The Tasting Menu Experience at Michelin-Starred Protege
I have enjoyed the exquisite food at Palo Alto’s Michelin-starred Protege many a time.
In the lounge with the a la carte menu. Dining outdoors on the same. And even with takeout during the throes of the pandemic.
But I had never ever tried the tasting menu that’s offered in the restaurant’s more intimate dining room.
Until last week — when I finally decided it was the perfect time to do so to celebrate a late-birthday dinner.
It’s a 7-course menu for $225 with an automatic 20 percent gratuity tacked on that requires a full prepayment. Any cancellation must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
Unlike the lounge, which has a bar with seating and an view into the kitchen, the dining room is more serene, done up with a tufted banquette and curved leather chairs.
Owners, Chef Anthony Secviar and Master Sommelier Dennis Kelly, met while working at the French Laundry. So, it’s not surprising that there is an air of precision to everything. What’s not so expected is the touch of whimsy and light-heartedness here and there. It all makes for an upscale experience that makes you feel well cared yet in an unpretentious manner.
Just consider the cocktail, the “I.D.T.S.O.O.T.” ($24), a refreshing, easy-going gin-based drink with a foresty green taste of bay laurel and spruce tip. When we asked Assistant General Manager Fleur Verwijis what in the world that was an acronym for, she smirked, and replied, “I hope I can say this aloud. It’s ‘I Drink The S–T Out of This.” If that doesn’t make you laugh in return, surely the house-made gummy bear stuck to the glass will.
Unlike most other restaurant tasting menus, this one does not come with an optional set wine pairing. Instead, Kelly or Verwijis suggested a couple splits since we were a party of 4. They asked our preference for California or European wines, and when we decided on the latter, they had immediate suggestions.
As they prepped those, the first bite arrived, a cylindrical amuse cradled in a parchment sling. It was an elegant cannoli with the thinnest of shells filled with uni and truffle creme fraiche. Creamy and airy like thick whipped cream, it tasted of both sea and earth intertwined.
That was followed by rich tasting Tasmanian sea trout folded up inside a delicate crepe dotted with fines herbes and heaped with a mound of osetra caviar. It’s a fancy tasting dish that makes you sit up just a little taller when you eat it.
Next, a glass bowl is set in front of you. All you see is a crumble of what turns out to be crispy potato covering a creamy foundation. Dig through to find Pacific sablefish smoked over cherry blossom tree wood with sweet spring peas, and a sweet onion dashi. It’s a seductive dish with the meltingly tender fish taking on just enough smoke to make its presence known but not overpoweringly so. There’s a tickle of pepper that hits at the back of the throat just at the end.
A mini loaf of bread, made with half all-purpose and half whole wheat flours, arrives warm and crusty with curls of shaved butter that are the perfect soft consistency for easy spreading.
When I’ve dined in the lounge before, Secviar has often sent out on the house a portion of his 9-layer lasagna. It’s not actually available on the a la carte menu, but it’s a staple on the tasting menu for good reason. With neatly stacked regal layers, the lasagna is finished with Madeira jus, porcinis, and aged Parmigiano to create an intensity of earthiness, nuttiness, and umami.
The next dish had us all swooning even more: Wolfe Ranch quail, its flesh incredibly juicy and its skin crisp as can be with the fat underneath rendered completely. Accompanying it was a teeny brown butter black walnut financier, tiny Tokyo turnip, and a charred shallot jam.
The beef course showcases Flannery beef cut served with stinging nettles, morels with their tiny caps somehow stuffed with shrimp mousse, new potatoes, and a zesty ramp vinaigrette.
However, there’s also the option to spring for the A5 Japaneese Wagyu ribeye (a $60 supplement) instead. It’s served with fluffy Koshihikari rice with puffed seeds covering on top. Two of us decided to go with the Flannery and the other two, the Wagyu. That way, we could trade tastes, providing a fun and educational way to compare and contrast the robust beefy taste of the Flannery against the sheer fatty richness of the Wagyu.
The cheese cart soon rolls to the table with that day’s selections: Tete de moine, an Alpine-style cheese that’s shaved thinly into florets for serving; a triple-creme Brillant Savarin from France; a Wisconsin cheese washed in Kentucky bourbon; a triple-creme blue cambozola from Germany; and a Montenegro goat’s milk cheese from Spain.
The cheeses were served with slices of country loaf with currants from Mountain View’s Midwife & The Baker, addictive candied pecans, baked apple jam, and an intriguing brown-butter honey that was sweet, thick, and a little caramel-like.
To cleanse the palate, an icy coconut water granita followed with fresh kiwi and a pop of tangy passion fruit.
Dessert epitomized the season with a rhubarb sorbet alongside a white chocolate cylinder that mimicked the savory cannoli amuse, only this was filled with jammy strawberries.
When it comes to the mignardises, don’t expect the usual chocolates or pates de fruit. Nope, not when there are the cutest pineapple and raspberry lemonade gummy bears instead. How fun is that?
The last treat is a take-home gift: a brownie-like chocolate financier with a decadent cream cheese filling. Call it a midnight snack or the next day’s breakfast of champion chocoholics.
Should you want to freshen up in the restroom before you depart, be sure to glance at the door on the stall for an encouraging message.
Because when you leave a restaurant like this, that’s just how you feel — inside and out.
