I knew Gary Danko was expensive. I expected it. I embraced it. But, even after an exquisite three-hour dinner that I will never forget, the tab was put in front of me and I felt I had been socked in the stomach. As I think I've mentioned in my blog, my mom is CHEAP when it comes to dining out, but I suddenly empathized with how she feels when she sees a $12 entree or when my dad orders an appetizer. Our "ceilings" are separated by several hundred dollars, but I resolve to give her less of a hard time when she has a price-induced panic attack. Wow, I've only been 26 for 24 hours and older and wiser already!
Sit down, put your feet up, grab some popcorn. My thoughts on Danko are robust, complicated, and ultimately laced with the money issue.
Let's start from the very beginning. I chose Gary Danko as my birthday dinner spot months in advance. It is, in my opinion, THE premiere San Francisco restaurant and it was weighing on me that I had never been. When I called weeks in advance, the only reservation I could get was at 9pm. Don't forget this was for a Wednesday night.
Fast forward several weeks to 8:55pm and my date, Adrienne, is taking pictures of me outside the restaurant and reassuring anyone in earshot that "we're locals! I swear! She's just excited!" When the photo shoot ended, we walked inside and were immediately seated in the dining room to the left. Gary Danko is comprised of two dining rooms divided by the bar. They are completely separate from each other, which almost made me feel like the diners in the other room were at a completely different restaurant. For some reason this bothered me; part of me was wondering if the other room was more desirable? Was someone famous in the other room and I didn't know because I couldn't see them? I wasn't blown away by the interior itself. Adrienne and I agreed it has a vague Asian influence which is fine but has nothing to do with the food. The tightly packed tables don't support the chorus of waiters, sommeliers, hosts, assistants, food deliver-ers, cheese experts, bussers, and overseers that are constantly buzzing around. It's a zoo. It is not quiet and you don't feel like you're the only patrons there. I only make this distinction because at my other Michelin-star experience (Aquerello) I truly felt like my table was the only one the staff cared about. The staff at Gary Danko was bordering on robotic. We had so many different servers that I never had a chance to create any kind of relationship with one. It's important to me to build a rapport - to feel taken care of.
Yikes, I still have five courses of food to talk about! Adrienne and I both ordered the Spring Tasting Menu plus the Wine Pairing. You can view the menu here. The first course, in layman's terms, was a deep fried poached egg. I will never, ever forget that first bite. How a chef can deep fry an egg but still maintain a runny yoke is beyond me. I lose my words just thinking about it. I gently pierced the egg with my fork and watched the yoke run over the fried exterior and into the mushroom/polenta/pancetta beneath it. I was a little skeptical about the wine pairing aspect, but Danko proved me wrong on each of the five courses. The champagne really did enhance the savory aspects of the dish.
Next out was the Horseradish crusted salmon medallion. The salmon was prepared to a moist, medium-rare perfection but what I will remember about this course is the wine. That white wine took my breath away. A wine snob might have just been born. It was smooth, "easy," and delicate. Our sommelier, was, how shall I say it, "long-winded" and I had already learned to tune him out by the second course. Now I am wishing I had digested more of the information he tried to teach me.
Next out was the real test: steak. If you can you wow me with a steak, you have truly accomplished something. When Server #12 placed a BUTTER knife in front of me, I knew Gary had nailed it. Sure enough, that steak was tender, juicy, and rare. The surrounding shallots and potato slivers made the simple steak preparation much more exciting. And again, the wine. I don't think there is any other wine more suited for that dish than the one we had. If you haven't guessed by now, I was truly blown away by the wines. They were exquisite from beginning to end.
Cheese course! This course is, from what I've read, what makes Gary famous. It's almost comical. A tall, quirky cheese guy wheels out a cart with 16 different varieties and goes through the history of each and every one of them. Keep in mind I'm several glasses of wine deep at this point, so my attention span isn't stellar. He had me through the second description when I decided internally I would just close my eyes and choose four. I mean, could I really go wrong? No. I did choose the four that looked most like Brie. Served with grapes and raisin-bread, each cheese took me back to my trip to Paris last year. Happiness. (One minor criticism: Adrienne ordered a cheese described as the "staff favorite" and for whatever reason, I noticed it wasn't on her plate. We politely pointed this out to the cheese guy who apologized so profusely I wonder if he thought we would rat him out).
Each of the courses is very generously portioned. I'd say they're the size of a smaller entree. But, there's always room for dessert. Here is where I wasn't completely blown away. The chocolate souffle is lovely looking and exciting when the Server #56 pierces it to add homemade chocolate and white chocolate sauces. But the souffle itself was a bit underwhelming. I am wondering if I am so accustomed to cheap chocolate that the good quality stuff tastes funny to me. It wasn't rich; I'd even dare to call it a bit bland. Not wanting to waste a morsel of anything, I finished mine (Adrienne did not).
I've already used the word "exquisite" but it really seems like the best word to describe Gary Danko's food. Yet, I'm still hung up on the cost issue. I have had many terrific meals for a third, a quarter, or even a TENTH of the cost of Danko. Do I think Danko is ten times better than those meals? No, I do not. Would I rather go to Bix three times or Danko once? I think I'd say the former. Having just had a wonderful, multi-course dinner at Picco the weekend before at a fraction of the cost really highlites this conundrum to me. I also wonder how much I was influenced to like the food by the mere fact that I was at Gary Danko.
I will remember that night for the rest of my life. I'll be able to recall the details of each of the five courses forever. I am so thankful to my parents for sponsoring such a wonderful memory for me. There were so many exciting (some bizarre) moments and it is so much fun to rehash them with Adrienne; I'm still texting her with "remember that part when..." Everyone should do it once; it will change the way you think about dining.
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