Gather Restaurant
So I was trying to find a restaurant at which to spend my 29th birthday. I thought of Camino, which is arguably my favorite restaurant in the East Bay. Then I thought, eh, a little pricey. So I considered Pizzaiolo, because I'm down with fancy pizza and wine. But then this new place was recommended to me. I was surprised I hadn't heard of Gather, as the owners used to run Back to Earth Catering and did most of their grocery purchases at a certain unnamed natural grocery chain. They also catered one year's holiday party for aforementioned unnamed natural grocery chain. So, how exciting! They've started a restaurant!
I immediately found their website to peruse their menu and get a vibe of the place. "A place where you can find seasonal food, carefully sourced and thoughtfully prepared to appeal equally to vegetarians and omnivores." Hmm, a few red flags, the wine list is entirely organic, what if it's too crunchy... Don't get me wrong, I'm really into sustainability and all, but sometimes it's too much of a good thing. I mean I want damn good food on my birthday, not to pat myself on the back for getting drunk on biodynamic wine. Their executive chef Sean Baker came from Millenium, the vegetarian restaurant which I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't visited. One yelper referred to Gather as "Millenium with meat." Ok, maybe I can get behind that.
So we have a party of 6 that miraculously all arrives around the same time, we get seated promptly, and found our server to be charming and helpful. Yay. We order cocktails - mine is "Summer Sandals," and consists of Organic Nation gin, cucumber, basil, sandalwood syrup, and lime. Apart from the romance-novel name and the improbable purple hue (did it come from the sandalwood syrup?), this was probably the best cocktail in the group. You can see it in the picture next to the mountain of grated cheese below. The most unfortunate cocktail choice in my little group was "Secret Breakfast." I'm glad I didn't get seduced by the sound of "smoked peach scotch, bacon cello, spicy honey, lemon, egg whites." It smelled like chicken broth and tasted only slightly more like a cocktail.
The food was good, but somehow...well, I wasn't over the moon about it. My favorite was probably the salmon crudo, and the pizzas were quite good. Unfortunately no pizza pics, but we ordered one with mussels, one with duck sausage and one fig/arugula. The mussel pizza was pretty memorable, and in a surprisingly good way!
So here's pics of the apps, with some of my thoughts:
Calamari. Solid.
Salmon crudo. Fresh, yummy, nice dressing. It's not on the online menu so I can't reference the specifics. Think I need to start yanking menus...
Pile of kale covered in a bigger pile of Fiscalini cheese. I'm all about cheese (Fiscalini is especially scrumptious), but couldn't you find a way to improve this presentation? It is a bit crass...
Vegan "charcuterie." Sigh. This was the biggest disappointment. So charcuterie was never meant to be vegan, but I could imagine an interpretation that involved thinly sliced vegetables artfully arranged with dollops of something creamy and magnificent atop them. This was more like a pretentious picnic platter. Rounds of corn on the cob, grilled eggplant, and literally - a potato salad. It all tasted fine, I think the name just offends me. Leave the charcuterie to us omnivores who would actually get excited about a platter piled with meat.
All in all I'd recommend Gather. But next birthday I'm going to Camino.
I immediately found their website to peruse their menu and get a vibe of the place. "A place where you can find seasonal food, carefully sourced and thoughtfully prepared to appeal equally to vegetarians and omnivores." Hmm, a few red flags, the wine list is entirely organic, what if it's too crunchy... Don't get me wrong, I'm really into sustainability and all, but sometimes it's too much of a good thing. I mean I want damn good food on my birthday, not to pat myself on the back for getting drunk on biodynamic wine. Their executive chef Sean Baker came from Millenium, the vegetarian restaurant which I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't visited. One yelper referred to Gather as "Millenium with meat." Ok, maybe I can get behind that.
So we have a party of 6 that miraculously all arrives around the same time, we get seated promptly, and found our server to be charming and helpful. Yay. We order cocktails - mine is "Summer Sandals," and consists of Organic Nation gin, cucumber, basil, sandalwood syrup, and lime. Apart from the romance-novel name and the improbable purple hue (did it come from the sandalwood syrup?), this was probably the best cocktail in the group. You can see it in the picture next to the mountain of grated cheese below. The most unfortunate cocktail choice in my little group was "Secret Breakfast." I'm glad I didn't get seduced by the sound of "smoked peach scotch, bacon cello, spicy honey, lemon, egg whites." It smelled like chicken broth and tasted only slightly more like a cocktail.
The food was good, but somehow...well, I wasn't over the moon about it. My favorite was probably the salmon crudo, and the pizzas were quite good. Unfortunately no pizza pics, but we ordered one with mussels, one with duck sausage and one fig/arugula. The mussel pizza was pretty memorable, and in a surprisingly good way!
So here's pics of the apps, with some of my thoughts:
Calamari. Solid.
Salmon crudo. Fresh, yummy, nice dressing. It's not on the online menu so I can't reference the specifics. Think I need to start yanking menus...
Pile of kale covered in a bigger pile of Fiscalini cheese. I'm all about cheese (Fiscalini is especially scrumptious), but couldn't you find a way to improve this presentation? It is a bit crass...
Vegan "charcuterie." Sigh. This was the biggest disappointment. So charcuterie was never meant to be vegan, but I could imagine an interpretation that involved thinly sliced vegetables artfully arranged with dollops of something creamy and magnificent atop them. This was more like a pretentious picnic platter. Rounds of corn on the cob, grilled eggplant, and literally - a potato salad. It all tasted fine, I think the name just offends me. Leave the charcuterie to us omnivores who would actually get excited about a platter piled with meat.
All in all I'd recommend Gather. But next birthday I'm going to Camino.
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