Sonoma, CA
I'm fairly confident this will be my favorite meal of 2026 (although, i would love to be happily proven wrong). I had heard really high remarks about this place throughout reddit, but a close friend of mine basically begged me to go so I decided to make the long trek up to Sonoma for this place.
After my meal at Singlethread last year, I basically stopped looking at restaurants that preached farm to table or sustainability because I was worried these would have a negative correlation to overall taste. I think I can speak for many people's opinions when I say that although Singlethread has very beautiful courses, the flavor profile for much of these courses is pretty delicate (read: a little bland/boring). I went into Enclos thinking that I would be experiencing something similar, but I was super, super wrong about this. The flavors in almost all the dishes were strong, vibrant, and very, very tasty. Each dish was still beautiful to look at, but I did not feel like there was a compromise in overall taste and flavor.
The service at Enclos was probably one of the warmest i've experienced – servers were very professional but were still able to crack jokes and chat with me in a super natural way. Atmosphere was very cozy, not stuffy at all, and overall I had a great time just talking to the staff about all things food and non-food related.
Food:
- Sparkling Apple Cider:
- This is not part of the course but I ordered it on recommendation and it was delicious. Deep, apple-y flavor and very sweet.
- Wild Chamomile Milk Punch:
- Just an opening palette cleanser. Very light, refreshing, sweet, and you definitely taste the chamomile.
- Spiny Lobster "roll" croustade (10/10)
- Probably my favorite of the small bites. I loved how thin and flaky the roll part was, and the raw spiny lobster inside was great with a really clean aftertaste. I killed it in like two bites and wanted 10 more.
- Venison & its antlers (8.5/10)
- Oat tart had a great texture and almost nutty flavor to balance out the meaty tartare. The venison was not super gamey either – really clean taste, almost just like beef tartare. There was an egg yolk jam/cream to help add a bit of creaminess to the bite
- Duck Liver and Key Lime Pie (9.5/10)
- The duck liver is super creamy and savory, but the lime layer adds both a bit of sweetness and tartness to balance it out. The crust itself is a little flaky. Overall, great balance of flavors and textures.
- Fermented Rutabaga Bread Pudding (9/10)
- The bread pudding is sooo creamy, kind of like almost like egg custard. The apple jam adds some sweetness, caviar adds some saltiness, and the 100 year old balsamic vinegar adds some sourness. Great balance of flavors, really nice to bite into
- Amberjack (7.5/10) – quince, shiso, pluot
- Clean taste, nice sourness from the pickled pluot. There was a clear sauce that didn't add a ton of flavor but helped give the fish a bit more substance i guess. Not super memorable.
- Miyagi oyster (8/10) – wasabi, nasturtium, green strawberry
- Very pretty dish to look at. Since the oyster was cooked, it wasn't super briney and was more meaty. The green sauce actually added some more of that briney/pickliness while the wasabi sorbet was kind of a more textural thing.
- Sourdough milk bread (7.5/10) – petaluma butter, smoked sel gris
- Pretty standard bread and butter course. Not much else to say
- Clam "chowder" custard (9.5/10) – caviar, white asparagus, aged pork
- The white asparagus broth(?) is actually pretty crazy because it tastes exactly like clam chowder. The chawanmushi underneath is super silky and smooth. Each bite has this amazing mouth feel and bursts with flavor
- 60 Day dry aged tuna belly (10/10) – koshikari rice, passion fruit, succulents
- This may be the best course i've ever had in my life. The sea urchin sabayon has as really nice creaminess, but you still get that intense, uni, umami flavor. The bluefin tuna belly is fatty but not too fatty, with a super intense tuna flavor. You get crispness from the crispies, freshness from the passion fruit and succulents, and the rice underneath grounds all these intense, savory flavors together. So, so delicious.
- Wolfe Ranch Quail (8/10) – artichoke, grilled roses, burnt citrus
- Quail Grilled Leg (8/10) – rosehip and nectarine
- The skin was still super crispy and the meat was still tender. I have had tender and juicier squab, but it was still pretty good.
- Tortellini en brodo (7/10) – ginger, garlic, chives
- This was good but nothing great. The broth was hot and rich, but the tortellini was kind of whatever to me.
- Emigh lamb (8.5/10) – fermented pepper, brassicas, nantes carrot
- Lamb was super tender, good flavor, not gamey at all. Sauce was light and not too thick, but I would've wanted a big stronger flavor in the sauce.
- Lamb grilled rib – magnolia
- There were layers of fat and char, but the aftertaste was a bit too fatty/greasy
- Textures of citrus (7/10) – lemongrass, vanilla, lemon leaf
- Lots of different citrus flavors going on, they had a list of like 10+ different citrus fruits and it was cool at first, but I wasn't a fan of the more bitter flavors. The lemongrass cream helped cut the acidity and bitterness. Im sure other people would appreciate this dessert more but I like when my desserts arent too sour and not bitter
- Sef black apple (9.5/10) – buckwheat, meyer lemon, sheep's milk
- Honestly this dish is kind of hard to describe, but overall it was just super pretty, super fun to eat with the bites all mixed together. Lots of different textures of flavors: crunchy, creamy, ice creamy, caramelly, tart, sweet, and salty. Delicious.
- Small bites (10/10)
- These were perfect. All of them tasted amazing, but below is ordered from most liked to least liked (even though i really liked them all)
- Honey Cornet
- Caramelized Chocolate bonbon
- Nocino Canele
- Kiwi Cream Puff
Overall – this place is definitely worth the hype. The food was amazing, service was amazing, and I can see them getting their 3rd star sometime soon. Definitely come before the price increases.
by SaltWaterTafffy