Beast

05/19/2008 Posted by tysonturbo

First the Yukon potato and garlic soup had me excited, if this had been the tone of the meal, then Beast would have done for summer fare the same justice it had for homey indulgent winter eats. Perfectly flavored, with just a touch of earthiness from the Yukons, crisp and perfectly chilled. Then came the charcuterie plate, the first disaster. The steak tartar with quail egg was delicious, the egg yolk breaking perfectly in my mouth as the tender tartar melted, that aside, the rest could barely have passed for Fancy Feast. Pork that was quite simply forgettable and foie gras that was hardened into a cold fatty lump and overpowered by salt, a taste that wouldn't leave my mouth for the rest of the meal. Enter the entree; serving food cold does not, in my book, make it suitable for warm weather, the quail was a perfect example of this. I wanted to ask if it could be heated as it had lost all of its juiciness and most its flavor. The duck liver toast was simply inedible, think salt lick, and the frisee overpowered by a terrible pairing of citrus dressing. The leek and lentil salad may have been the best part of the meal, simple, seasonal and fresh, but after enduring the entree, served only to cleanse my pallet. By the time desert came around I found myself rushing to pay the bill and get out, the expectation of a wonderful meal was dashed by food that was under thought, overly salty, and trying to be something is wasn't. Simple warm weather flavors and fresh ingredients were substituted with strange preparations and heavy flavor. One can't help but think the heat wave left the chefs at Beast scrambling to come up with an alternative menu and failing miserably.

05/18/2008 Posted by askewdodge

Before you react to the three stars (it was controversial last night after dinner) give me a second to explain. I had very high expectations last night going to Beast, but after dinner was over I left the restaurant feeling a bit, no a good bit unsatisfied. We reached the end and I was literally wondering if I'd missed a course. Now the wait staff was great, and the food was great. The flavors of each serving were well seasoned and matched. We chose the wine pairing for each course and that was good too. Here's my beef (no pun) and why I didn't give 4 or 5 stars - the main course and the end of the serving rush to swap over from the 6pm session to the 8:45pm session. The main course last night was quail (and a very tasty quail at that). Now quail makes for a cute little appetizer, but it's by no means worthy as a main course for a restaurant with the namesake "Beast". I can't fault any single dish in the 6 course experience, all were very flavorful, but I left the restaurant feeling a bit cheated. It's not that I wanted more food, the amount was perfect, we left almost satisfied, not quite full (and no, I'm not some 300 lb transfat loving couch potato) though. The last element that was not a plus was the "okay folks, time to get out, we have others waiting for the tables". They didn't pull this off in a rude manner, but our group could easily have sat there and talked for 30-45 more minutes. Will you have a bad experience at Beast? No, absolutely not; again the food and staff were both great. I just had much higher hopes for the experience and I was left wanting at the end. Will I go back, absolutely, but I'll go back when there's truly a 'beast' experience on the menu, and not something that reminds me of Le Pidgeon (sorry, the pun just came to mind).

Pros: Food, service, wine pairings

Cons: Spendy, overly high expectations, the seating swap out rush