Bacar - 2006.01.14 -- ****

We came to Bacar for its Dine About Town special. After getting here late and barely securing our table, we found out that they did not offer DAT on saturdays. Too late to get up and leave, we settled in the chic restaurant and hoped for some good stuff from the kitchen.

The items on the menu were by no means cheap. But we had trouble holding back with so many things to try. Dungeness crab salad, asparagus soup, and a bacar cured meat plate started the meal. All were very well done, with the soup standing out and the caper berries on the bacar plate taking the star role. We sampled a flight of three "gruner veltliner" wines (from austria), a light white wine that sounded interesting but tasted sort of cheap. Pork chop, hawaiian tuna and a chorizo pizza made up the main courses, and were in general fair but less compelling than the appetizers.

The stars of the night were undoubtly the desserts. Being still winter, we appropriately ordered a blood orange penna cotta, and well a pistachio pot de cream. Refreshingly tangy, firm yet tender, pure silky smooth, perfect capture of the essence of blood orange. Words hardly do enough justice to the heavenly penna cotta. The pot de cream would've been a very good finish by itself, yet it made for but a distant memory in the shadow of its companion.

Our waitress, while professionally mannered, lacked a genuine sense of warmth.

- Crab Salad 13 - Asparagus Soup 12 - Bacar Plate 12 - Chorizo Pizza 15 - Pork Chop 27 - Tuna 27 - Groovay Flight 15 - Penna Cotta 9 - Pot de Creme 9

~$172 for three.