It was a meal perfect in every way imaginable, except for one: it did not move me. In a way, the French Laundry starts off leaden with so much praise that it was impossible to match the hyperbole that has been heaped upon it. To its credit, it nearly did. Everything was executed to perfection, from the quaint and rustically luxurious (or is it luxuriously rustic?) setting to the attentive, yet non-intrusive service, to the food... oh the food was flawless. And I mean completely without any imperfections whatsoever. You could break down each dish any number of ways and examine it to the n-th degree of detail and you will not find the slightest mistake with it. Not the plating, not the texture, not the doneness, not the flavor, not even the spacing or the number of grains of salt crystals on the steak. The mastery and skill involved with each dish was evident—everything emphatically declared that you were experiencing the epitome of fine dining. Even the give-away chocolate truffles at the end were as good as any I've had from the best specialty shops.

Yet.

All the wows, and it was a non-stop series of wows from beginning to end, were all in response to the quality of ingredients and the absolute precision in execution. No fireworks went off on the tongue. You could certainly argue that this is what fine dining is about, but for a restaurant widely considered one of the best in the world, I also expected to be challenged and surprised by taste, not just be bowled over by mastery of technique.

The much-touted “Oysters and Pearls” was a bit of a let-down. Sure, the richness of the egg sauce was nicely offset by the oyster and the rather salty caviar, creating a perfect balance. Yet, somehow, it just didn't dance on my tongue, like a similar caviar and egg dish Jean-Georges serves that did. Why that is exactly, I can't tell you, all I know is that all the dishes went down without putting on their dancing shoes that night.

The escargot and the pig's head bits, both fried, were tasty, but too refined, robbing them somewhat of their distinctive characters.

Highlights included the fig salad and the cheese mousse for taste and the foie gras and steak for their unbelievably velvety texture.

The night's menu is listed below with photos of each dish. I didn't think so at the time, but as I type the menu now for this review, I find it reads like a pretentious and condescending prick showing off his vastly superior French culinary vocabulary. All the French terms are in quotes as if to emphasize that this is a “French technique” which you have “probably never heard of” so I'll try to “talk slower for you.” If it's so esoteric, just write it in English or do the French, force us to learn, but spare me the quotes, thank you. Try reading the menu out loud and making sure to do air-quotes every time something is quoted, you won't go far before you want to kick your own pretentious ass, I promise you. Incidentally, I also could have done without the dress code. Forcing men to wear jackets to dinner is so anachronistic.

Chef's Tasting Menu, August 19, 2008
$240, service included

Course 1:

“Oysters and Pearls”
“Sabayon” of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar.

Course 2, option 1:

Salad of Napa Valley Figs
Cipollini onion marmalade, toasted pine nuts, arugula and “Piment d'Espelette”

Course 2, option 2 ($30 supplement):

Moulard Duck “Foie Gras en Terrine”
Fennel bulb glaze, red Alpine strawberries, mache and sicilian pistachios

Course 3, option 1:

Columbia River Sturgeon “Confit à la Minute”
Caramelized Savoy cabbage, heirloom beets, Nasturtium and horseradish-infused crème fraîche

Course 3, option 2:

“Fricassée” of Jacobsen's Farm Escargots
“Aile de Poularde,” globe artichokes, garden radish, heart of romaine, Spanish capers and Jidori hen egg-garlic emulsion

Course 4:

Maine Lobster Mitts “Pochées au Beurre Doux”
La ratte potatoes, baby corn, summer truffle coulis, “Fines Herbes” and lobster vinaigrette

Course 5, option 1:

“Aiguillette” of Liberty Farm Pekin Duck
Sunchokes, royal blenheim apricots, sunflower seeds, cilantro and aged sherry vinegar

Course 5, option 2:

“Rouelle de Tête de Cochon”
“Haricots Verts,” French Laundry Garden Tomatoes, Frisée and “Ranch Dressing”
The name of the dish means “pig's head” in French, or something like that. I was really looking forward to this one when the waiter explained what it was (damn French terms), and it was a wonderful dish, but I was expecting bolder textures and flavors from a pig's head's bits and pieces. Like the rest of the menu, it was too refined. The swine's head was completely tamed. A bit of a shame, I thought.

