Chef Holly Smith bedazzled me with scrumptious food fare. I had started at purple that night on a business trip and was fortunate to grab a 9:00pm reservation on a Thursday table at the newly annointed James Beard Best Chef in the Northwest winner's restaurant. My intent was to explore her version of Northern Italian high cuisine by sampling what I perceived to be her signature and seasonal specialty dishes. I was soooo not disappointed.
To start, I enjoyed the singularly most incredible and peerless representation of foie gras I've had in my gastronomic lifetime. What incredible pleasure, almost sinful, that Holly's foie gras with coco nibs, rubarb chutney, and candied ginger brought me. When I told my gastronomic cohort Alan about this dish, he instantly asked about it being over constructed. So too was my thought when I read it on the menu ... coco nibs, how could she possibly make that work.... well I must say that nothing compares to this dish.... nothing. I have not eaten anything so well conceived in a single dish at any restaurant, Michelin rated or otherwise. I heard from my incomparable waiter that the rich and famous come from all parts of the west coast seeking this foie, and I now understand why.
I followed this transcendently gluttonous concoction with another starter, veal sweetbreads, morels, pancetta, and fava beans. The seasonality of favas had escaped my timing on this one and peas were substituted ... an accomplished dish, but humbled by the imposing shadow of the foie gras.
Next, I enjoyed a seasonal Parmagiano Reggiano soup with shaved Wagyu Beef. Incredibly delicate, well conceived, and intrinsically Northern Italian.
Finally, I savored another seasonal variation with the fresh porcini en Tagliatelle. Again, another very great dish, but the simplicity was somewhat envious of the the straightforward but complex soup that preceded it.
In sum total, Holly Smith and Cafe Juanita left me with one of the three best meals of my short and somewhat gastronomically educated life. I'd only place Bitone (Bologna) and Mizuna (Denver) in this elite company.
Without a doubt, Cafe Juanita represents an excellent example of destination-worthy cuisine that should command 2-3 Michelin stars.
|