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CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO SEASONS RESTAURANT The hotel begins several floors up, and its restaurant, Seasons, is on its lowest floor. It has been kitted out in a handsome and expensive manner. Warm tones of brown and gold blend pleasingly with the polished wood and marble. Spotlights have been positioned carefully to shine down on each table. Those tables, I am pleased to report, are not only well-spaced but are also covered with white tablecloths – so that the colour of the wine poured into the good Spiegelau glasses can be accurately judged. I am not a fan of the open kitchen, but in a room this large it impinges little on the diners. I settled myself into a welcoming armchair, next to a standard lamp with a spiral glass stem, and looked out of the window. I was opposite the corner of Market Street and Grant Street, a junction dominated by a stone building in the Classical style – once, I suppose, an important bank, now the town’s Armani emporium. As the cars and pedestrians jostled for dominance down below, I relaxed in the comfort and quiet of Seasons. No sign of spies passing secrets, but the folk all around seemed to be tucking in with relish. Certainly, the waiters – smart in their black waistcoats – appeared to be providing friendly and efficient service.
My opening course showed how successful this approach could be. A salad of baby beets and greens came with sweet onion, roasted almonds and a blood orange vinaigrette. Appearance and tastes (particularly the mild dressing) were exactly right. Next were seared sea scallops – slightly crisp on the outside, soft and sweet within – brilliantly balanced with a Syrah reduction, wild mushrooms, caramelized fennel and salsify. My main course, pan roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, was perhaps too large for its own good: less would have been more. Still, the bird’s flesh was tasty. And the concluding chocolate bread and butter pudding likewise suffered from some over-generosity in the kitchen – this time with the chocolate. (Yes, I can already hear the protests of the chocaholics: but it is possible to be over-generous with chocolate.) Sommelier Rom Toulon was born in the Loire Valley. He presides over an impressive list of 600 offerings. In terms of price, they begin – sensibly – with a Chilean chardonnay at $23. 30 still wines are available by the glass – including Gregory Graham’s 2001 Napa Valley chardonnay at $16. Naturally, California features strongly (Pahlmeyer’s 2002 chardonnay is $113 and 2000 Opus One is $208), but France, Italy and Australia also offer some of their best (like 1995 Cheval Blanc at $430, 1999 Ornellaia at $190 and 1995 Grange at $465). Monsieur Toulon brought me two very good bottles. From Monterey County came a beautifully balanced, grassy, full-bodied sauvignon blanc (Araujo, 2002 - $65) – an object lesson in what the New World can do with this grape. And from Chile came a true aristocrat. Tannic, sweet, heavily-scented, damson-rich – the 1999 Almaviva (Concha y Toro & Rothschild, Puente Alto - $135) needed its decanting, and thereafter yielded masses of massive pleasure. This was serious and seriously enjoyable drinking. As I walked out into Market Street, I counted my visit to Seasons a great success. How right I am to like hotel dining rooms. |
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ADDRESSES SEASONS RESTAURANT
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© Francis Bown 2003
Hotel dining rooms have always appealed to me. Even as a small child, I was eager and excited by the prospect of a meal in an hotel. I imagined that I was being taken into a world of romance and of secret assignations, of international affairs and even of espionage. Somehow, these youthful fancies could not be attached to eating in restaurants which were merely restaurants. Even now, in my dotage – since, as we all know, the child is father to the man – my enthusiasm for hotel eating is undimmed. And when that eating is being done in my favourite city, San Francisco, my anticipation is intense. As I walked from Market Street into the elegance of the Four Seasons hotel, I was therefore a happy man.
Executive Chef Jeremy Emmerson, an Englishman who took over the kitchens here in 2003, prices his menu by the number of courses. 2 courses are $44, 3 courses are $54 and 4 courses are $64. His attitude is straightforward: to take good quality ingredients, treat them sensibly and combine them with intelligence.