Abacus: Looking Good, Tasting Good

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our seven-year anniversary with dinner at Abacus. I had never been there before, so I can’t speak too much to the results of the restaurant’s recent makeover. It seemed nice enough inside, with a lot of neutrals and wood tones. There was nary a geometric shape to be found. Kent Rathbun was there, meeting and greeting.

We decided to go with the nine-course tasting menu with wine pairings. After the jump is a brief description of what the kitchen cooked up for us (from an eater’s perspective, not a critic’s), if you’re interested.

1. A petite salmon fillet over sauteed green onion with a soy sauce reduction and Thai corn cake.

2. Coconut-vanilla black rice topped with a grilled piece of swordfish and a dried pineapple chew.

3. Red snapper with heirloom tomatoes, artichokes, and what I think was Israeli couscous.

4. Cucumber-lime granita served over slivers of cucumbers.

5. Brioche toast, foie gras butter, rhubarb jam, and grilled foie gras and shallots to be eaten as an open-faced sandwich (bread buttered, then topped with jam, foie gras, and onions). This was my favorite dish (sorry, PETA).

6. Elk loin sliced on top of cheesy blue corn (I think) grits, ladled with a mole sauce. This was my second-favorite dish, which is saying a lot because I am typically a notorious sweet tooth.

7. Sirloin tips over sliced fingerling potatoes with blue cheese and garlic, drizzled with a merlot demi glace.

8. Goat cheese trio accompanied by quince jelly, lavender honey, candied walnuts, and pepper relish.

9. House-made “Kit-Kat” sided with a tiny coconut pannacotta.

Wines: Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauternes, Merlot, Champagne (I had already had two martinis, so, no, I did not keep up with the labels of each).

Lagniappe: basket of delicious breads including poppyseed lavosh, baguette slices, pesto-topped, mini peach muffins, and slices of whole grain; received a house-made “Tootsie  roll” with the check.