One of the most creative and unique meals I’ve had, Vespertine is an experience. It kind of feels like eating in some alien or sci-fi world. The entire experience from the building it occupies, the music, the copy of the menu, to the food itself and so on is interesting and different.
They do have some supplements that are offered when you sit down, I think that there was a wagyu supplement, a caviar add-on, and an uni dessert supplement that sounded very interesting. I passed on all of the supplements but that uni dessert was tempting. They also offer a wine pairing, a non-alcoholic pairing, and a dynamic pairing which is a mixed pairing of 3 wines, 3 non-alcoholic drinks, 2 sakes, and 1 beer. I went with the dynamic pairing which was great.
- Vespertine building – named ‘Waffle’, the building is designed by architect Eric Owen Moss. The neighborhood seemed to be a bit industrial that is transforming into a creative neighborhood with architecturally interesting buildings. You check in at the front door and are taken to a patio with heaters and blankets, and then someone takes you inside and up an elevator to the third floor kitchen. On this day the chef Jordan Kahn was there. Then you descend down a set of stairs to the second floor to the main dining room to start your meal.
- Wild Scallop – passionfruit, aji amarillo. Nice balance between a slightly sweet and slightly spicy flavors with the scallop served two ways as raw and as a mousse. The scallop itself came from Deer Island, Maine, and they mentioned something about the name of the boat and the diver who caught the scallop. Good dish, and visually a good start to an interesting meal. This was paired with a champagne Vilmart & Cie ‘grand cellier’ premier cru brut.
- Hidden Meadow – preserved tomato, wild forest berries. This is served upside down to you, where the dish just looks like a rock. They then ask you to turn the rock over and the dish is presented to you. There’s an onion and almond milk cream holding everything to the side of the rock bowl. Then they add a Turkish pepper sauce and some toasted buckwheat into this dish. Visually stunning and a fun dish, it tasted OK. This was paired with the first NA drink a rose of pinot noir juice (from Navarro Vineyards in Mendocino) and pink peppercorn. Great NA drink.
- Deep Ocean – sweet prawns, quince. Here is a bowl of very clear ice holding deep water prawns from Kauai, Hawaii. They mention how only a father-son duo there catches these at 2500 feet under the ocean and have some specialized traps for them. This was OK, but nothing special. I didn’t feel like the sweetness of the prawns came out. I’ve actually had these same prawns at Addison in San Diego last year and it was a lot better. This was paired with a sake, a Kuheiji ‘tako’ domaine kurodasho junmai daiginjo, which very good.
- Obsidian Mirror – smoked mussel, buddha’s hand. Visually stunning, this is served with a mussel shell as your spoon to scoop up the smoked mussel cream under the squid ink top. A nice dish. It was paired with a white wine Alfredo Egia ‘izaki’ 2021 from Basque Country, Spain.
- Aged Kinmedai – red papaya, Indian mallow. A nice fish served with papaya butter, there is a dehydrated sea grape as a palette cleanser. The fish is buttery and was interesting with the papaya. The pairing here is a non-alcoholic one, a rhubarb kombucha with red currant.
- Coturnix Quail and Sourdough Porridge Bread – This is four dishes with a different quail component. The quail itself is from Wolfe Ranch in Vacaville, California. There’s the (7A) quail breast which was very good, (7B) a quail thigh wrapped in a leaf which was OK, (7C) a quail egg emulsion sauce which went nice with everything, and (7D) a sourdough porridge bread with heirloom peel-corn oats and quail fat that has been fried and was perfect to soak up the remaining emulsion. This is all paired with a red wine from the Canary Islands.
- Spring Lamb – yeast fudge, magnolia. This is a lamb cooked in its fat cap and topped with magnolia foam. This was a very good lamb dish. It was paired with a Belgian lambic beer, a 3 Fonteinen oude geuze which was nice to see as the beer pairing selection.
- Red Earth – Hokkaido pumpkin, strawberry, temascal. At this point you’re then taken from the second floor dining room to the first floor for the remaining dishes. This was a savory transition towards dessert. It had a warm custard at the bottom. It was just OK. This dish was paired with a red-tinted sake made from two types of rice, which was interesting.
- Caramelized Pancake – lamb fat, single-malt scotch. The pancake is coated with lamb fat and you top the peaty Laphroaig 10 scotch infused cream and blackberries from Oregon onto the pancake. A very nice dish where the combination of the three components work well. This was also served with a Douglas fir tea infusion which was OK.
- Icy Birch – parsnip, reduced milk. This is a frozen birch water disc placed on top of a parsnip and something else ice cream. Good dish.
- Layers – black raspberry, sheep’s milk. Another visually stunning dish, there’s a raspberry panna cotta at the bottom while each of the different layers of the cake has a different texture and flavor profile. This is a fun dish to explore the different sections of the dish. The final pairing was a sparkling redwood non-alcoholic drink which was interesting. The chef came by and chatted for a while towards the end of the meal.
Overall, a very unique and creative meal. I wouldn’t say that this was one of my favorite meals in terms of taste and flavors. Nothing was bad, every dish was solid to good, but I didn’t find any single dish to wow me from a flavor perspective. But the creativity and visual presentation was impressive. I enjoyed the overall experience and I think Vespertine is definitely a place to visit.
At the end, they give you a copy of the menu. The top of the menu lets you know what the waning crescent illumination of the moon is on the night of your visit. That’s weird but interesting.
by rsvandy