Chez TJ is located in a Victorian house turned restaurant in downtown Mountain View: http://www.cheztj.com/ It has a Michelin star and recently picked up a new chef, the chef from Plumed Horse (Jeff's and my favorite restaurant in the South Bay). At Chez TJ, you can choose from two menus, the 8-course Chefs Tasting Menu or the Menu Gastronomique. With the Menu Gastronomique, there are 5 courses, and you choose from 2 or 3 items for each course. We went with the Menu Gastronomique. It's cheaper and the Tasting Menu was a little fish-heavy. With the four of us eating, we ordered at least one of each item per course.
To start, our server brought us a caviar dish - two types of caviar, a rose water created caviar, a sweet and sour cavier, and a cream. It was yummy and crunchy. I loved the different textures and flavors.
Next, they brought out yummy bread and butter. Nothing fancy, just good. And the butter-olive oil setup was cute.
And now, for a little surprise... We heard that sometimes Chez TJ likes to give their customers a little treat which can no longer be purchased in California. We were hoping this would be included in our evening, and it was! FOIE GRAS!!!
Now, for our starters:
Maine Lobster with quinoa, fennel, and truffle:
Dungeness Crab Veloute with brioche, radish, and dill:
And, Tongue & Beets with mustard, kale, and cucumber:
My favorite dish of the whole evening was the lobster starter, and I generally am not a fan of lobster! But, I'm even less of a fan of dungeness crab and tongue, so I went with the lobster, and it was amazing, everything about the dish! My mouth is watering just thinking about it right now. Yum! Meredith liked the dungeness crab, and Jeff thought the beets and tongue was so-so. It was good all together, but the separate pieces weren't great.
Next, for the fish courses:
Branzino with celeriac, cabbage, and lemon verbena:
And, Ahi Tuna with black Arkansas apple, radish, and dashi:
I mistakenly went with the Branzino. I love Ahi, but the server talked up the preparation of the Branzino, and I fell for it. It wasn't bad, it just didn't excite me. Oh well.
Meat time!
Sonoma Rabbit with Porcini, Castelvetrano olive, and confit garlic:
And, Prime Ribeye with sweetbreads, spinach, and kale:
I went with the Ribeye. I don't really like rabbit. Unfortunately, I didn't love the ribeye dish either. I liked the food on the right, the meat :). It was cooked perfectly. But, I didn't like the sweetbreads or the spinach flan. In fact, I didn't even take second bites.
Mmmmm... Cheese... It was awesome!!!
I forgot to take a picture before we started eating it, and I wasn't really paying attention when the server described the plate, but I'll do my best, left to right: crackers, aged Gouda, apples and honey, yummy cheese (maybe Cheddar?), zuchinni bread, triple-cream goat cheese (I totally made that up), and persimmons. Or something like that. It was all fantastic!!!
Time for a pallet cleanser! Sorbet with gelee:
Nothing fancy, but tasty.
DESSERT!!!
Valrhona Nyangbo Marquis with vanilla, hazelnut, and cacao nib:
Super yummy! After the lobster starter and cheese course, this was my favorite. I don't know what the kiss-like things were and didn't like those, but the rest was great!
Curried Carrot Cake with ginger, raisin, and pineapple:
At this point in the meal, I totally forgot to ask how the carrot cake was, but Daniel ate it all!
And, an extra little treat:
A raspberry gelee and pecans. Both were too sweet for my sweet tooth. (I couldn't figure out how to turn this picture).
All in all, it was a great meal, with great wine, and great company. We will probably go back at some point, but not anytime soon. When we go back, we'll definitely try to get the 30% discount again. That made it worth it. Without the discount, it would have been too expensive for what we had. Can't wait for our next FNO - Alexander's Steakhouse in January!
