#George and madcap lounge how to

His beautiful avocado roll is like a maki roll without the rice. Think of it as almost a savory granola with the maple flavor of the mushrooms and the buttery, toasty crunch of pine nuts. Such was the case with this soup, which received a restrained garnish of candy cap mushroom crumble and pine nuts.

#George and madcap lounge how to

He knows how to add just a tiny sprinkle of something or another to give the entire dish a real pop. With his many years of fine-dining experience, Siegel is a master of garnishing. It was as thick, smooth and rich as any dessert, but decidedly in the savory category.Įqually creamy and velvety was the butternut squash soup. Then came uni panna cotta drizzled with Indonesian vanilla oil and just a pinch of freshly grated ginger. It was a one-bite wonder - a tiny thing with such big presence. The tasting menu began with a curl of raw big eye tuna with yuzu gel so aromatic that you could smell its lovely floral-citrus fragrance the minute it was put down on the table. In fact, because of the Japanese influences, this is a tasting menu that will leave you satiated with its clear, vivid flavors, but not feeling as if you’ll need to leave the restaurant, rolled out in a wheelbarrow, because of an abundance of butter or cream. At $80 per person for about eight courses or so, it’s one of the most reasonably priced tasting menus in the Bay Area, too. Inside, you’ll find a la carte selections, as well as the option to do a chef’s tasting menu, with many of the courses drawn from the regular menu.

But there’s no mistaking how his time in Japan has heavily influenced his cooking, giving him a passion for its ingredients, techniques and esthetics.Īt Madcap, the menu cover is reminiscent of Japanese paper. Siegel remains modest about his 1998 exploits as being the first American-born chef to defeat an “Iron Chef” in Kitchen Stadium in the original Japanese version of the culinary competition show. A small marble bar accommodates a couple of diners.