Mountain View
Chef: Joseph Elenterio
Recipient of 1 Michelin star
Chez TJ serves French and California cuisine in a converted quaint Victorian house in downtown Mountain View. Chef Elenterio creates this contemporary French cuisine using the freshest and natural high quality products in an intimate setting in the dining room of a Victorian house built in 1894.
Chez Tj has exceptional service, the servers are well prepared and knowledgeable with both their dishes and their wines.
The reception area - red as the theme.
We decided on the Chef's Gastronomique menu.
Each formal dining room is filled with spacious table and hand-blown glass lamps.
Amazing hot butter for our warm crunchy soft bread
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To start off our gastronomic journey, we were offered an amuse-bouche:
A glass of Watermelon Fresca topped with cherry sauce.
It was definitely refreshing and you can see the cherry sauce oil on top.
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Cauliflower & White Pepper Soup
Lamb, Quail Egg, Sweet Potato
Presented with just the raw ingredients in the bowl, the server then pours the soup in.
I love how the soft half cooked quail egg complements the soup. With every spoon, you get a little surprise in your mouth. A favorite.
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Espresso Cured Columbia River Salmon
Banana, Pearl Onion, Macadamia, Basil
This was an innovative dish. The salmon was actually a sashimi topped with hot peppers for a kick at the end. The bottom was banana puree with chunks of banana and pearl onion as a sweet delight to pair with the sashimi.
The cutlery used was a little disappointing. They were all old and scratched up.
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Crispy Line Caught California Sea Bass
Cranberry Bean, Garden Tomato, Saffron, Caper
The fish was fresh with fried fish skin that did not taste "fishy". We love the play with cherry cranberry beans with tomato soup sauce.
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Pan Seared Wild Hawaiian Escolar
Corn, Leek, Radish, Brown Butter
The Escolar was soft and on top of a bed of sliced radish and corn puree. Simply delectable.
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Intermisso
Watermelon Sorbet with Lemon Jello
To cleanse our palates, this sorbet was brought to the table. Refreshingly simple.
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Braised Organic Mary's Chicken Leg
Mustard, Green Peppercorn, Maitake, Huckleberry
The deboned chicken was prepared sous vide style. Truly one of the best chicken we've ever had!!! Compllimented with mushroom mustard pasta and huckleberry sauce.
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Roasted Australian Rack of Lamb
Fig, Beet, Almond, Endive
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Almond Cake
Peach, Plum, Creme Fraiche, Coriander
A compressed pealed peach laid on top of an almond cake with hazelnut granola and plum sauce.
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Passion Fruit Chocolate Tart
Coconut, Cocoa Nib, Araguani Buttercream
Chocolate ganache on passion fruit tart, served with coconut ice-cream and chocolate butter tops. The corner of the tart laid a sprinkle of fleur de sel. I love the attention to details.
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The only downside was that the service was slow. We were seated at 8:30pm and our meal ended at 11:30pm on a Tuesday night.
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Petit Trois
Chocolate ganache on apricot cake
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Toffie candy
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Raspberry jel
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The hallway that leads to their wine cellar
Overall, the service was polished which made our evening special. Athough I have not dined here during the glorious days when Chef Kostow was in charge or the period of shuffling through 3 different chefs, Chez TJ definitely met my expectation for a Michelin one star restaurant. Intimate setting, meticulous attention to detail, Chez TJ is a tasteful Victorian hidden in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Food: ★★★★☆
Service: ★★★★☆
Ambiance: ★★★★☆
Presentation: ★★★★☆
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