C.D.P. - Commis's bar

[robert]

To start, we ordered all the food items on the happy hour menu. Drank a nice Pfalz Riesling.

Olives were exceptionally good. Haven’t had pink peppercorns in years, nice subtle flavor. Mushrooms were nice.

I’m not sure I approve of topping oysters with shaved ice. Flavors were good but overpowered the oyster.

Croque-monsieur-ish sandwich was great. I scarfed a quarter of it before thinking to take the photo.

Popcorn was good as cold popcorn goes.

Gougeres filled with chicken liver mouse were fantastic. I’m likely to drop in for these any time I’m in the neighborhood at happy hour.

Didn’t get a picture of the trout roe. It was good, three small bites.

There’s something you don’t see every day. Still fresh and fruity after 20+ years. The bottle list (shared with the restaurant) is excellent and has some good values mixed in with the luxury items.

My friend thought the dressing overpowered the beef. I liked it, although it was less beefy-tasting than, say, Perbacco’s.

Didn’t get a picture of the house-made bread with chicken skin butter. The bread was remarkably light.

Trout was delicious but didn’t make much sense with the Chinon. The menu’s a bit short on things to go with red wine.

Service was friendly and polished. Quiet on a Wednesday, there were seats at the bar and tables open all night. Very pleasant place to spend a couple of hours. The bartender said it gets busy on weekends.

[Bookwich]

That looks nice. But remember when popcorn and nuts were free at bars? Sigh…

[robert]

Maybe a dozen Oakland bars including Cafe Van Kleef and Kingfish have free popcorn. Quinn’s Lighthouse has free peanuts.

[robert]

I went to Quinn’s Lighthouse yesterday for the first time since it changed hands. No more peanuts. Which is fine with me, they weren’t great anyway and I always regretted eating too many. Nachos were OK.

[robert]

Ordered most of the bar snacks last night.

marinated olives citrus leaf & yuzu kosho $7: These came out startlingly hot. Excellent.

slow-poached egg yolk slow-poached egg yolk with smoked dates, alliums & malt $14: Get one per person and stir it up. Tastes like French onion soup. Great dish.

selection of cheese hibiscus strawberry jam, pistachio & cashews, lavash crackers $19: Fourme d’Ambert and maybe Bellwether Carmody? Solid choices but I prefer Punchdown’s cheese plate.

commis levain bread caramelized chicken skin butter & herbs $14: excellent

pork pâté with bacon fermented onion, asparagus, truffle vinaigrette $17: classic, very much about the pork

chicken wings oyster & tarragon emulsion $15: great dish, turning it into a sort of lollipop meant the meat was jucier, fantastic dip

It’s no longer called C.D.P., now it’s The Bar at Commis.

Binwise: Digital Food and Beverage Menu

[honkman]

Looks good - that was enough for one person or did you go somewhere else afterwards ?

[robert]

With two egg yolks that was enough for two people. I even took home one piece of chicken and some olives.

[burritoking]

still needs to be verified with some repeat visits, but I recently popped in for several of their cocktails - utterly mindblowing. the relation between the drinks they’re making and the cocktails at other places decently known for their drinks, e.g. bar agricole back when it was still open, liholiho yacht club when it was still open, feels like the different between a three-star michelin restaurant and a very good, tasty place. a level of balance, harmony, synergy of different components that is just waaaaay beyond…