I was really excited to try Park Tavern after my great experience at Marlowe. Overall it was pretty wonderful. The place itself is huge but we showed up with three on a Saturday right as dinner service began and still couldn't get a table. We settled for a bar communal table, which was fine with me.
We started with the Mendocino uni served with puffed rice, avocado-blood orange oil and chili. I'm a huge fan of uni to begin with so I bit into mine already a happy camper. The texture of the puffed rice and acidity of the oil added with the spice from the chili and complimentary buttery avocado flavor made pretty much the perfect bite. Well balanced and fresh, I loved this raw course.
We moved on to the Fried oyster "Caesar." I immediately fell in love with this. The fried oysters weren't greasy so I didn't feel as guilty as I should about smothering them in Caesar aioli and wrapping them in a piece of Romaine lettuce - got to have your greens right? Basically I am now refusing chicken in my Caesar salad and demanding fried oysters.
Next we had the grilled delta asparagus topped with a slow-cooked farm egg, Parmesan cream and Mangalista prosciutto. This was my least favorite dish. It didn't thrill me and, with so many interesting things other places are doing with slow-cooked eggs, it stood out as lack luster. Apologies on the picture - bit of a glare!
Another not so great picture, but a really great dish. These are the chicken fried sweetbreads with buttermilk cream and madeira jus and they taste like the best chicken nuggets you'll ever have! They are the perfect starter sweetbreads for hesitant eaters. Plus anything with buttermilk is usually amazing in my opinion.
The Five Star Angus beef tartare with farm egg yolk, micro-head lettuces and grilled baguette. This tartare had a great kick to it with some Tabasco. The contrast to the usual dijon mustard was unexpected and delicious. From now on I'm asking for hot sauce with my tartare.
The waiter kindly brought us out the deviled eggs topped with bacon, pickled jalapeno and chives. Bacon and eggs is a solid combination but the pickled jalapenos were a nice surprise.
The waiter also brought out the roasted brussels sprout heats with Parmesan, sage and chili. These were a good bar snack but at this point I think I had too much salt. (Actually too much everything!)
For me, an entree was out of the question so I went with the Dungeness crab and Maine lobster bisque. Unfortunately it was beyond over salted. There is nothing worse than tasting a dish that should taste amazing but is flawed due to a heavy hand.
All in all I had a really great, if indulgent, meal at Park Tavern. My companions got entrees as they apparently have no belts or shame, but they said they were not super impressive. I think it's a great place for cocktails and small plates. I would definitely be interested in checking out more of the raw items and the housemade charcuterie.
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