Visit date: January 29
Everyone should come to Commonwealth for their charitable business model alone. For every $60 tasting menu ordered, the restaurant gives $10 to a new non-profit organization every two weeks. This isn't a gimmick to get diners in the door to then eat bad food. The vision at Commonwealth is charity, 3 star service, and 3 star food with 2 star prices (each dish is between $5 and $16). The latter take on service, food and prices has been a popular spin on fine dining in light of the economy the last few years.
The restaurant is a decent size, very minimal, and divided in two – dining room in front and kitchen in back with bar seats available. The servers are very knowledgeable about the food, but also promptly come back with the answer if they don't know. The only complaint is that we sit in the corner by the kitchen and it is very hard to hear. The waitress' voice just gets swallowed by the walls or something.
Every dish is flavorful and pretty to look at, lots of colors and textures happening. The one dish that stands out is my beef tongue with slow cooked farm egg, savoy cabbage, rutabaga, and fresh wasabi. Being Chinese, I grew up eating exotics cuts of meat and I love runny eggs. When eating beef tongue, keep in mind the texture is supposed to be a bit chewy. Chef Fox seared the outside and braised it in some fat and juices. I imagine he handled the tongue very minimally so as to not overwork the meat which then becomes tough and rubbery. But also recently, I've been braising a lot of cabbage at home with different sauces to complement its sweet flavor. So to see Chef Fox's take using ingredients I really enjoy is inspiring.
One dish that is good but with a weird component is the winter root vegetables in various forms, with chickweed, puffed amaranth and vegetable ash. Can you guess which part is new to me? It's the vegetable ash coating the salsify, camouflaging the vegetable entirely since the serving dish is a piece of black slate. I try the salsify and it's edible but certainly not my favorite because the ash is too bitter for my liking. It also tastes like I just ate dust from the duster; maybe not that bad, but it's the only thing I can think of. Other than being different, the ash, maybe, is not even necessary. If I recall correctly, the ash is made from charred vegetables, but beyond that, I can't really hear the waitress.
Overall, Commonwealth is worth another visit when the menu changes.
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asian pear, chicories, pomegranate, cured ham, idiazabal cheese, long pepper |
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grilled chicken livers, brown rice-black pepper cracker, saba |
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chickpea panisse, romesco sauce |
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pumpkin, black kale, yuba, sprouting broccoli, coconut milk, peanut |
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winter root vegetables in various forms, chickweed, puffed amaranth, vegetable ash |
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sea urchin, sweet potato tempura, chrysanthemum leaf, shiso, scallion, yuzu kosho |
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beef tongue, slow cooked arm egg, savoy cabbage, rutabaga, fresh wasabi |
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beef tongue, slow cooked arm egg, savoy cabbage, rutabaga, fresh wasabi |
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dayboat scallops, Jersualem artichoke, brussel sprouts, leek, ginger, tonka bean |
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dayboat scallops, Jersualem artichoke, brussel sprouts, leek, ginger, tonka bean |
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cedar grilled pork shoulder, nettles, tepary beans, fuji apple, miso, bacon vinaigrette |
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cedar grilled pork shoulder, nettles, tepary beans, fuji apple, miso, bacon vinaigrette |
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frozen coconut mousse, citrus salad, rau ram, sesame tuile |
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lemon sponge cake, thyme ice cream, candied honey, crème fraiche |
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peanut butter semifreddo, chocolate ganache, frozen popcorn, caramel |
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