Citizen and Ritz - 2006.01.06

Citizen Cake (desserts) -- 6.0

Oh wow. Double wow. We went here only to kill some time, and check out the place, but their desserts were totally show-stealers. As it was pre-dinner we only got a little pastry each.

Lemon bar. Gooey but not sticky lemon custard wrapped around each morsels of the chewy biscuit, the scent of the zest comes through here and there, tart and tangy and refreshing and god!

Walnut (and raisins?) roufulach. Forget the spelling. Think a little powerhouse of super butter flavored croissant, but better than croissant, with itty bitty goodies hidden in the layers.

The flop was the lavender-infused chocolate mousse cake. Maybe lavender is an acquired taste. My lemon sandwich cookie was good but not amazingly good like the other two (which btw, I picked :p).

Definitely going to this place again, to try their other foods. They are also on the Dine About Town list.

Second trip note: We had time to kill and was in the neighborhood, so popped in for a repeat of last time's pastry magic. Well, the lemon bar and the croissant-cousin were still good, just not as amazing as they were last time. I suppose Don Quixote was all along right, hunger is the best sauce.



Ritz Carlton Terrace -- 5.4

We went for the "Dine About Town" deal, a three courser for 31$. Turned out it was about the same as ordering a la carte. The DAT menu was very limited and featured nothing terribly appetizing. Actually I didn't think anything looked too appetizing on the menu; very cliche, boring. So we felt jipped about the whole deal, and worked out an arrangement where we only got 2 main courses and 4 appetizers for 4 of us, to stay under what we would've paid for a DAT.

The bad:
Service was horrible, especially considering this is the Ritz. We got a chinese guy that can barely articulate; a clumsy looking waiter that looked far busier than he actually was; the order taking was late; and I had to ask for bread.

Upon getting the dessert menu, we figured out why they consider the Dine About Town. Each item was an outrageous 11 dollars.

The good:
Once I got over the idea that we are not dining on the cheap tonight, the food itself was fairly enjoyable if always marred by something. Mediterranean chicken soup du jour was salty but hearty. Our winter salad of endives and greens came with a delicious dressing, however the copious slices of "pancetta" in there were completely inedible - rancid. Next Steph had a dish of scallops over cauliflower gratin and I ordered a honey glazed quail. Syl and Johnny had main courses of wild mushroom risotto and duck confit.

The scallops were absolutely amazing, tender, very juicy, super yummy. Could just give me a plate of that, skip the overly greasy gratin. The quail and duck were both prepared with a lot of intense flavors and a smoky quality that we all loved. I didn't like the risotto for its overly sweet taste (it had butternut squash), nor the braised endive that came on the side of my quail.

The single dessert we did get (as part of syl's DAT meal) was a Pear pie with a scoop of ice cream. Good, but certainly not $11 worthy.

I'd go back for the scallops, and for a duck fix. But even then only if I'm in that area and found a parking spot right in front of it.