Michael Chiarello's Coqueta

“Get your camera ready”. After spending a good portion of my two-hour lunch at Coqueta taking photos, the comment from the server approaching my table didn’t come as a surprise. I’m sure the whole staff was amused by my constant photographing that afternoon. What can I say, everything was beautifully done from the room decor, serveware, to the food. Speaking of which, a feverishly smoking vessel was placed in front of me and thanks to the heads-up from the server I managed to get a photo and video as the strawberry compote was being poured onto the rhubarb gazpacho, one of three desserts to conclude my first meal at Coqueta.

I’m already won over by Michael Chiarello’s cooking after dining at his Napa restaurant, Bottega and I make the trip there at least once or twice a year to celebrate occasions with family. The decor for both restaurants was done by Chef Chiarello’s wife, Eileen and she brings a certain warmth with her choices particularly with the red-toned colors and dark wood. The copper tumblers that I love at Bottega pop up here as well in a slightly different silhouette. I also love the antique design on the flatware. Now onto the food…

Our tapas to start were all selected from the hot part of the menu. At the time I wasn’t in the mood to go with antipasti and the other cold items.

Chicken and English Pea Croquettes with pickled sweet tomatoes. I liked this play on a chicken pot pie. The exterior was crispy and interior creamy and had good flavor. The tomatoes were good as well.

Sunny Side-Up Egg with shrimp,crispy potato, chorizo dressing. I was debating between this and the Crispy Shrimp and Chickpea Pancake. Our server recommended the former and patiently waited for me to take a shot before mixing it all together.

No longer pretty, but here you can see how the egg is like a sauce and coats the rest of the ingredients. The dish was a bit too spicy for me but had good flavor. The crispy noodles reminded me of fries in a way, a very fancy fried dish with shrimp. I think I’d want the noodles to be boiled and more like a pasta dish not that me, a baker, need to be re-inventing Chef Chiarello’s food.

Wood-Grilled Octopus with fingerling potatoes, pimento. This dish was up against the calamari and the server recommended the octopus because the flavor when put directly on the grill is incredibly flavorful. The calamari is done on a plancha so it doesn’t get that direct heat. This was a great choice. I really loved the wood-grill flavor and the octopus was not too chewy. I would absolutely get this again.

Grilled Ablondigas- duck and pork meatballs with tart cherry, tempranillo puree, crispy shallots. The meatballs were juicy and tender and I liked the crunch from the shallots. Overall though the dish wasn’t as much of a standout as the others.

Paella with roasted tomato chorizo, gulf prawns, clams, lemon aioli. A beautiful platter. I was really excited to dig into this. The shellfish was so incredibly fresh. The clams were plump, juicy and tasted like the sea. I could have had a whole bucket of them. The shrimp had great flavor and I wish I asked about the seasoning. The chorizo was fine but I prefer shellfish over sausage. The rice was good but I was just a bit puzzled because it wasn’t crispy at the bottom as I had expected.

Pluma, Iberico de Bellota pork shoulder loin with honey-chile glaze. My favorite presentation from the meal. The saffron threads spread on the leaves were so pretty. The rub on this pork was amazing. I didn’t even need the honey-chile glaze because I loved the taste from the pork. Unfortunately I don’t have much food memory of this because my dad practically inhaled this dish.

Crispy Shrimp and Chickpea Flour Pancake with saffron aioli. Before the paella and pork came we thought we could fit in a couple more tapa dishes so we went for the two other selections that we were wavering about before. I was so full at this point but everything looked delicious so I ate, and I still had to try the desserts. The chickpea pancake was crispy and light and lovely with the lemon. There were nice chunks of shrimp inside. I did prefer this over the egg and shrimp dish.

Whole Monterey Calamari on the plancha with onion jam, squid ink aioli. This had good flavor but not as woodsy as the octopus, as we had expected based on the preparation method.

Time for DESSERT.

Manchego Cheesecake Pop with caramel popcorn. I LOVE THESE. Chef Chiarello’s former Bottega pastry chef Christina Kaelberer helped develop the dessert menu and I just cannot get enough of these. The cheesecake alone is definitely savory but when eaten together with the sweet caramel popcorn it is a winning combination. I don’t want cake pops. I need these cheesecake pops.

Pan con Chocolate- Chocolate, Sea Salt, Olive Oil Ice Cream Sandwich. I thought the olive oil flavor was a little too strong but I feel that way about desserts in general that have olive oil.

Strawberry Rhubarb Gazpacho. Gastronomy time! After the liquid nitrogen smoke subsided I dug into this creation. The texture reminds me of a velvety sorbet. The strawberry sauce and fresh blueberries were nice accompaniments.

Coqueta is by Pier 5 along the Embarcadero. Above is a separate seating area from the main room.

Kudos to Michael Chiarello for a great food trip to Spain.