Guinea Hen: sweet potato, cereals and salted persimmon butter. $26
AQ Restaurant, San Francisco CA
I’m sorry, but neither of these entrees were very memorable. There was a lot of stuff on each plate but it all lacked harmony and balance. The individual components were nicely prepared, but I wasn’t excited by any of it. Lame…
Duo of Beef: black garlic, broccoli with burnt ends and cheddar. $34
Bay scallops, cardoons and “old bay”. $16
AQ Restaurant, San Francisco CA
This is the only thing that I distinctly remembered and enjoyed from my meal at AQ, and that’s pretty sad for such a hyped restaurant. It had a great smoky flavor and I loved the thick texture of the cream chowder portion contrasted with the liquid clear broth. I had never had “chowder” presented this way before so it was exciting and delicious. But one dish from an entire meal can’t save a disappointing overall experience.
Bison Rose: Zubrowka bison grass vodka, cocchi americano, meyer lemon rosemary shrub. $13
AQ Restaurant, San Francisco CA
Ugh! We were SO excited to go to this restaurant and it was a major FAIL! The service was cold and robotic. The only person who asked us about our dinner was the busser when he cleared our entree plates. There was absolutely no joy in this restaurant. These cocktail were ok, but each a little off. I enjoyed the glassware and the stirrer/straw for the bison rose cocktail , but the flavor tasted somehow dull despite the promising ingredients. The old fashioned was the complete opposite where they probably swabbed the entire glass with citrus and pummeled the lemon twist against the sides to produced the overpowering citrus odor emanating from the this cocktail. It made me nauseous. That’s the first time I’ve ever reacted like that to an old fashioned – gross!
Old Fashioned: Eagle rare bourbon, winter bitter, sugar, twist of lemon. $12
Vittle Monster 