definitely, make sure you have a reservation.
What @PorkyBelly said. Although my meal was comprised of stuff from the dining room menu, that fried chicken and croque sounded pretty tasty on paper. Truth be told, the dessert options on the lounge menu held more appeal for me than their counterparts. If only I had more than one GI tract, or at least a few others along with me to try a larger number of items. I suppose one could get there a bit early of the reservation and try stuff from the lounge menu if driven to do so. As a matter of fact, if I were to return (and I do hope to do so one day), that might be a strategy I might like to take.
I read that the pine-salt fried chicken was on the dining room menu, but they were overwhelmed by orders for it so moved it to the lounge menu.
Thanks for the tips everyone. Will try to report back - haven’t done that in ages!
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Headed to the dining room tomorrow for lunch. Definitely getting the shrimp grits. Any other must tries? Has anyone tried the duck?
i enjoyed the brown oyster stew with carolina gold rice from husk.
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Awesome, oyster stew is definitely on the list.
When a combination isn’t as compelling … the diner assumes it’s simply a disconnect between the palate
and the original chef’s vision.
Huh?
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Isn’t that a pompous way of saying “if you don’t like it here, you wouldn’t have liked it there.”
Between the original chef’s vision and the diner’s palate, any number of things could account for the dish not being compelling. Maybe it’s a true representation of a non-compelling original. Maybe the SF version doesn’t work because of what they substituted for ingredients not available locally. Maybe the SF recipe departs from the original in some other way. Maybe it wasn’t executed properly.
So “the diner assumes it’s simply a disconnect” seems nonsensical to me.
I had mixed feelings about In Situ.
The meal started strong. Shrimp grits were as good as advertised. Carrots with sour curd and pickled pine were a lovely exercise in contrasting tastes and textures. Wasabi lobster was a revelation – probably the best thing we ate.
After that, though, the results were more of a mixed bag. The Forest of quinoa risotto looked as good as it tasted. But the duck needed more of a sear on the skin side. I didn’t get to try the oysters, which looked beautiful but were judged “just okay” by the person who ordered them. Octopus didn’t work for me at all – too chewy. The star of this part of the meal was the spicy sausage with rice cakes. Flavorful with a nice textural contrast via the crispy yet doughy rice cakes.
The yogurt with sorrel was a lovely dessert, especially if you don’t like sweets. Like a cross between a cheese plate and herb sorbet. The lemon tart was fine but nothing special.
I found the dining room itself a little odd. It didn’t feel like a restaurant to me. More like a popup hastily erected in a non-restaurant space. I actually liked the decor and view in the lounge space better.
I’d go back to the dining room but only if someone else was paying. However, I’m still very curious to try the lounge at some point.