Right at the corner of highway 101 and Universerty Avenue in East Palo Alto, the Four Seasons Hotel is in an industrial business center which is full of law firms and high profile institudes. I’ve driven by probably 1000 times though honestly I never paid attention to it. It seemed just one of those business centers, modern solid and distant.
BF RAVED about how great the sea bass was that he had for lunch last Friday. Yes, R~A~V~E~D!!! Big and CAPITALIZED! I was intrigued … OK, drooling over it.. :)~~ So when BF texted me asking if I’d like to meet up there for lunch this Wed, took me 1/100 seconds to say YES. And most importantly, decided to do a review on the eatin’!
Honestly, I would never have imagined there’s a restaurnat inside those buildings. Upon circling, I wandered around and wondered where the restaurant could be especially BF told me they had outdoor seating. It’s a breezy sunny day, still a bit on the cool side and I was not expecting sitting outside .. but where was it?
Four Seasons Hotel is a very nice hotel – from the look of the building, and also from the decorations.
left: Lobby, right: Where I was sitting and waiting.
Here are some pix showing how nice the restaurant was decorated. The sunny bright weather did help setting the mood too! And on top of that, we got the purple vase flower on our table! (Not every table got purple!)
Quattro
Inside Quattro
Looking out from our table, VERY nice outside!
Our table flower inside the purple vase!
So, BF said he was anxious – Murphy’s law says, the fish would be terribly messed up after how much BF raved about how great it was… But the Sea Bass was my purpose being here, so we both ordered the oh-so-famous Grilled Mediterranean Sea Bass. I was in a great mood – a beautiful day right at the start of Spring, the luxury restaurant, the highly anticipated meal, and most of all a wonderful company!
The bread, evoo, and the sun dried tomato paste.
Ahi Tuna Tartar
Ahi Tuna Tartar
Ratings: 3.5 out of 5
The only appetizer we ordered. Not the usual Seared Ahi Tuna but I thought it was close – Oh I came with a very empty stomach!
It was a very nice presentation. The lightly greenish glass plate definitely set the dish as refreshing and spring-y – perfect for this weather, or even when it’s hotter. The tuna was very fresh and the nice chunk size mixed with the spice and onion definitely serviced the palate well. I was told the yellow piece thing-y was made out of a jello-similar process which was a big surprise to me cause it was crunchy and very much like some type of vegetables.
Grilled Mediterranean Sea Bass
Ratings: 4.5 out of 5
Sea Bass? I guess Mediterranean fish comes from a totally different world! It did not taste like the regular fatty sea bass that we ususally had. It’s not as fatty or nor chunky. Instead, it’s very meaty. It TOTALLY reminded me of my favorite fish dish back in Taiwan my Mom made for me when I was young – though I can’t even remember the name of the fish in Chinese! I remember Mom would usually fried the fish wish a little oil – the whole fish. It wasn’t big probably 6 inches long. I was so good eating the whole fish out of the bone even my Mom started asking if I was a cat… 😀 Anyway, this one was grilled instead but had very much the same texture. Oh yeah, the texture – meaty but very tender, buttery but not greasy. The meat melted right into your mouth, but you could also tell that the fish had been exercising.. (read: lean and structured) I suspected it was only lightly salted without much of other spice because the flavor was just so pure – only the best can be served this fresh. It’s about back to the basic, the simplicity. And you get to know the fish and just the fish without other noises. The flavor, the juice and the meat orchestrated a wholesome masterpiece in your mouth, pure! Ooooo SO YUM! And BF confirmed that was as delicious as last time he tried – such a consistent success!
Grilled Mediterranean Sea Bass (before)
Grilled Mediterranean Sea Bass (after)
AND, the grilled cauliflower on the top was also very much delicious! I had never had grilled cauliflower and this definitely brought me another layer of liking it! (Well, BF was not a big fan of cauliflower, so I took over all the cauliflower from his plate!) Under the fish there was the potato in a savory sauce that provided the starch part of the meal. It did taste good although I had set my mind into some dessert later so I skipped most of it. 🙂
Ricotta Cheese Cake
Ratings: 4 out of 5
Yes, dessert! I just had to try A dessert in this lovely restaurant. Usually I like to “talking” about dessert rather than “eating” it. I was very satisfied that I gave it a try. This cheese cake is a lot lighter than the normal cheese cake. I guess the ricotta cheese was to thank for.
Ricotta Cheese Cake
The slightly baked and crusted top was so right to be with the soft style cheese cake. Again, it melted right in my mouth! The regular cheese cake is usually too rich for me. This one was light on both the texture and sweetness. See, I could not wait for the picture to be taken but had to have one bite…. 😛
Berry plate
Tea
Macchiato
We ended the lovely lunch with some berries, tea, and my macchiato (there was some misunderstanding.. I was asking for caramel macchiato but I think the waitress got it “macchiato” instead.. ). Such a luxury lunch! Let’s say.. it’s a success?! 😉
Oh, we found out that BF’s tie REALLY “tied” in with the dish placement in the restaurant! LOL!
The Tie
Bodacious Eatin' Ideas 
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