What a lovely restaurant. Just for a tip if you find the apothecary it's down the stairs right…read moreafter it. We did have a little bit of trouble finding it but that was kind of fun. Reservations recommended we were seated at a beautiful table for two right near the bar and started off with a Pinot noir and a cabernet. Both wines were delightful. For appetizers we had the braised lamb crepe and the octopus... Both dishes were delicious, presented well with sauces to die for. Followed by the pasta dish and the duck. These were the best dinners of the year for us. The blending of flavors were fantastic and it was augmented by the owner coming over and talking to us about how the food was prepared. I won't bore you with all the details but the octopus is slow boiled for 5 hours.. complete with wine. Corks it was tender and delicious with the Mediterranean flair. We go out to eat our fair share from high end to diners anywhere. The food is well prepared and delicious... This was the top for the year! From the service to the presentation to the wine to the ambiance, everything is top notch here. I will provide a warning. You will drop a pretty penny if you partake in all the courses, but we thought it was well worth it. Thank you to the staff and ownership. We enjoyed our evening.. a true date night.

So, we finally got to try the chef's table, or "Chef's Whim" as it's officially titled. Eight…read morecourses. In addition to the food, we added the suggested alcohol pairings. I say alcohol because it wasn't all wine but ... since it's a bit of a surprise in terms of what actually appears I'll just leave it at that. However, as to the food ... I'll give a taste, a flavor, a wisp of a whisper of the full culinary adventure. For complete details, see your local sous chef! Here's what we had. In the middle of my photo collage, a blood sausage slider with fennel/jalapeño sauce on toasted brioche bun. Then clockwise from top left - cornbread with maple glaze in a Barbie sized personal cast iron skillet; beet salad with goat cheese half spheres; a dessert tray of black apple cake with hay ice cream (yes, seriously), chamomile pot de creme and a duck fat beignet; an assortment of ice creams - fenugreek, fennel/maitake mushroom/burnt hazelnut (all tasted fabulous and in each you could taste the listed flavors); entree of duck and wild mushroom tart; white bean soup and finally a pasta dish of ravioli with two fillings. Just a note on what it would take to make it yourself. See that hexagonal white blob on the bottom row, middle pic? That's a potato foam. Forgive me for not recalling the full procedure but the prep is roughly 7 hours long. First, the cut potatoes are cooked in a sous vide for 2 hours so that no moisture is added to them. Then a succession of ricing, smoking, drying, undrying, mashing, placing in a foam machine that looked like a whipped cream dispenser and boom - a tiny dollop of potato. It tasted great. But man - that's a lot of effort for a mouthful of potato. I don't think I'll be trying it at home. Over two hours of eating and chatting. I brought a couple of my restaurant-based cartoons as my personal thanks for the meal and was shocked that Justin, their sommelier, had done a cartoon of his own ahead of time for me! Just stick to wine, Justin - I don't need any MORE competition with my magazine editors ... With Dylan ably providing the primary chef duties and Amaya and Justin handling the booze, the meal was a smashing success. The food pairings were masterfully chosen and timing of the dishes meant we were always primed for the next one. Although the succession of what I'd call dessert dishes made me start to feel like a Hobbit enjoying dessert, second dessert and then post seconds. As Anton Ego said in Ratatouille (and they have a cute Reme rat under glass on a shelf) "I shall be returning, hungry for more."