R.I.P. Basil

WEBLOG:
One of my favorite film composers, Basil Poledouris, has passed away at age 61 after losing a battle against cancer. I’ve loved his score for Conan the Barbarian ever since I first heard it as a kid. It’s one of the first cassette tapes I’ve ever purchased, and when CD’s became popular, I purchased it on CD too. Then I purchased it again when the collector’s edition was released with previously unreleased bonus tracks. To this day, I’ve yet to hear a more majestic and passionate score, and it remains to me one of the finest examples of the art of the film score.

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Elena is back from her trip to Fuzhou. I took her out to Manresa, one of the finest restaurants in the world, to celebrate her return:

Elena loved it, and gave the restaurant a 9.5 out of 10, while I rate it around 8.5 out of 10 (we always use the 10-point scale when rating something). We ordered a four-course and a two-course meal, which including tax and gratuity ended up at about $167, which wasn’t that bad for a restaurant that’s ranked in the top 50 in the world. Here’s a list of what we had (no wine, as we don’t really drink anymore):

The appetizer started with an egg shell with the top cut off, and inside was soft runny egg with multiple layers consisted of sweet maple syrup, sherry vinegar, salt, and cool cream. It was certainly interesting, but Elena found it a bit heavy while I found it a bit overpowering.

The first course:
Japanese summer bass, sashimi style, with olive oil and chives – I liked this one a lot–it had just enough flavor without overpowering the natural taste and texture of the fish.

Risotto “Biodynamic” – Elena loved this one–it was her favorite out of all the dishes. I asked the waiter about the “biodynamic” part, and he explained that the risotto is grown to the rhythm of the earth, following certain full moons, significant dates..etc–a bit of superstitious mystery that some people believe makes the risotto taste better. It all sounded very pagan, and it occurred to me that a restaurant with a pagan theme would probably do really well, especially if in a city like San Francisco.

Middle course:
John dory on the plancha, braised gem lettuce and onions, black trumpets – We weren’t all that impressed with this one. It was a bit plain, and tasted similar to dishes we’ve had at much cheaper restaurants.

Third course:
Roast suckling pig, Joe’s green beans and bacon frites , sauce civet – This one was a bit of a let down (also a bit plain), but then again, I’ve had the most amazing roasted pig ever when we lived in Malaysia, and nothing will ever compare to that (though I hope I’m wrong, as it’s unlikely we’ll ever visit Malaysia again).

Veal cheeks braised in apple cider, celery root and maitakes, roquefort – This dish was just amazing–I never thought that combination would’ve worked, but it did, beautifully. Elena liked the “falling off the bones” softness of the meat, but I don’t think the apple cider was her thing.

Dessert:
Chocolate marquis , cashews and roasted banana ice cream – This one was really good, and having dessert like that makes you never want to buy anything from the supermarket ever again.

So did we agree that Manresa is one of the best restaurants in the world? I personally feel that these “best of” lists are a bit like the Hollywood lists–they reflect popularity and trend more than anything else, but at the same time, you’d never make one of these lists if you didn’t have the chops to back it up. Manresa is certainly a good restaurant, and although not all of the dishes knocked our socks off, a few did give us those “eyes rolled up with pleasure” moments. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a lot better than some of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco that’s never made one of these “world’s best” lists though (for example, Restaurant Lulu, Marnee Thai, Straits Cafe, Amber India..etc). There are still some top restaurants in the Bay Area we haven’t tried yet–Alexander’s Steakhouse being one of them (they have $100 kobe beef dishes). We’ll save those for special occasions.