DICS Does Michael Mina

Tonight DICS dined at the very famous Restaurant Michael Mina located in the Westin St Francis on Union Square. To say the least, our expectations for the restaurant were very low considering we knew how pricey the menu was, and I think all of us expected to be let down, at least in some fashion. (If this is not foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.)

The night was off to a poor start when I entered the restaurant. I found Julie, Jessica, and Jeremy all huddled around a small cocktail table sipping on various fruity drinks. That includes Jeremy who was drinking something to the kin of grenadine and vodka. As soon as I sat down, each person at the table quickly described how bad their drink was. In fact, Jessica begged me for the next 15 minutes to help her finish it off. However, the drinks did do the trick as Jessica and Julie were quite toasty before we even ordered.

We were then seated and given our menus. Once we had our menus in hand, we quickly understood what made this restaurant so unique. It is a prefixed menu with three courses, however, each course is prepared in three different ways. So, it meant that in reality each person was able to get 9 different unique tastes throughout the evening. After we ordered, we started with a bottle of La Reve Sparkling White Wine from Domain Carneros and we were promptly presented with a special amuse-bouche; soft-shelled crab prepared in three different ways (in keeping with the general theme). There was a buttery smooth bisque, a bite sized piece of tempura fried crab, and a crab cake prepared with hummus. Each was very impressive.

At the same time we were presented with hot rolls and “the best better I’ve ever had” according to Julie on our own little butter plate. The waiter appeared a few minutes later with our appetizers. Julie and I both had the lobster and artichoke dish while Jessica and Jeremy both had the foie gras. The lobster was prepared in three different ways with an additional small lobster tail. The highlight for both Julie and I was the single tortelloni, which, when I bit into it, I said “This is the best taste I've ever tasted.” Julie followed with “I had a special moment just now.”

Jeremy and Jessica both said that it was the best foie gras they had ever eaten. We then moved on to our main course and opened up a 2003 Rochioli Pinot Noir. Jessica and Jeremy both had the lamb. It was presented medium rare with three distinctly different sauces, and during her main course Jessica remarked that is was “Heaven on a plate.” Julie had the “Three Little Pigs” which was a sampling of pork loin, ribs, and pork belly. At one point Julie leaned back on the couch to take a break and uttered “I'm a little warm right now.” At about the same time Jeremy picked it up a notch with this quote: “I am about as likely to go dancing as I am to lick the pork fat off of Julie’s plate.”

We then moved on to dessert that was, to say the least, epic. Julie and Jessica split the cheese plate and chocolate deserts. The cheese plate was a series of three different medium hard cheeses from a sheep, cow and goat. They were each paired with fruity morsels of deliciousness according to Julie. The chocolate dessert, which I also had, was a composition of chocolate mousse, ganache, and a molten lava cake. Hands down the scrumptuously melting chocolate combined with the chocolate ice cream was off the hook. The ganache paired with Jasmine Tea ice cream was certainly the weak link in the group because it seemed to be very dry and not had little flavor. However, the mousse made up for it along with the walnut flavored ice cream that was seated next to it. Jeremy’s tummy was “owwie” at this point in the night and we really considered kicking him out of DICS because he couldn’t hang. “I’ve never been so wrecked by a meal,” was Jeremy’s thought just before he started his dessert, the Citrus Plate, of which he only finished half.

At this point we figured we were done. However, we were presented with a final treat, a series of bon bons. The pear sorbet encrusted in chocolate and thinly sliced candied puffed rice was outstanding, although it was not out done by the strawberry ice cream prepared in the same fashion.

All of us agreed that Michael Mina was better food and a more enjoyable restaurant than any other restaurant we’d been to in the city, including Gary Danko and Quince. In fact, we’d go so far as to say the Michael kicked Gary’s ass. Till next time,

The DICS