Arcadia (a Michael Mina restaurant)

Location: downtown San Jose, CA
Cuisine type: modern American
Atmosphere: subdued, dim lighting
Meal: dinner, festive
Overall score: 8.7

Note: We apologize for the dismal quality of the pictures for this place, but the lighting was so dim that nothing came out on our phone camera without flash, and we didn't want to disrupt other guests' dinners.

Nina

Apparently many restaurants are closed on New Years Day - who knew? Thus, we decided that we’d have our anniversary dinner early, and we picked a place that came with high praises from a colleague whose taste in restaurants I’ve come to appreciate. Arcadia is located in the lobby of a San Jose downtown Marriott, and the only entrance we could find involved entering through the hotel lobby (and getting a bit lost in the process, we blame it on poor signage). The atmosphere inside was subdued, with dim lighting and some retro decor elements - overall, the light was so low that we weren’t really able to take any pictures of our food without using flash (and we left that out so it wouldn’t disrupt our meal and the meals of others sitting nearby). The decor and table layout didn’t go together as smoothly as I would have liked, the combination of chairs and benches at many of the tables felt more like a casual diner than a fine restaurant, but the noise level was low (maybe just because it was a slow night, but we didn’t mind) and service was great, so the overall experience was definitely positive.

For appetizer, we ordered a beef tartare. The presentation was certainly impressive - the hand chopped beef came in a neat cylindrical stack topped with a quail egg yolk, and alongside it there was a trail of fried capers, garlic and coarse salt. The server who brought it to the table neatly scooped up the seasonings, then folded them and the yolk into the mass of minced meat. Then, he placed it in a conical glass which rested in a bowl of ice next to a delicious and crispy pile of fries. The flavors were subtle and harmonious, and the homemade fries were a perfect vehicle for the meat. Towards the end we ran out of chips and used some of the bread we had left in our bread basket to finish up the tartare.
Appetizer number two of sorts was the bone marrow that I asked Ben to order with his steak - this was probably the weakest dish of the night, and most responsible for the point deducted from their food score. I like marrow cook whichever way (for some reason), but I can appreciate it when it’s particularly well prepared. This was cooked in the bone whole, which was a bit disappointing mainly because I was picturing the halved bones serving as a dipping boat of marrow, which would also allow it to develop the roasted crust and depth of flavor a bit more. The topping of bread crumbs, parsley and seasoning was good, but the overall dish a little hard to eat.
My entree was the daily special - the lobster pot pie. I saw it mentioned many times in reviews of Arcadia, so it was definitely something I had to try. I have to say first of all that the flavors were fantastic, the lobster was perfectly cooked, and was cooked in a creamy rue with a delicious assortment of vegetables and various wild mushrooms. The crust was crispy on the top and soaked up just enough of the sauce on the bottom, and it was topped with a few grains of coarse salt. The presentation, however, was epic in its own right - the server brought the pot pie in a large pan, with the crust baked on top and sealed around the edges of the pan. Then, with a knife, he carefully removed the crust from the top and placed in on a large plate, then proceeded to reassemble the pieces of lobster from the pot pie back into the rough layout of the animal whole. Finally, he arranged the vegetables and mushrooms around the lobster and top everything with the creamy sauce. The crust on the bottom of all this somehow remained crusty throughout my meal, and was a perfect complement to every bite of the dish.

Last but not least, there had to be dessert. After contemplating the entire dessert menu (everything looks good when it’s sweet and especially when it’s covered or otherwise rich in chocolate), we settled on the coffee ice cream deconstructed sundae. Seemed like a classic with a twist, which should be a guaranteed hit. The ice cream was tasty, if slightly icy, and it came topped with small meringue dollops. On the side, there was various toppings like slivered almonds and chocolate sauce, so it was overall an enjoyable dessert. The better dessert, however, was the one we didn’t order - the waiter apparently caught my fleeting reference to it being our anniversary, so he brought a second dessert from the chef (off the menu). It was a layered cake of vanilla batter and chocolate buttercream, served alongside cocoa nib ice cream, which I actually liked a little better than the espresso kind in our sundae. Also, to make things a little more special, the chef had also handwritten “Happy Anniversary” in chocolate sauce on the edge of the plate. A festive end to a delicious meal. :) I really enjoyed the experience at this restaurant, including everything from the atmosphere (though I wasn't a fan of the light fixtures) and service to the food and presentation.

