The Chronicle's annual list of the
Bay Area's top 100 restaurants has been released, and I was distressed to discover that
one that we had enjoyed very much had closed.
Kaygetsu of Menlo Park is where we had been introduced to
kaiseki, the Japanese cuisine consisting of a series of small, artistically prepared dishes. (Actually, we had tasted kaiseki in the early 1990's, but our memories of the event are very hazy due to the sake which our Tokyo hosts had liberally plied us with.)
The best dishes possess complementary flavors and contrasting textures, beautifully presented. Kaygetsu did that repeatedly, a dozen times over a leisurely 90 minutes. (Unfortunately, the photos from our cheap point-and-shoot camera don't do justice to the presentation.)
We thought there was plenty of time to return. We didn't, and now it's too late.
Carpe diem.
1 comment:
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for the very nice comment about our restaurant, Kaygetsu. It was a difficult decision to close the restaurant; but it just became too stressful for us to continue. We were overwhelmed with customer response when we announced the closure a month before it happened - so many people wanted to come in and we were sorry that we had to turn away a lot of customers.
The restaurant is now called Mitsunobu - we really like the new owner and we think he's doing an outstanding job. The menu is little different; but I hope you'd have a chance to try the new restaurant.
With warm regards,
Keiko Sakuma
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