Obelisque, a restaurant on College Ave. near Hudson in Oakland (the last Noble Pies location, before it closed) just opened last Wednesday, and we went last night, figuring that we had to try any new restaurant within 500 feet. The chef is from the Ritz-Carlton in SF, and the owner is a friendly guy named Ric. Brief summary: fabulous food, nice decor, amazing service considering we were there on its second night of operation. The food is claimed to be "French food in a California style." The style reminds me a lot of the food at the Ritz-Carlton dining room, but maybe a little less formal. The menu is small, but interesting. Appetizers were $6-9, entrees $18-$23, and desserts were all $6. Wine list was brief, mostly California wines from small producers, a few French ones, and I thought quite reasonably priced. They hadn't gotten some of the wines in yet. There were about 5 whites and 5 reds plus a rose listed by the glass. The decor is nice--calm, not overdone. If you knew the Noble Pies space, it's a lot less "techno" looking--no more halogen work lamps. They added a loft upstairs with more tables, so it has a bit more room than Noble Pies did. The meal started with a complimentary seafood mousse in a lobster butter sauce. The sauce was great. We shared an appetizer of house-cured duck proscuitto with grilled asparagus, candied walnuts, feta cheese, tomato, and orange olive oil. It sounds odd, but it was really very good, and the flavors worked together very well. The duck prosciutto was wrapped around the asparagus, and those were on top of the skinned tomato, with some greens, with the walnuts and feta around on the plate. For a main course, I had pan-roasted medallions of lamb with candied tomato and spinach filling in a roasted garlic and black truffle jus with a potato-leek gratin. It was $21. The lamb was cooked rare, and the "filling" was on top of the lamb medallions. This was a really good dish, amazing flavors, the sweetness of the candied tomato and spinach working really well against the robust flavors of the lamb and the sauce. My wife had roasted duck breast and duck confit with a three peppercorn port jus, and butternut squash puree and sauteed red chard. It was $19. The duck was amazing, especially the confit, which reminded me a bit of the duck soup at Vi's in Oakland--it was flavored with anise, which the waiter told me was from a liquor, Pinard, I think. The squash was one of the best dishes of this kind I've had--it was amazingly fluffy and light, but really nice and flavorful. I think the chard was sauteed with garlic and maybe some vinegar, and was done perfectly. My only complaint was that this dish could have been a little warmer. For dessert, I had a chocolate terrine with espresso sabayon, and my wife had a poached pear with pistachio crust, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce. The terrine was really good--the sabayon was interestingly not all that sweet, and played off of the dense terrine (sort of like a slab of chocolate truffle) quite well. I think the pear was the best I've ever tasted--it was infused with an anise flavor, like the duck. The chocolate sauce was really nice--tasted a bit carmelized, and the ice cream was very vanilla-y. The service was quite friendly and competent, especially considering that it was their second night. The only glitch was that the waiter ordered both our desserts, but someone else brought out only my wife's with two spoons--oops. When this was pointed out to the waiter, he brought out my dessert, "on me" with apologies, without hesitation. I'd put Obelisque on the same level as the two other top-flight restaurants in the neighborhood, Oliveto and Garibaldi's. It's quite a bit smaller than Garibaldi's, so check it out before the reviews come out and you can't get a reservation anymore. Parking got a lot harder on our block after Garibaldi's opened, and now it'll be even worse! Obelisque 5421 College Avenue Oakland 510.923.9691 Happy Eating, Peter
San Francisco Bay Area, CA