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| Room Four |
I've been dying to try Room 4 every since it became the kid sister adjacent to Recess, a Greg Hardesty creation that is a f+f favorite. Faced with a rare summer weekend of no social commitments, we decided to try Room 4 on a Saturday night with our friends Courtney and Josh (who had been there before and raved).
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| A Perfect French Dry Rose |
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Inauspicious decor with a mid-century minimalist edge (not unlike Recess) gives Room 4 a casual, European cafe feel. It feels like an eatery in Prague or Berlin, or some other tragically hip Euro metropolis. Our server Jessica is casual, approachable, and adorable (much like our entire experience). We look at the wine list, which is strikingly affordable, with dozens of great bottles under $30 (and several great ones under $25). We decide on dry rose, and Jessica recommends a beautiful $25 French bottle that is just delightful in this heat.
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| Quesadilla with Shiitake and Chevre |
We decide to order to appetizers for the table. The Quesadilla with shiitake mushrooms and goat cheese is finished with a spicy (!!!) tomato avocado relish that is amazing. The dish (for me) is the most surprising dish of the night. I would never think to pair mushrooms and chevre with a completely Mexican salsa (complete with cilantro, chiles and lime). I suppose it makes sense, as the flavor profiles of Thai and Mexican cuisine actually have a lot in common (cilantro, lime and chiles). Reagrdless, it is simply a phenomenal combination, and I immediately decide I have to try to copy this at home. Somehow I think replicating a Greg Hardesty masterpiece may not be a walk in the park, but that won't stop me from giving it a whirl! Stay tuned for the results....
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| Kampachi Sashimi |
The Kampachi dish was a Vietnamese-inspired wonder. The cold soba noodles were steeped in a sauce that had cherry and raspberry juices, soy, and probably a bunch of other things that made it thoroughly complex but not confusing at all on the palette. The fish was prepared sashimi style and was incredible fresh and a perfect complement to the noodles. I had heard of Kampachi, but didn't know much about it. Apparently it is in the same family as yellowtail and amberjack (it also goes by the less sexy name of almaco jack, while "Kona Kampachi" has become a sort of branding mechanism). It is worth noting that Kamampachi is high in Omega-3 oils with no detectable levels of mercury. Read more here, as I think this fish is here to stay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaco_jack.
I have so much to say about Room Four that his will be a two-part review. So, in a f+f first:
TO BE CONTINUED.....
**note to readers: At the risk of revealing myself as a total idiot, you should know that I haven't figured out how to use accent marks online yet. I'm well aware that I reference a good number of foreign words that I am currently not doing them justice. Can anyone help with this please? As a linguistics major this is an increasing irritation!
