For our third year anniversary Ke and I ate at La Folie, a restaurant known for having some of the best foie gras in San Francisco. When we visited La Folie, they had a summer chef’s tasting menu as well as their standard tasting menu where you can choose which dishes you want out of a select few. I’m a big fan of chef tasting menus because I always have a hard time deciding on what I want to eat at nice restaurants.
I especially loved La Folie’s setup because I was able to savor a lot of options while having some control over my menu. Ke and I decided to order different plates so we could sample as much of the menu as possible:
Pre-Courses
Shot of Foie Gras – this was a fascinating dish. At first, a foie gras soup with foie gras foam sounded and looked unappetizing (to me anyway, Ke was beyond stoked). But this soup had an amazing texture and rich taste that wasn’t too overpowering. Great start to the meal!
Cold soup with quail egg – I wish I could remember or explain every little ingredient in this dish. It was a cold soup of corn and puree with a quail egg and chip on top. So delicious! I’d love to eat a whole bowl of it.
First Course
Seared scallop topped with uni – Ke decided on a seared scallop topped with fresh uni for his first dish. The scallop was cooked perfectly and the uni paired wonderfully with it. I’m always 50/50 on ordering uni. Half the time, restaurants serve mouth watering, buttery uni that just melts in your mouth and the other half of the time, it is absolutely disgusting and no good quality. The uni at La Folie, paired with a scallop, leeks, and corn was on point.
Butter poached lobster – You can’t say no to butter poached lobster tail so I had to have it when I saw it on the menu. This dish was actually on the Summer Chef’s Tasting Menu but I was able to order it as a supplement. It was delicious. Buttery and lobstery.
Second Course
Tempura duck egg – I was immediately drawn tot he tempura duck egg when choosing my second course. However, this dish looked and sounded more delicious than it actually was. I love tempura and I love duck eggs but overall I felt the egg and tempura was bland and lacking salt. The corn salad and mushrooms were much more flavorful.
Pig Feet and Sweetbreads – Ke opted for the pig feet and sweatbreads with a lentil salad as his second course. It was very delicious, rich, and meaty, a very great choice.
Foie Gras Course
Foie gras – While this dish was part of our second course, I felt it needed it’s own section. La Folie, in my opinion, lived up to it’s reputation as this was the best foie gras I ever had. While I love me some foie gras, I tend to think it can be a tad bit overrated, similarly to bone marrow. I love foie gras but can only eat a little at a time due to the rich flavor.
However, I take back my “overrated” rating now that I have tried La Folie’s foie gras. Their foie gras is perfectly paired with caramelized peaches that balances the strong flavor of the foie gras. I couldn’t get enough. It was also a HUGE portion. At the beginning of dinner, our waiter warned us about how filling this dish could be and he was definitely correct.
Third Course
Trio of rabbit – The dish I chose for my third course was the trio of rabbit. I have to admit that this was a tough dish to eat right after the foie gras. This plate is huge! It is a ton of food with three rabbit dishes: ribs, stuffed breast, and leg. It was very good but a bit salty at times. I would have loved some of the salt in this dish to be added in the tempura egg dish.
Duck breast – I personally wanted to order the duck breast instead of the trio of rabbit but Ke beat me to it. To begin with, I LOVE duck. It’s hard for me to ever dislike any duck that I eat. With that said, this definitely stood out to other duck dishes I’ve had in the past. It was tender, juicy, seasoned very well, and paired perfectly with citrus. You can’t go wrong with duck and fruit, you just can’t.
Dessert Course
Passionfruit sorbet – a great spoonful of sorbet to prep our pallets for dessert. Delicious, refreshing, and to the point.
Chocolate mousse covered in dark chocolate with ice-cream, white chocolate pearls and spiced chocolate – (had to write out the entirety of this dish haha) I was debating between ordering the chocolate dessert or La Folie’s more popular Alaskan baked soufflé dessert. However my craving for chocolate overpowered me and I had to go with the chocolate mousse. I am so happy I did. This dish was a chocolate on chocolate feast and every component worked perfectly together. This dessert is now on my top desserts list!
Petite Fours – The final treat and surprise, a petit four of chocolate and hazelnut, caramels, canelé, and cherry or passionfruit gelatin. I was so full at this dish that each small treat was a little too sweet for me.
Overall Review
Overall, this dinner was quite delicious and above my expectations. The service was excellent and the food portions were quite large. I left thoroughly stuffed and satisfied. I would highly recommend ordering the scallop, foie gras, pig feet and sweatbreads, duck breast, and any dessert. This restaurant is definitely a must eat!