t0e and I catch up from time to time, to hear about each other’s lives, ruminate on working out, and talk about food over good food. We have history, but it’s always nice to chat about things that make us happy. Manolin had come with high recommendations from Salumi and given that they were part of the same team on The Whale Wins, it seemed like a good candidate.
Potato croquettes – expertly fried with just a thin crispy crust on the outside and creamy potato and parmesan on the inside; garnished with dill, paprika, and a subtle garlic aioli – a perfect starter
tea poached squid – with fried lotus chips, fried quinoa, kumquats, and garlic aioli; this dish is fun and has so much going on in it with a crunchy quinoa and the lotus chips, the kumquats pack a lot of punch and acidity and they tend to overwhelm the bite you’re taking, the squid sadly was left in the dust – we couldn’t taste it and it was on the limp side, not quite overcooked enough to be rubbery, but it was no longer firm to the tooth; ambitious, but not a squid dish
ceviche misto – octopus, geoduck, scallops with asparagus jus, ginger and sesame to round out the Asian influence; combined quite well and it was a treat to have geoduck ceviche – which is very hard to find!
grilled beef – with lardo, potatoes, and radishes; that’s right, you spread lard on your beef and it is delicious; the meat had great flavor, but was sadly slightly overdone – you’ll notice that there is very little pink in our cuts – there should be no excuse for that, especially when they don’t ask you how you want your beef cooked; great flavors, love the lardo, need to watch the timing!
duck with rhubarb – crispy skin marinated heavily with 5 spice; great with the rhubarb jus and crunchy funnel, but overwhelmed with tartness when you actually ate the rhubarb pieces with the duck; this dish had pretty good duck (slightly overcooked) that had a delicious rub on it, but it just didn’t quite come together
rhubarb shortcake – with bourbon vanilla whip cream, rhubarb is clearly in season, and the tartness of the rhubarb makes a nice compliment to the sweetness of the whipped cream, though you couldn’t really taste the bourbon in the whipped cream; shortcake was more like a biscuit but quite delicious and held up well soaking in the juices; it was also finished with olive oil, so the savory grassiness added an interesting dimension to the dish, though I must say, they use a very high quality olive oil to leave it out there in a dish like that.
spiced orange soda – orange soda with hints of cloves and allspice, like a refreshing mulled orange cider with fizz; celery soda – exactly as advertised, like a bloody mary without the tomato, with a hint of metallicness from the celery
manolin at night – it has such a warm atmosphere with all the light streaming in, lush plants thoughtfully hung throughout, and a fire pit on the waiting patio
Overall, the dishes at Manolin are extremely ambitious in their craze to combine so many textures and flavors together in a single bite. While the combinations are delightful, the kitchen needs to focus on the consistency of cooking the meats, as there should be no excuse for slightly well done beef or overcooked squid. They also need to balance the flavors better as some of the elements can be overwhelming when eaten in their entirety, though just fine if you only take small portions such as the kumquats and the rhubarb. I would definitely applaud them for their tenacity and I think that the kitchen will figure those things out over time.
The atmosphere is lively, with all the open windows and doors beckoning a summer night lit by a fire pit to warm the throng patiently waiting for a coveted seat. The lush foliage in various pots and hung from the ceiling, the buzzing kitchen in the bar at the center of the restaurant, and the attentive service make this a destination for the atmosphere. It is welcoming and I have to praise the staff for their service, as we were there for three hours and they still kept refilling our waters long after we had finished dinner. In hindsight, we may have starved some hungry diners, but people stuck it out and waited with drinks in hand on the patio. I guess when you’re lost in conversation and enthralling food, the rest of the world disappears, and you give in to the moment. The stories we tell may never be believed by others, but the truth is in the journey and in the empty plates we left behind.
SUMMARY
Overall: Happily ever after
Highlights: grilled beef with lardo, potato croquettes
Footnotes: they do not take reservations, so get there as early as possible as you’ll have to wait – we had to wait about 15 minutes at 6:30 on a Thursday for a table for 2