I went to Schwa for valentine's day and had the 8-course tasting. Now I totally get what all the fuss is about and have increasing faith in the LTH crew not to lead me astray in finding the good stuff. So thank you to everyone who posted their reviews of this amazing place. I'm so glad I went.
Below is my review, it's long and imprecise (I'm sorry!!!) but it is what I remember and I hope that it is helpful. While we were there, the staff told us that they were sampling some of the dishes that they plan on using for their new menu so that might be something people are interested in.
1. carrot juice with cardamom foam dehydrated carrot with cardamom marshmallow
2. salad of white anchovies, apples, celery and manchego with apple-olive oil puree and celery root puree
3. caviar and cauliflower on top of cauliflower puree and avocado puree
4. thick bean soup with bean and veggie garnish and paprika
5. raw oyster on top of fresh radish and pickled radish topped with cranberry gel
6. butter poached lobster in lavender foam with gooseberries, spinach and roasted potatoes
7. duck on top of duck confit with shaved oranges and sunchokes and orange puree and sunchoke puree with kumkuat.
8. salty milkshake with rasperry puree and dense chocolate cake
9. apple ball coated with caramel glaze
The wines we brought were Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru "Clos de la Pucelle" 1997 (white Burgundy, chardonnay)
Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron Nuits-St.-George Premier Cru "Aux Boudots" 2002 (red Burgundy, pinot noir)
So hard to determine what I liked best. I LOVED this meal, absolutely loved it. As you can tell, by the dessert course, I was so absorbed in conversation that I wasn't paying as close attention to what I was eating, but it was amazing throughout.
1. Loved the carrot cardamom combo - this was an excellent way to start off. I think I would not have been able to appreciate the flavors to their fullest if it was not served first.
2. I think my date and I can both agree that the celery root puree made this dish. But the mild, not too salty flavor of the anchovies was wonderful and sometimes I find granny smiths to be too tart, but these weren't. I also dug on the juxtaposition between the celery in the salad and the celery root puree as well as the apples in the salad and the apple puree but especially the former, because although they aren't even the same vegetable, there are similar flavors there.
3. Such a creative dish. This totally wowed me. The balance in textures and flavors was just amazing. I am so curious to know how this dish was concieved because it seems like something one would just never think of and yet it's perfection.
4. This was delicious, I wish I could remember the type of bean that was used. I loved the presentation. I'm not sure what all of the little veggies and beans that went with the soup were but they were artfully arranged and provided great variation in terms of texture, which to me, is very important.
5. The previous course had a decidedly Middle-Eastern flair and this one tasted Asian in origin. I think that this was a very interesting dish but less exotic to me because it combined flavors that I am more familiar with but I will say that I usually don't like fruit with shellfish, especially in its raw state but the cranberry was not too sweet and it balanced the brininess of the oyster perfectly. Once again, the textures here really worked, the crunch of the radish with some of the pickling juice went down well with the oyster and the smooth gelatin-like cranberry gel.
6. This was good, more familiar to my palate, but hopefully that is not a negative since I have tried my best to eat as much as often and as well as possible. The gooseberries really brought out the sweetness of the lobster. I didn't eat the potatoes, because I hate potatoes. I didn't really taste the lavender in the foam. Overall I thought that this dish paired best with the white burgundy that we were drinking.
7. This dish, like the last one was more like something I have tasted before in terms of flavor combination. I don't think that I have ever had sunchokes but they added good texture and balanced the sweetness of the orange.
8. I'm not sure what was in the salty milkshake. But I liked it. Was it a nod to salt lassie? I sort of think that it was but of course, without the sourness of the yogurt, it was also completely different. I would have preferred it to be less salty and I never thought I would ever say that about anything. I dipped the dense chocolate cake in the salty milkcake with each bite.
9. Crunchy and salty and not too tart. Perfect finish. This is sort of what you really want to eat after a big meal yet, again, something I would never have realized I wanted - if that makes any sense.
A couple of miscellaneous things. The plating was pure art. Probably the best presentation of any meal I have ever eaten. I had one more comment but I forgot what it was. This was not it, but the music was great, it totally matched what the young people running the show seem to be all about. I want to go back and try the quail egg ravioli.
One final note...the portions were not small. They were perfect. We cleaned our plates and left fully but not sick.