Saturday, February 2, 2008
I have been to the Dining at the Ritz twice now. It is one of my favorite restaurants because I love Ron Siegel as the chef. After watching his amazing battle on Iron Chef, a LOBSTER battle too, I have always wanted to experience his divine culinary skills. I only have the pictures of my most recent visit. The best thing is that he has always been there when I went, so you know that he is in the back working hard to perfect his dishes before they come out to you. Service is always impeccable at the Ritz as well, which adds to the whole experience.
The first time I came here the menu was a lot different, there were 3-course prefixes at a very reasonable price. This time around they eliminated that option but the pricing remained around at what the 3-course prefix menu would be. Alas, my sister and I can never control ourselves and opted for the Chef's tasting menu as we did the year before. Ron Siegel never disappoints me in flavor, taste, presentation, nor style. Last year we had the 9-course tasting menu and they offered to make us 18 different courses so that we may enjoy the wide range of his culinary genius. It was spectacular! If only I started taking pictures to display here.
As for this current visit there was a set Chef's tasting menu, but there were a few things I didn't prefer to try and asked to substitute. The staff was more than generous and willing to comply, which makes them even better in my book because they truly are there to make your dining experience as enjoyable as possible.Our amuse-bouche came a little out of order, but they were all delicious. They had the same Ecoli-free spinach morsel that we loved! They actually forgot to give us this at the beginning, so we asked for it later on. The amuse-bouche that they gave us was a delectable tuna topped off with foam. Then they brought out the cutest and best amuse bouche. At first I thought it was Cinderella's glass slipper, but it was a glass egg. It was wrapped with saran wrap that had a small hole covered by the spoon because the egg was filled with applewood smoke. So once you remove the spoon the aroma will seep out. Atop the plastic was a quail egg, crispy buttery bread chips, & caviar. I thought the dish was very inventive and unique. Truly a memorable amuse bouche!






The pallette cleanser was a Meyer Lemon Sorbet on a huckleberry cloud and tangerine segment. Both my sister and I substituted the dessert because it was a composition of fall fruits. Lets just say we both aren't big fruit fans. I was delighted with my cheese plate substitution and my sister ordered the Chocolate Manjari Caramel cake served with Teccino ice cream, vanilla foam, hazelnut crisp, & maldon salt. They actually gave very generous cuts of the cheese and the cheese cart was fabulous! They gave us honeycombs and almonds. This was the first time I have eaten honeycombs and I thought it tasted superb especially with the blue cheese. It really brought out the flavor of the cheese. The chocolate dessert was very good and beautifully presented.

You definitely need to try the Dining once in your life while Chef Ron Siegel is still there! Believe me, you will enjoy it! ^_ ~
The Dining at the Ritz
600 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 296-7465
Labels: Fusion, New American, San Francisco
1 comments:
Heya Kat! MMmmmmm...please remember to bring me with you whenever you make these culinary discoveries!!! Much love and respect to ya, your friend, Crazy Q (Guess who that is!)
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