Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
L
$$$
Peninsula Beverly Hills,
9882
kitchen, fusion is a delicious if confusing
prospect.
S. Santa Monica Blvd. (
&
800/462-7899
or 310/551-2888; www.peninsula.com).
$
Best Western Marina Pacific Hotel,
1697 Pacific Ave., Venice (
&
800/786-
7789
or 310/452-1111; www.mphotel.
com).
7360 Beverly Blvd. (
&
323/934-4400;
www.gracerestaurant.com).
(
Los Angeles International (13 miles/
20km).
American Regional Stars
159
Restaurant Gary Danko
It's All in the Details
San Francisco, California
Poised at the end of the Hyde Street cable
car line, Gary Danko's restaurant is an
island of civilized elegance that seems
worlds apart from the nearby scrum of
Fisherman's Wharf tourist traps. It's still
very Californian—don't expect stuffy for-
mality—but meals here definitely feel like
a special occasion, with impeccable ser-
vice, a serene wood-paneled decor with
spotlit modern art, and plenty of space
between those linen-draped tables.
Chef-owner Gary Danko isn't out to be a
trendsetter—his cooking is firmly rooted
in classical French techniques, filtered
through years of cooking and teaching at
the best restaurants in San Francisco and
the countrysides of New England and
Napa Valley. One thing those country-inn
experiences left him with was a keen
appreciation for seasonal local ingredi-
ents, and so Danko set up a farm in Yount-
ville to grow his own organic produce for
the restaurant. The stint in Napa, where he
ran Chateau Souverain's restaurant for the
Beringer vineyards, also sharpened his
interest in wines, and his restaurant has
one of the city's best wine lists as a result.
Danko serves his signature dishes of
roast lobster, foie gras, and lamb loin year-
round, but he varies the accompaniments
from season to season. He might pair
seared foie gras, for example, with red
onions and rhubarb in spring, but with
roast figs in early fall. Earthy autumn sides
of potato puree, corn, and chanterelles
come with the roast lobster in fall, while in
springtime he'll use morel mushrooms
and asparagus instead. You need only look
at another of Danko's trademark dishes—
an appetizer of buttery-smooth glazed
oysters with lettuce cream, zucchini
pearls, and Osetra caviar—to remember
how deeply his classical French training
runs. And meticulous execution makes his
cooking exquisite, more than just another
by-the-book French knockoff.
You can choose between a three-,
four- or five-course fixed-price menu, but
within those parameters you're free to
pick and choose. If you want just a sam-
pling of appetizers or a flight of meat
courses, you need only ask. Whatever you
do, leave room for goodies from the
extraordinary granite-topped cheese cart
the servers wheel to your table at the
end of the meal. It would be a shame
to pass up one of the nation's best artisa-
nal cheese arrays. Don't skip the flambéed
desserts either; they're another Danko
specialty. And it
is
a special occasion,
after all.
