One thought on “Underwhelming. Disappointing. Just plain sad.”
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Can I just say. . . blech. . . Drago does not win big points with me. . .
This is probably the worst tasting menu experience I have ever had. So we started with an amuse bouche, that was consumed prior to getting the camera out. . . it wasn’t a bad start. It was an Italian version of a croquette. Crispy fried rice-y, bolognese goodness. . . oh and did I mention cheese. My first thought was “mmmmmmmmmm” my second was “this is gonna be a heavy meal.” Okee dokee. . . on to the first course. . . a seafood salad, literally, 2 pieces of tuna sashimi–meh– mussel–ok–calamari–good–and bay scallops–had the texture of sirloin, on a bed of greens with a light lemon vinaigrette. So, I can make that dish better. . . Sadness, but at least not disgusting. On to dish numero dos, beet risotto and santa barbara spot prawn. . . pretty presentation, spot prawn excellently, and delicately done, beet risotto had a nice, full beet flavor with just and edge of parmesan cheese. Hmmm, but the prawn and risotto together–hello, calling mr prawn, we appear to have lost mr prawn. . . who in their right mind combines a delicate lightly flavored prawn with a full bodied beet risotto? You simplely could not mix the two as all you tasted was BEET. Now, from my land beets are holy, but you wanna accentuate the positive, not decimate mr. delicate spot prawn. I would have paired this risotto with slow cooked lacinato kale and garlic. . .multiple textures, both strong, but complimentary flavors. Dish #3, I just wanna say, yuck!!!!! pillow pasta filled with sweet corn ricotta in a butter sauce with black truffles. . . tasty truffles check, butter sauce looked thickened with starch. . . not attractive, and the pillows–omg that has got to be the worst thing I ever ate. . . tasted like a stale old carrot with that sharp sweet taste, ewwwwww. Just ate the truffles. #4 foie gras. . . now I love me some foie gras, tasty, rich, creamy, a bit gelatinous in texture; having said that it needs a delicate hand. Too underdone and it tastes like raw chicken liver (not an experience I enjoy repeating) overdone and it is chalky. Well chef de cuisine decided on the under, not over done today and well the texture was decidedly icky. This can be excused it the foie gras is paired with appropriate accompaniments. . . after all, what do we all seek in life. . . balance. . . that is all the FG is asking for too. Seek and ye shall find is the old adage, but I guess that I am still looking. FG needs sweet, spicy and a bit of acid to balance the gras. . . Drago’s was just sweet we got a grilled fig. . . tasty, and a overly syrupy strawberry compote. . . dish uneaten. . . checkmate. Finally, the steak, I have heard of Drago’s healthy respect for the cow so was looking forward to this portion of the meal. . .despite the previous disappointments. Well no love, the meat was treated in a way that I am still trying to processes. It was sirloin, but had an almost gelatinous, not chewy, texture and it was heavily salted, oddly, the salt and seasonings penatrated all the way through the meat. . . a phenomenon that I had never had before. Eating the center alone the beef had the same briny, salty quality as eating the crust. . . odd. The patates were good and the bone marrow flan was tasty but a bit much. At least I could almost complete this dish. Finally, the dessert. . . a plum semifreddo, well it was pretty. . . on top were pluots not plums and the semifreddo just tasted like sweet cream. . . having said that the bright spot was the cab-balsamic reduction–absolutely to die for. . . sweet, spicy, acidic. . .complex. . . exactly what I had hoped dinner would be. . . be we don’t always get what we hope for, now do we.
Can I just say. . . blech. . . Drago does not win big points with me. . .
This is probably the worst tasting menu experience I have ever had. So we started with an amuse bouche, that was consumed prior to getting the camera out. . . it wasn’t a bad start. It was an Italian version of a croquette. Crispy fried rice-y, bolognese goodness. . . oh and did I mention cheese. My first thought was “mmmmmmmmmm” my second was “this is gonna be a heavy meal.” Okee dokee. . . on to the first course. . . a seafood salad, literally, 2 pieces of tuna sashimi–meh– mussel–ok–calamari–good–and bay scallops–had the texture of sirloin, on a bed of greens with a light lemon vinaigrette. So, I can make that dish better. . . Sadness, but at least not disgusting. On to dish numero dos, beet risotto and santa barbara spot prawn. . . pretty presentation, spot prawn excellently, and delicately done, beet risotto had a nice, full beet flavor with just and edge of parmesan cheese. Hmmm, but the prawn and risotto together–hello, calling mr prawn, we appear to have lost mr prawn. . . who in their right mind combines a delicate lightly flavored prawn with a full bodied beet risotto? You simplely could not mix the two as all you tasted was BEET. Now, from my land beets are holy, but you wanna accentuate the positive, not decimate mr. delicate spot prawn. I would have paired this risotto with slow cooked lacinato kale and garlic. . .multiple textures, both strong, but complimentary flavors. Dish #3, I just wanna say, yuck!!!!! pillow pasta filled with sweet corn ricotta in a butter sauce with black truffles. . . tasty truffles check, butter sauce looked thickened with starch. . . not attractive, and the pillows–omg that has got to be the worst thing I ever ate. . . tasted like a stale old carrot with that sharp sweet taste, ewwwwww. Just ate the truffles. #4 foie gras. . . now I love me some foie gras, tasty, rich, creamy, a bit gelatinous in texture; having said that it needs a delicate hand. Too underdone and it tastes like raw chicken liver (not an experience I enjoy repeating) overdone and it is chalky. Well chef de cuisine decided on the under, not over done today and well the texture was decidedly icky. This can be excused it the foie gras is paired with appropriate accompaniments. . . after all, what do we all seek in life. . . balance. . . that is all the FG is asking for too. Seek and ye shall find is the old adage, but I guess that I am still looking. FG needs sweet, spicy and a bit of acid to balance the gras. . . Drago’s was just sweet we got a grilled fig. . . tasty, and a overly syrupy strawberry compote. . . dish uneaten. . . checkmate. Finally, the steak, I have heard of Drago’s healthy respect for the cow so was looking forward to this portion of the meal. . .despite the previous disappointments. Well no love, the meat was treated in a way that I am still trying to processes. It was sirloin, but had an almost gelatinous, not chewy, texture and it was heavily salted, oddly, the salt and seasonings penatrated all the way through the meat. . . a phenomenon that I had never had before. Eating the center alone the beef had the same briny, salty quality as eating the crust. . . odd. The patates were good and the bone marrow flan was tasty but a bit much. At least I could almost complete this dish. Finally, the dessert. . . a plum semifreddo, well it was pretty. . . on top were pluots not plums and the semifreddo just tasted like sweet cream. . . having said that the bright spot was the cab-balsamic reduction–absolutely to die for. . . sweet, spicy, acidic. . .complex. . . exactly what I had hoped dinner would be. . . be we don’t always get what we hope for, now do we.