroughly and i don't have a single bad thing to say about it. no guy fieri but i could eat 10 or 12 of these.
ling cod with fava beans and cinnamon cap mushrooms - the fish was cooked perfectly, but the fava beans replaced an advertised "seaweed butter" that i felt would have probably worked better in this dish. it lacked seasoning and the beans didn't help in that department. but again, perfectly cooked cod.
sturgeon, mussels, cabbage - this fish was fucking fantastic. another favourite course. seasoning was on point, fish was incredible, just a real winner overall.
albacore, pomegranate, watermelon radish - another fantastic fish course. an excellent interplay of flavours, the pomegranate added a nice little pop that didn't overwhelm the other elements, great dish.
duck egg, artichoke, rye berries - this was ridiculous. probably the favourite dish of the evening overall, judging by how quickly it was hoovered by myself and my duck egg loving companions. sous-vided duck egg was fantastically cooked and plated on a green sauce that i can't remember the taste of (we had some cocktails), and the rye berries added a great textural element as well as flavour. the artichoke was definitely not an afterthought but i could have lived without it, although overall, just a really great dish.
onglet, marrow vinaigrette, ramps - this was also great. the meat was cooked perfectly rare, the ramps were slightly charred, the sauces that i don't remember (except that one of them was green) were great. this is what a steak, or a meat course, should be. perfect portion size as well.
goats cheese, honeycomb, some kind of jelly, toast - a scoop of goats cheese with a piece of honeycomb stuck in it, topped with a dollop of some kind of red jelly and a lil piece of bread. i'm not often one for a cheese course but this was delicious.
carrot cake - good, but i'm not a huuuuge dessert guy and this was also like 3 hours and several drinks in.
chocolate thing - REALLY GOOD
finally they broke us off with a trio of mini salted caramel tarts that were fairly chill. a nice way to end the meal.
i do, though, find the system they have to be a bit cumbersome. we managed to order everything, but somehow ended up with both an extra onglet (all 3 of us ordered it but we ended up with 4) and a third asparagus that was supposed to be a second albacore. i'm not mad, because it was all fantastic and really, really reasonably priced, but it seems maybe stressful for servers and the kitchen to get it all nailed down.
cocktails were pisco sours (fantastic) and a sloe gin fizz (less fantastic). also had a couple junction brewery something or other ales, that were great, and ended with a round of picklebacks, something i was very pleased to see on the menu.
the service was good, pleasant staff who were attentive and quick to refill water, replace cutlery, etc. there were a couple points where we had to wait a bit for drinks, but again, i'm not mad.
overall a fantastic meal well worthy of a birthday celebration. hell i'd go back any time, sixty dollars for seven good-to-really, really great courses plus amuses is kind of a stupid deal. it's a good time to eat around these parts
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