will’s a little fussy
t says: g and I joined m and n and kp for n’s birthday the other day! It was a blast – good friends, good wine, and somewhere-around-good food. Check it out!
March 2013, Saturday Dinner, Party of a LOT. m was smart and arranged a fixed price menu. We were promised 4 courses for $65 (1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, 1 piece of cake) I thought that that was a bit high to pay, but m had already calculated in the tax and tip, so then it came about equal to what g and I refer to as “a special occasion meal” … and n’s special, so we were cool with it!
garlic leek soup: it looked pretty, but g felt it was nothing more than a solid soup – nothing profound like fond’s soups – just some garlic and leek flavors that predominated, with a rich base. It was solid.
escargot and chicken liver: at first the sweet and sour flavors tasted kind of like general tso’s sauce on the escargot, but then when mixed with everything else, the dish made more sense (it needed the oomph from the liver to balance out the sweet). However, it was short-lived as there were FIVE total escargots on the plate – five! booo. It was a shame because when all the favors combined, it was actually a very nice symphony in there!
the tetra-chicken: there were at least four preparations of chicken on this plate, and while some of them were snoozeville (the poached breast had a nice texture but underwhelming flavor and was underseasoned), others were great (that chicken skin was ridiculous). It was good fun trying to figure out what was chicken and what was not (given all the shapes of the items on the plate), but ultimately, as soon as you found your favorite “piece”, you were less inclined to go back and eat the other pieces …
steak and mushrooms: this dish was a little disappointing. First off, let’s just put it out there: it failed to reach Garces Trading Company goodness (and certainly would come in at a higher cost). The cut of meat was nice, and the application of heat was technically sound, however, the flavor was underwhelming – it was reminiscent of the steak we had in Paris (the one at Le Chateaubriand, not the one that gave us gastroenteritis). So in the end, it tasted like steak, which is good, but it just didn’t taste like a $30 entree steak. Does that mean it’s kinda-sorta-a-fail? The veggies and mushrooms were a nice touch (although underseasoned), but weren’t enough to carry the dish home. Sorry will.
In all, as the title of the post suggests, we found Will to be a little to “fussy”. We like the idea of pushing the envelope, but sacrificing flavor depth is not an adequate trade-off. For example, the food at Fond is not quite as “fussy” as Will’s, but in the end Fond’s dishes are reliably delicious and will knock you on your ass if you’re not ready for them (and will likely be cheaper to boot!). Sorry Will – for right now, I can’t join the love-fest of all the critics, and I’m going to have to pass. Fortunately, the friends and wine that night more than made up for the food – it was a fabulous dinner overall! Oh – I almost forgot – the desserts were actually quite good – including the chocolate cake they made for n’s birthday! I think that I enjoyed the desserts more than the meats, so that was a splendid finish to the meal – I give them props for not snoozing on dessert!
after dinner sneeze 
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