LaSalette, Contemporary Portuguese

LaSalette

452 1st Street East, Suite H

Sonoma, California 95476

http://www.lasalette-restaurant.com/

For dinner our first night in Sonoma, we went to a "Contemporary, Portuguese" restaurant tucked away in one of the alley way in Historic Sonoma. As we came up to the restaurant, we walked through the terrace where guests were enjoying their food. We then entered the restaurant where the lights were dimmed, and the kitchen was open where guests can sit at the bar to watch the food being prepared. The ambiance was homey with the kitchen view of the wood burning oven, copper pots hanging from the ceiling, and the chef prepping the meals on the end of the counter.

After we sat down and ordered, we were offered an amuse-bouche. It was a shot glass of gazpacho they made to give to everyone which was quite refreshing to the palette. In the gazpacho, it contained cucumber and heirloom tomato water, tiny cubed pieces of  cucumber and chourico, a Portuguese chirizo, which added texture and saltiness to the gazpacho, and a drop of olive oil at the top to give the gazpacho some fattiness.

For appetizer, we ordered an array of seafood appetizers, and we paired it a local Sonoma wine, Albarino by Gordian Knot Winery. First was the special for the night, baby squid with caramelized onions, topped with an herbaceous dressing and micro-greens, and topped a hard boiled quail eggs. 

Second was the Na Cataplana, muscles that came out in a hot copper pot. It was cooked in a delicious concentrated stocked called fumet of  lobster and tomato and topped with cilantro and chourico. The mussels were nice and delicate, and the broth was so irresistible that you had to keep eating it with the bread that was provided.

  

The last appetizer was the Bolinhos de Bacalhus, which is a delicately fried cod cake and sauce. They had streaked across the plate artfully the Moroccan black olive coulis which gave the cod cake some saltiness, and drizzled a cilantro aioli which brightened the dish.

To complement our dinner, we decided to go with another local Sonoma wine which was the 2012 Schug Pinot Noir. 

For the main course, I ordered the Seared California Lamb Tenderloin, Goan Style. It was a seared lamb loin to medium rare with a blachao sauce which is a spicy, tangy chili-tomato sauce. It was placed on top of whipped sweet potatoes which were a rich, creamy touch to the dish and came with baked seasonal summer vegetables which were earthy flavors to the dish of squash, zucchini, and a hot pepper on top. 

Second dish was one of their specials for the evening which was a whole, grilled sea bass topped with fresh herbs, lemon, tomatoes, garlic. It was a light, delicate fish with great seasoning to keep the taste of the fish.

Third dish was the Feijoada Completa which is a traditional Brazilan dish. It was not the prettiest looking thing on a plate, but it had great flavors of the stewed beef, pork, and sausage.They also dressed the plate with some white rice with a type of pico de gallo and pan cooked spinach.

The last dish was the heartiest dish of them all Bacalhau no Forno. It was a salted cod fish casserole with mashed potatoes, onions, and olives which was topped with a little more spinach and a hard boiled quail egg on top. It was crisp on the outside, salty on the inside from the fish, and filling from the potatoes.

To top it all off, we ended with the Chocolate Fetish. A plate for the chocolate lover or to share with others. To the left was a rich, airy chocolate mousse with a crispy almond tuile. In the middle was a decadent chocolate souffle with ruby port gelee in the middle. Last but not least was a scoop of bitter chocolate sorbet on top of some sweet caramelized bananas.

The food was great, but the service was not the best. We only saw our waitress two or three time during the entire meal. You could hear every time the house manager was commanding the one busier in the entire restaurant which was constant, you can hear her behind the bar reprimanding the wait staff, and you can especially hear her constantly asking the hostess to do things around the house while she was not busy. To me, the kitchen worked smoothly. The house just needed more wait staff working the busy restaurant. 

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