Soizic Bistro is our neighborhood "nice" restaurant - it's 3 blocks away at 3rd & Broadway and owned by the husband & wife team who used to own Cafe Pastorale in Berkeley. Apparently, they got sick of being one of the hip, "must go" restaurants in Berkeley, and so they shut down and reopened a couple of years later as Soizic in Jack London Square.
First time we ate there was on our real estate agent's dime - she got us a gift certificate there when we closed on the loft. It was great then, and it's still great 6 months later. But we are spoilt - the proprieter remembers us, and always takes care of us.
Tonight, we had tickets to see Ms. Jane Monheit at Yoshi's. However, Yoshi's is overpriced, underwhelming sushi, so C set us up w/a reservation at Soizic.
We had two cups of white corn soup to start. Usually, corn soups are "chowder-y" - this wasn't. It was rather light, but undyingly flavorful, and sweet. Next we shared the duck confit salad. I love this. The confit is really good and the house-cured cabbage & bacon it comes with are great. Served atop arugula, spinach & endive, this salad makes a fantastic lunch or light dinner, all on its own. Mmmm.
I had the lamb filets, which I think are my favorite dish here. Three perfect little lamb tenderloin filets in a madeira sauce with wonderful potato gratin & the most delectable roasted shiitake mushrooms ever. A mache salad also comes with - mache is one of those overlooked greens, but my, it's good.
C had the ribeye tonight, which was a lovely cut of meat. Served with nice roasted veg (I stole his brussels sprouts & cauliflower), the same gratin I had, and a stilton-based sauce. Again, all were really very delightful, especially at a price of $23.95!!
After dinner, we had a 1/3 of a bottle of wine left (Gigondas, 2001 Domaine Piaugien, $34) and we still wanted dessert, but needed to get to Yoshi's to get decent seats for the show. We asked our waiter if they would hold the rest of the bottle for us, and we'd be back before closing for dessert. He was SO willing to oblige, and got a lovely tip in return.
After the show (which was awesome, btw), we returned to Soizic and they quickly poured us the rest of our wine. As we contemplated dessert, we were brought two complimentary glasses of one of the tawny ports on the menu - I can only assume it was the Dow's and was very lovely. C & I were each ready to order a glass of port with our desserts, and the comp was such a gracious touch.
I had the chocolate torte and, as usual, had to ask for a side of ice cream. This time, it was a white pepper, house made. Oh. My. God. White pepper ice cream is something that MUST be experienced. I've had jalapeno ice cream, and this is far more subtle (the burn builds up) and far more flavorful. Full of butterfat, the sweet and fat make the burn enjoyable, rather than just "painful. Delicious. The torte was nothing to sneeze at either.
C had the ginger custard which was ripe with the flavor of ginger, but not my cup of tea. The fruit crisp of the night was peach and berry and, as it passed our table, I had a moment of regret at not having ordered it - it looked and smelled wonderful.
We also got a tip from our waiter that the pastry chef, in the winter, does a guinness stout ice cream which is served with carrot cake. I will be calling weekly until they have it - that's not something to be missed.
Soizic Bistro is highly recommended next time you're in the Oakland area.