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Acquerello (San Francisco, CA)

One of my favorite perks of being a management consultant is that (COVID-permitting) I often get to travel to new cities and experience the local cuisine. In larger cities such as San Francisco, this can sometimes mean getting to try 2-star Michelin restaurants like Acquerello that have been at the top of my list for several years.

Our party was fortunate enough to book Acuqerello’s Gold Room for our year-end holiday dinner, which allowed for a quiet and highly personalized private dining experience within Acquerello’s renovated Milanese cathedral building. This review focuses on the Seasonal Tasting Menu for December 2021, which I would rank among my Top 10 Greatest Hits of all time.

The first of our sit-down courses was the Hamachi crudo with melon and citrus. Although a carpaccio appetizer initially sounded like a standard offering for an Italian restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised by the unique texture created by the tapioca pearls in the dish. The melon and citrus flavors were a good balance to the butteriness of the hamachi, and definitely started the meal out on a high note.

Next on the menu was the Monterey abalone. With so many other ingredients listed on the menu for this course (”roasted chicken zabaglione, Matsutake mushroom”), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but all concerns were assuaged when I saw the dish’s beautiful presentation in a real abalone shell. The umami of the chicken and truffle amplified the flavors of the abalone to create one of the most unique and memorable flavor profiles I have ever tasted, setting us up well for the more classic flavors in the next course of Maine lobster with citrus butter and rye. This course, too, was perfectly prepared, with the toasted rye bread crumbs providing a welcome contrast to the tenderness of the lobster tail and silkiness of the citrus butter sauce.

As someone who is admittedly not always the hugest fan of Italian food, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the two pasta courses were the standouts of this meal for me. The Piramidi stuffed with guinea hen were a unique take on dumplings and ravioli that were hearty without feeling heavy. Afterwards, the ridged pasta with faux “foie gras” provided an explosion of flavor that I can still taste almost a month later. The Marsala wine was slow-cooked to the point of caramelization, resulting in a rich caramel flavor that perfectly complemented the faux foie gras. The ridged pasta provided a wonderfully textured and aptly-sized canvas for this masterpiece of a sauce.

The main course of honey-glazed quail was well-done, if not somewhat unmemorable compared to the earlier dishes. The two desserts that followed - pear and green cardamom sorbet, and a date and vanilla mousse - seemed geared towards cleansing the diner’s palate in preparation for their sendoff, providing a thoughtful coda to a well-harmonized meal.

While my reviews for Fine Dining Diary focus on food, I will also note that the service at Acquerello was impeccable. The private dining staff accommodated numerous dietary restrictions and changes to our party size on short notice, and guests who ordered the wine pairing were given a thorough explanation for each course by the restaurant’s sommelier. All in all, I would rate Acquerello as one of my top dining experiences of all time, certainly worthy of its 2 Michelin stars - and given the opportunity, I would seriously consider having them host another private dining experience.

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Dacha (Los Angeles, CA)

One of my favorite things about LA’s food scene is the prevalence of high-end Instagram pop-ups. My first love from this particular fine dining segment was Kinkan, a Thai-Japanese fusion kitchen that has more recently evolved into a brick-and-mortar restaurant (review coming soon!), and the consistently wonderful experiences I’ve had with them have inspired me to try out other insta-ready creations that catch my eye.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Kinkan was posting Instagram stories featuring a new pop-up restaurant called Dacha, which specializes in Ukranian-inspired savory crepe pies. Given my enthusiasm for Slavic cuisine and confidence in Chef Nan’s recommendations, I was eager to give Dacha a try. In typical Instagram pop-up fashion, I DMed the owner and was informed that they only have 2 items on their menu: A traditional Krasnoe Zolotze crepe pie filled with lox-style smoked salmon and topped with salmon roe, and an even more luxurious Chernoe Zolotze, which is filled with smoked butterfish and topped with black sturgeon caviar.

For my first order, I opted to try the Krasnoe Zolotze, and was not disappointed. Coordination of the pick-up time was smooth and painless, and our host was waiting for us outside the provided address when we arrived. The pie itself was rich, perfectly balanced, and delicious. Fresh slices of lox were layered with Ukranian crème fraîche between perfectly cooked crepes, and the resulting pie was then topped with fresh salmon roe and dill. The 6″ pie was a surprisingly large amount of food, and could probably feed at least 5-6 people in one sitting. The host also graciously provided us with tips on how to store the pie if we ended up with any leftovers.

Overall, I am very excited about the addition of Dacha to LA’s Instagram pop-up dining scene and look forward to finding an excuse to try their Chernoe Zolotze in the near future!

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Hakkasan (Las Vegas, NV)

This past New Year’s Eve, I had the privilege of dining at Hakkasan’s Las Vegas location within the MGM Grand. As a prelude to their nightclub’s New Year’s Eve party featuring Black Coffee next door, the restaurant offered a special set menu to ensure that guests would have a memorable last supper in 2021. (With the exception of the dessert, I believe all of these items are also offered as part of Hakkasan Las Vegas’ regular menu.)

The meal began with an amuse-bouche of Wild Mushroom Purses, which were arguably my favorite part of the entire meal. Each purse consisted of a light-as-air puff pastry filled with a perfectly umami blend of sautéed mushrooms. The set menu included one piece per person, but truthfully I could have eaten at least 10 of these.

The Hakka Supreme Basket followed, featuring some of Hakkasan’s most popular dim sum offerings. Presentation of this dish was beautiful, and was almost a deterrent to eating it. However, our party appreciated the opportunity to sample such a wide variety of flavors in a single course, and particularly enjoyed the scallop shumai with tobiko. I would rank the basket among the highest quality dim sum offerings I have tasted, and it definitely piqued my interest in Hakkasan’s “All That And Dim Sum” offering.

The pork and crab based “Lions Head” dumpling was an interesting addition. Our party opted to add-on shaved white truffles to this dish, which were added table-side and blended with the dish’s existing black truffles to create a rich and unique flavor profile. The fact that this dish did not stand out against the rest of the menu is a testament to the overall high quality of the meal.

The main dishes then all arrived at once - Szechuan Striploin of Beef and Wokked Maine Lobster, served with accompaniments of Lotus Leaf Steamed Rice and Spicy Long Beans. Each dish was authentic enough to remind me of the versions I had tasted during my childhood, but elevated in a way that was unique to Hakkasan (such as ensuring that the Lotus Leaf Steamed Rice dish was less greasy and sticky than its traditional counterpart). The standout dish here was the striploin, and my only criticism of it is that the portion size seemed a bit comically large compared to the rest of the dishes. Despite the meat’s being perfectly cooked, our party had difficulty finishing it (especially knowing that we were headed to the nightclub afterwards!).

The dessert was the one item on the menu that was served uniquely for NYE: An expertly crafted white chocolate and pistachio “Stroke of Midnight” cake plated to look like a clock. After the spiciness of the main dishes, the creaminess of the white chocolate and pistachio provided a welcome balance to the meal. All in all, it was the perfect conclusion to a consistently excellent menu.

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Hakkasan and would certainly consider returning, should we ever find ourselves on the South Las Vegas Strip for another special occasion. The experience also made us eager to try out Hakkasan’s sister restaurant, Tao, located on the north strip in The Venetian.

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Welcome!

Welcome to Fine Dining Diary! I’m Charlotte, a writer, management consultant, and self-described foodie interested in sampling new types of cuisine wherever life takes me. Through this blog, I am excited to share a small glimpse into my culinary adventures with anyone interested in reading about them.