Course 6:

Snake River Farms “Calotte de Bœuf Grillée”
Morel Mushroom “Pithiviers,” Swiss Chard, Nantes carrots, bone marrow pudding and “Sauce Bordelaise”

Course 7:

Goat's Leap “Toko” Mousse
Peach cobbler and hazelnuts

Course 8:

Jacobsen's Farm Yellow Nectarine Sorbet
Andante dairy yogurt and puffed quinoa

Course 9, option 1:

“Délice au Chocolate et à la Menthe”
with Amedei Chuao Chocolate-Mint “Parfait” and Mint Syrup

Course 9, option 2:

Armando Manni Olive Oil Madeleine
with Almond Glaze, Bing Cherries and Marcona Almond-Olive Oil Sorbet

More photos on Flickr.

The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street
Yountville, CA
(707) 944-2380

I've finally gotten around to setting up a long-overdue feed for Figure-Ground.com. You can subscribe to it at: http://figure-ground.com/index.xml.

And the picture above is one I never put up before of Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall [Figure-Ground.com].

The media this week (and all month, really) has been wall-to-wall news, articles and essays about Beijing. Here's my contribution to the avalanche of Beijing coverage:

• Beijing [Figure-Ground.com]
• CCTV Headquarters - Rem Koolhaas/OMA [Figure-Ground.com]
• National Centre for the Performing Arts - Paul Andreu [Figure-Ground.com]

Incidentally, for the first time that I can remember, I'm actually excited about the Olympics. It has not much to do with the Games themselves, but everything to do with the host city and country. All the controversies surrounding this Olympics (the pollution, the media censorship, the crackdown in Tibet, the support of the Sudanese goverment) and the herculean effort the Chinese have made in successfully building a new Beijing that just screams money and power everywhere you look, have made the Olympics interesting again.

These are things I usually think of when I think about life in China: Bicycles, squatters, line cutters, phlegm, dirty bills, gray polluted skies, garish architecture. These are the truths about China today, you can choose to overlook them and focus on the positives, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. Sure, you can still find all that in Beijing today but they are nearly all gone. In their place are blue skies, stunning architecture and a flourishing art scene.

First of all, it's surprising not to see many bicycles around. This is China! where bicyles are the mode of transportation. It's like Taiwan without the scooters. Inconceivable. But there it was, roads absolutely clogged with cars, but not so many bicycles. I knew Beijingers are hot for the automobile but I was not expecting to see so few bicycles on the roads.

Another change which I was not expecting to see is that there were no longer people squatting on the ground everywhere. People actually just stand around instead of squatting on the ground.

Other things that used to drive me crazy about the mainland are markedly improved. There are still line cutters, but not nearly as many. It used to be nobody (or at least it felt that way) waited on lines, it was a mad scrum to buy anything or to enter anywhere. Now, the majority of people wait in line.

There are still people hocking up phlegm, but not nearly as many. You can go for hours without hearing it once.

Most of these points seem directly related with Beijing government's removal of migrant workers from the city. Now that I think about it, big city folk probably never really squatted or spat that much to begin with. It was always the poor, uneducated migrant workers bringing down the overall social climate of the cities.

The money is not as dirty and worn as before. I come across crisp new bills all the time. I didn't notice a lot of wallet usage and new bills get immediately crumpled up in pockets so it's quite a battle the Chinese government has to fight to keep the money in circulation not looking like the moist, soft, tattered bills I used to come across all the time in China.

And out of the 8 days I was in Beijing, a shocking 5 of them had blue skies. Granted, it's not blue like a Vancouver summer day blue. Even on a clear day you can see some light haze in the horizon, but it's not the complete gray that used to blanket the city.for days on end. The drastic measures of temporarily shutting down factories and limiting trucks on the roads have already made an impact. When they start limiting cars starting on the 20th (even number plates one day, odd the next), it can only get better.