Food	9
Drinks	9
Atmosphere	8
Service	10
Value	8

Ben

A restaurant in the Marriott in downtown San Jose. Arcadia does not give the “wow” impression that we’ve seen at similarly priced / reputed restaurants - it is entered through the hotel, and is a large (at the time very empty) restaurant. The wait staff was very polite and professional, and the mood once we settled in was more comfortable and intimate. We started off with beef tartare - a presentation at the table in which the tartare was mixed with quail egg yolk and a caper and garlic seasoning, and served with a side of freshly baked potato chips.

 

I ordered a wagyu beef strip steak with a red wine sauce on the side. The steak was perfect - living up to high expectations. It was a perfectly homogenous medium rare all the way through, and was tender and juicy (maybe could have used even more fat.. but I’m not complaining). The sauce was a little thin and weak, which was at first disappointing - I felt like a hearty red wine flavor sauce would go great with bread or the truffle mac and cheese I ordered. I ended up appreciating the subtlety of the sauce, as it was at an appropriate level to eat with a quality steak without overpowering it. The truffle mac and cheese was decent, though I would have enjoyed a little more flavor … it was a little too subtle for me.
I tried a Nina’s lobster pot pie and it was really fantastic flavor as well as presentation (a little annoyed by the mystery price .. ended up being $20 more than the next highest menu item).

The dessert was pretty good - a sundae with crisp bites of cocoa meringue, served with almonds and chocolate sauce. Nina had mentioned our anniversary was coming up, and our server brought us a complimentary sponge cake with chocolate with a “happy anniversary” message in chocolate.

Food	9
Drinks	9
Atmosphere	7
Service	10
Value	7

Xanh

Location: Mountain View, CA
Cuisine type: Vietnamese, modern
Atmosphere: dim lit, modern decor
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 8.25

Nina

On one of those nights where you go “what should we cook today?” and then decide “nah, let’s just eat out,” we wandered to one place where we know choices are abundant - downtown Mountain View, Castro Street. The only problem we even find here is that there are too many choices, so sometimes it takes us quite a while to settle on something. This was of course, no exception, but we decided to eat at the slick looking Vietnamese place at the north end of the busy street, Xanh. It has a modern feel, with an interesting decor - chain link walls, a wall sized fountain with water just barely moistening the stone, very dim lighting and sectioned off rooms allowing each table to feel intimate, while the restaurant is quite large overall.
Their appetizer menu is domiated by Vietnamese spring rolls, so we picked two different kinds (kobe and shrimp) to try some variety. They looked the exact same when they came, so I had a moment where I wasn’t sure which one was which, especially since the meat was almost hidden among all the veggies in the rice paper. However, when I took a bite, it was clear that the juicy, almost creamy meat was the kobe, and the shrimp had its almost crunchy bite. Both rolls had clean and rich flavors, so I was pretty happy to have picked them, even though I’m not usually a huge fan of Vietnamese spring rolls.

My entree was dungeness crab and glass noodles, which was well seasoned though it came with little else on the plate. To be clear, I’m not complaining at all about the relative simplicity of the plate - the crab flavor was able to really come through (and the portion of meat definitely generous), and the finely shredded meat was well distributed into the noodles, so that each bite was well balanced.
The curveball in this meal (and the reason for a point or two deducted from the food score) was surprisingly the dessert. We picked the more authentic sounding one (figuring that we could get cheesecake and ice cream at any other place), the “DYI” Dessert Trio. The ingredients listed on the menu included tapioca pearls, yellow mung bean and coconut milk, so I was honestly expecting something that would present the ingredients in a somewhat disparate presentation, so that in the spirit of DYI we could combine them at will. Instead, there were three presentations that were each a somewhat flavorless combination of all three ingredients (except for the coconut flavor, which came through nicely in one of them) with strange gummy textures.
Overall, the subdued atmosphere, modern decor and creative food combinations of traditional Vietnamese with a twist coming together to form quite a nice experience.

Food	8
Drinks	8
Atmosphere	9
Service	9
Value	7

Ben

A restaurant/bar with an almost club-like feel .. dimly lit, packed, and with staff all in-black, the crowd appeared a mix of after-work techies and informal business gatherings. The menu and food all has a good touch of style .. with “modern” vietnamese cuisine. We started out with a spring roll with kobe beef and shrimp. A classy presentation, but a bit of a ‘meh’ taste. I enjoyed the duck breast that I ordered - a simple but elegant dish of duck cooked to a perfect medium rare, topped with a cocktail of fruits and vegetables. Overall a very good dish, a dash of class in its simplicity. We ordered a dessert trio, tapioca pearls, mung bean, and coconut cream.. a unique and pleasant finish to the meal. The place is definitely a hip spot, maybe better for gathering with a group of friends / coworkers than for a romantic meal.

Food	8
Drinks	8
Atmosphere	9
Service	9
Value	8