Church and Sate on Valentine's Day, 2009

For Valentine's Day, my husband and I decided to go to an impromptu dinner at Church & State out in the Toy District. The restaurant is located on the corner of Industrial and Mateo Street, ground level of the Biscuit Lofts.
http://www.churchandstatebistro.com/

We had heard mixed reviews on this place and decided to try it for ourselves and see if it was as good or as bad as people made it seem out to be on the yelp sites. We had the presence of mind to make a reservation, which turned out to be a great idea as the restaurant was packed! So we think to ourselves, wow, full house is a good sign, yes!

We sit down and have the hostess bring us our menus and recommend the cocktails of the day, some fruity, themed concoctions for "his 'n hers" made especially for Valentine's Day. We then perused the menu and were told they were offering a prix fixe menu as well as limited a la carte. We went with the a la carte and ordered a plate of Moules Mariniere to start and share, followed by the house salad for my husband, and the endive salad for me. For our entrees we chose the chicken with carrots, root vegetables and bacon for my husband, and I chose the Bouillabaisse stew.

We sat with our cocktails for 45 minutes, waiting for our food, when our server finally told us that they had run our of the Moules Mariniere and would we like to choose another starter? We said ok, understandable, so we chose the salt cod beignets instead. A few minutes later, we were told yet again, that the second appetizer we requested had also run out! We asked the server to make a suggestion of what they do have available and she suggested the escargot or French onion soup. So we agreed with the escargot and soup, and waited for them to bring us our appetizers.

Meanwhile, the wait staff was being very attentive and apologetic to the situation, and offered us a plate of olives and more house bread while we waited. The staff also offered us a goat cheese confiture while we waited so we at least had something to nibble on while they prepared our food. The goat cheese confiture showed up in a masonry glass jar and is usually served with crostini. It had a lemony gelee on top of soft goat cheese, that gave the dish a well balanced and refreshing flavor. After waiting so long and being disappointed with our options, the goat cheese was a nice save to bring us back on their good graces.

Next came the escargot, that were ingeniously served inside a tall ramekin, topped with a puff pastry. I liked to call them escargot mini tacos, because you popped off the puff pastry top and dug down to the bottom where the escargot is found bathed in a delicious brew of melted butter, garlic and chopped parsley. I scooped out the escargot on to the layer of puff pastry and spooned some of the delicious sauce on top and folded it in half and ate it like a mini taco! The buttery sauce went delightfully well with the puff pastry, and the escargot was firm and delicious. I would have to say that this is the cleverest way I have ever seen escargot being served, as well as delicious and traditional.

Next came the French onion soup and the Bouillabaisse. The flavors of the Bouillabaisse were spot on, and the broth had a good balance of flavors, but the soup base was a bit on the thick side! A bit unsettling was also the appearance of catfish in the stew as well. A traditional Bouillabaisse typically uses scorpionfish, monkfish or turbot, in addition to shellfish and octopus or crab. I would suggest that the restaurant not stew their broth while the potatoes are in there and to use a different fish for the soup. The shellfish was cooked perfectly, as the the mussels and clams in the broth were tender and delicious.

My husband was having the French onion soup and it came with a beautiful cap of bread and gruyere cheese on top. The broth itself was light and delicious, with just the right amount of onion-y sweetness. It's nice to know that even though some of the dishes were a bit puzzling in their execution, the most traditional of them all, the French onion soup adhered to all tradition and flavor and displayed beautiful colors and flavors.

So by now I'm sure you're all wondering (as were we!): where are the salads? Since the dishes we originally ordered were unavailable and our order had to be revised, everything was on the slow track in terms of our food. But by the time they had the right orders, we were literally barraged with almost everything all at once, and had no room to spare on our tiny table to accommodate all the dishes we had ordered. SO we were told that our dinner would be served "the European way," with salad culminating the meal. We had no problem with this, except for the small plates being given to us while we waited for our dishes then left no room towards the end of the meal for the salad course. My husband then received his chicken entree, and we had the staff skip the salads as we were nearing the point of satisfaction.

The chicken came very well presented with delicately chopped root vegetables and apples, which gave a refreshing balance of sweetness and savory to the dish. The chicken was cooked tender and came surrounded by a deliciously aromatic bacon dripping sauce that gave the whole dish a very rich and flavorful profile as well as a delightful, smoky flavor.

I really want to give this restaurant a much better review, because their food has great promise and ingenuity. But the chaotic state of the kitchen and dining room is making it difficult to give it the review that it deserves. Perhaps if the kitchen was better prepared, it could have prevented the mishaps we had encountered. The kitchen staff looked a bit bewildered at times, and once I saw the chef leave the restaurant for a couple of minutes. Upon his return, i noticed that he did not wash his hands when he re entered the kitchen, but just put his apron back on and resume his duties. The sous chef in the back was doing a wonderful job, trying to keep the kitchen together, but he was having lots of trouble which was signified by the appearance of smoke in the kitchen twice while we were there, as well as the smell of something burning. The tables in the dining room were jam-packed together, and it felt like we went out to the dinner with a number of Arts District residents that night. My husband suggested that they eliminate 10 tables to give the dining room a better and more maneuverable layout for the guests and staff. The tables were lined up in 4 rows, and it was a tight squeeze between tables to get in and out of your own chair. It was also very loud in there and I had a hard time hearing our host and servers during the night.

The wait staff, though, needs to be commended for the great job they are doing in spite of the circumstances. They are trying very hard to accommodate all the guests and get the orders in and to the guests. They are doing a great job trying to keep abreast of the chaos, but even then, people have their breaking point. The kitchen staff needs to be better organized if they want their restaurant to succeed, you want people to remember your food, even amidst all the chaos. Unfortunately, their food had a tendency to be forgettable with their awkward execution and slow service. I agree with my husband's suggestion of reducing tables, since that would increase their turnaround on their covers, and thus serve more people and have a better chance to let their food and talents shine. The gentleman who made the wine suggestions to us did an excellent job as well and was very well versed in the flavor profiles of the wines.

I hope to go back to Church & State on a day that is not as chaotic as Valentine's Day to really see what the staff can do. I'm hoping that the chaos and disorganization is not a usual part of the restaurant.