Even the simplified Chinese characters, which used to bother me, look good to me now. I guess it was always the crappy typeface they typeset everything in that offended me, not the actual simplification. Now that Beijing and China has progressed to a point where good graphic design is employed, I'm actually beginning to like simplified Chinese characters. With their clean, simple lines, the simplified characters are very modern, in the sense of the art and architecture movement. All of a sudden traditional characters look fussy and dated.

Some things haven't changed, like the sully and indifferent service you get everywhere, from government workers on down to store employees. It's like a country full of people who openly hate their jobs. You tend to get very unfriendly, curt, and, most of the time, completely unhelpful answers to any questions you might have. Asking a Chinese a question appears to cause them great inconvenience.

Oh, and the food is still too salty.

And too bad they can't do anything about the traffic, which is as bad as everyone says it is. The ring roads, which are the major traffic arteries of Beijing, are in constant gridlock.

Most of these progress probably won't last much beyond the Olympics. Once the migrant workers return and the ever increasing cars and trucks go back to jamming the roads, the overall quality of life will likely go back to before. The Chinese government could always unilaterally decide they like their capital city to remain spiff and shine, however. In that case, perhaps this new Beijing will not be only temporary.

See my Beijing (July 2008) set on Flickr for photos and more thoughts on and reactions to the "new" Beijing.

• Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972) - Kisho Kurokawa [Figure-Ground.com]

I've also expanded Figure/Ground's Tokyo (2005—2007) section to include photos from Fukuoka and Nagoya. Therefore, the section has been renamed "Japan" to reflect the expanded scope. Definitely take a look at the Fukuoka sub-section if you are interested in architecture. There are quite a few interesting buildings in that set.

• Fukuoka [Figure-Ground.com]
• Nagoya [Figure-Ground.com]

Masa is a newish entrant into the high-end Japanese dining scene in Taipei that's been garnering rave reviews online since opening in late 2006. Located on the noisy and busy thoroughfare of Civic Boulevard near Dunhua South Road, Masa's stark white interior caught my eyes immediately when it opened. Somehow it's a year and a half later that I've finally made my way there for a tasting.

First, the good: The sushi served that night was impeccable as were the cooked dishes. I can see how others might be impressed.

Where they faltered was unfortunately everything else: the pacing, the selection, the service and even the amount of food. Each misstep is small enough to overlook, especially in light of how good the sushi was, but details like these are arguably more important in haute sushi than in other cuisines.

The reason the bar seats at a sushi restaurant are so highly sought after is the fact that you get to interact with the chef and receive a meal tailor made for you. Sure it may be a set menu, as it is here, but the chef has a degree of flexibility in selecting from the day's ingredients to match a particular diner's tastes and appetite. Not so at Masa. I was served the exact same meal as everybody else who ordered that $2200 option that night. There was absolutely no personalization for me. I even specifically told the waiter (yes, waiter, even though I sat at the bar, the chef did not take my order) I did not want salmon. And lo and behold, salmon appeared during the nigiri portion of the meal. I protested and the chef mumbled something about it being not just any salmon, but a special one so it didn't count. That made no sense, but okay, let's see how special it was. As it turned out, it was just a regular piece of salmon! Nothing special about it whatsoever. This was the first time I've been served something I specifically asked not to be served in a serious sushi restaurant. They are so rigid in their menu that they could not substitute one piece? Unbelievable. Along with the salmon, that course also came with a piece of regular tuna and a (I must admit) rather delicious hamachi that's been finely scored. While the salmon and tuna were extremely fresh, they seemed out of place for this type of meal. Usually if an expensive sushi restaurant tried to serve such common pieces, they would at least make the effort to dress them up somewhat to hide the fact that they are serving you cheap sushi.

Of course, it wasn't all low-brow sushi. In fact, other than those two pieces, everything else was every bit what one might expect from a fancy sushi meal, which made the appearance of those two even more jarring. There was a fantastic lobster sashimi with a drop of yuzu juice and an otoro nigiri that is to die for, to name two.

