Maximalist Flavor at Menlo Park's Cafe Vivant

"Helmed by executive chef Jared Wentworth and chef de cuisine Emily Phillips, a meal at this Menlo Park restaurant redefines and updates the term "New Age" for the 2020s. As a dining experience, Café Vivant is an evolutionary step forward. There are nods to culinary practices from the past, from sauce and sauté work to reductions and deconstructions. The old recipes and techniques have been studied, examined, and then reconceived until they reach an unassailable level of excellence."

"This is the first meal I've eaten that was undeniably delicious and yet also disconcerting. The minimalist approach to interior design and tableware paired with a maximalist's penchant for opulent ingredients definitely achieved some algorithm's refined state of perfection. At night, Café Vivant glows like a church lit up by candles-but one that sells 3,000 varieties of wine. The list of options is bound in a book that's as thick as a bible. Each elegant dish is executed with a kind of reverence that suggests the presence of something holy, an invisible nimbus hovering above the plate."

Café Vivant, led by executive chef Jared Wentworth and chef de cuisine Emily Phillips, updates New Age cuisine for the 2020s through rigorous technique and inventive reinterpretation. Classical sauce, sauté, reductions, and deconstructions inform dishes that have been studied and reconceived to reach an unassailable level of excellence. The kitchen minimizes mistakes through exacting execution and intentional interception. Minimalist interior and tableware contrast with opulent ingredients, creating meals that are delicious yet disconcerting. The restaurant glows like a candlelit church and offers a wine list as extensive as a bible. Dishes are presented with reverent precision, including a butter-poached Maine lobster with seaweed tuile.

Read at Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley's Leading Weekly