Wolfsbane just opened in the old Serpentine space in the Dogpatch, and the space is barely recognizable now. It's gotten a major upgrade with more wood, greenery, and a cool wolf mural at the entrance. We liked Lord Stanley (though the last visit was many years ago!), and it seems like it was more than just the chef who made it to this new project.
They have a full bar with interesting cocktails and a pretty sizable whisky and bourbon collection. I started with a Taino's chapeau, which had rum, gin, tamarind, lime. It was spirit driven, clarified, clean tasting.
The wine list had some interesting picks, and we ended up with a bottle from Savoie. I haven't had wine from Savoie, so it was nice to try something new, and the earthy yet lighter red went well with all the courses.
Tasting menu ($248/person base price) -
Snacks:
1. Sunflower (actual sunflowers): the center was an artichoke heart srtuffed with sunflower puree, toasted seed butter, poppyeed
2. Onion petal: blanched onion, allium, onion blossom, black garlic
3. "Potato salad": a rolled potato chip filled with leaves and herbs, served with a yogurt dip, nasturtium
4. Cod: crackers, whipped cod brandade, trout roe. This was my favorite of the snacks
5. Enoki: deep fried, with curry paste, preserved lemon, pickled kombu
The rest of the menu:
1. Trio: chilled oyster, Manila clam ceviche, wild mussel escabeche. The sauce on the muscle was super complex, but the clam was also a great texture and clean tasting - hard to pick which I liked more
2. Caviar ($60 supplement): 20 g Tsar Nicoulai caviar on toasted nori, with green apple and maple creme fraiche. The nori was an interesting pairing with the caviar.
3. Cabbage: tender, cooked cabbage in a buttermilk sauce, topped with shaved sea urchin bottarga, fresh dill. The sea urchin bottarga was great
4. Tomato: early girls (last few days on the menu), cherry tomato essence, pickled rose petal, olive and rye, burrata. The clarified tomato broth on the side was one of my favorite parts of the night
5. Striped bass: cooked just right, with verjus braissage, celery root, fermented black chestnut, vanilla
6. Lobster: a grilled tail over a red pepper wrapped around a potato, lobster bisque; on the side was a lobster tempura claw, shiso, red oak, esplette. The lobster tempura claw was the highlight of this dish
7. Liberty farms duck breast, fig roasted in leaves, cocoa juniper. I requested something other than duck and got chicken breast, which was cooked perfectly, and it matched well since the jus that was used was chicken based
8. LS sourdough: an homage to the Lord Stanley tradition of the servers getting leftover bread with cultured butter and jus at the end of the night. The jus was so rich and fragrant, and the sourdough texture was a bit dense and chewy in a good way, making it like a savory bread pudding
9. Milk and oolong snow ball: in the center was a surprising amount of plum, served with grass jelly. Most pre-desserts are just a sorbet or granita, but this one had lots of texture elements
10. Strawberry sorbet, brown sugar mochi, berries, lemon verbena
11. Surprise treats
- Condensed milk and fruit layered jelly
- Hibiscus biscuit
- Truffle
- Canele: wonderful texture on this, reminded me of being in Bordeaux
To finish, you also get a nice wood box to take home, which contained madelines, honey, and some sort of pound cake/bread (haven't tried it yet!).
The team tried really hard, and they clearly put a lot of effort into the presentations and all of the elements on the menu. I appreciate the details that went into each course and can't wait to see what they come up with next! read more