The chefs, as mentioned, did not take our order and basically did not interact with us the entire meal. They would put pieces on our plates and just walk away quickly, sometimes muttering what they were, sometimes not, and never staying long enough to gauge how we were or were not enjoying them. The pacing was very erratic, we would go for long periods with no sushi on our plates as the chefs were busy constructing the set menu for all the table guests.

The prix fix menu's final short-coming (and it was a big one) was that there was just way too much food. Probably twice as much as was reasonable. Aside from the plentiful sashimi and sushi and all manners of small dishes (some quite good, I might add) that punctuated the procession of raw fish, there was a salad, a soup, noodles, and two hot dishes. I had a big appetite that night and I was feeling extremely uncomfortable towards the end as the dishes just kept coming and coming. I found myself resenting the seemingly never-ending succession of dishes (it is a terrible thing indeed to make a foodie hate food). Don't they have a concept of what a human stomach is able to hold? The grilled fish towards the end was big enough to stand as a meal all by itself. I'm sure this is a concession they feel they must make in order to survive in Taipei's market. If they are perceived to not offer "value" for the amount they are charging they're not going to thrive. This is the sad state of the Taipei restaurant scene. It's unfortunate as I much prefer to receive fewer dishes in exchange for higher-grade ingredients.

Finally, they are overly in love with yuzu flavoring here. It works fantastically in some (a dab on some sashimi pieces, like the lobster I mentioned earlier, and as a dressing component for a white asparagus hors d'oeuvre), but not others (like the uni nigiri, where the citrus took away from the uni's sweetness), and just got a little tiresome overall with its continued appearance.

I wanted to like this place, having another option in the NT$2500 class of sushi restaurants is always a good thing. You could certainly argue that my issues amount to nothing more than nitpicks, but there were enough of them to add up to a less than great meal. My pick for a NT$2500 sushi restaurant is 東丸.

There's definitely potential for greatness here, though. When the food is good, and it is here, it can overcome a lot of problems.

Also see my 壽司 Masa set on Flickr for photos and descriptions of various dishes from the meal.

壽司 Masa / Sushi Masa
市民大道4段155號 [Google Maps]
No.155, Sec.4, Civic Blvd. (Shìmín Dàdào)
(02) 2570-2590

I love Taniguchi's buildings. They're very elegant and understated.

• Toyota Municipal Museum of Art - Yoshio Taniguchi [Figure-Ground.com]

Another Taniguchi building I've photographed: The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures.

• Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal - Foreign Office Architects [Figure-Ground.com]

Three recent works of Tadao Ando in Tokyo (pictured above from left to right: hhstyle.com/Casa, Omotesando Hills, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT). You see a definite departure from earlier works with the incoporation of lots of sharp angles and diagonals. I'm not sure I like this "new" Ando. These are pretty underwhelming projects compared to his earlier work like the Church of the Light and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

• Tadao Ando in Tokyo, 2005—2007 [Figure-Ground.com]

• Harajuku Protestant Church (2005) - Ciel Rouge Creation [Figure-Ground.com]

• Bangkok & Ko Phangan [Figure-Ground.com]

A selection of photos from four trips to Tokyo taken between April 2005 and December 2007.

• Tokyo [Figure-Ground.com]

Surprise, surprise, another update to Figure/Ground! Hot on the heels of the Indonesia travelogue, here's a small update featuring a few shots of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel entrance (yes, just the entrance), moved from Tokyo and planted in an architectural history theme park near Nagoya.

I thought it looked extremely sad, having been torn not just from its location, but from the rest of the building as well. It's architecture without context.

The photos of the truncated building set against a lush mountain backdrop and overlooking a lake look just so ridiculously incongruous and wrong, so you won't see those here. Some of you are probably curious to see them, but I simply cannot do that to FLW.

• Main Entrance Hall and Lobby of the Imperial Hotel (1923) - Frank Lloyd Wright [Figure-Ground.com]

Photos from a short trip to Indonesia last May:

• Indonesia [Figure-Ground.com]

I can't believe it's been ten months since I last updated Figure-Ground.com. It's frightening how time flies. I've introduced a couple of minor tweaks to the site's look as well.

See also the Indonesia (May 2007) photoset on Flickr.