Sometimes going to a restaurant is like dating. You go out a few times and decide, “Yeah, this could be serious”.
Goosefoot is like that; a great date. In many ways, it’s the classic upscale dining venue. Subdued dining room awash in good taste and subtle accents that add interest to the space. The quality of the paintings is high. The tone sophisticated and the atmosphere almost luxuriously comfortable. Chris Nugent and his wife Nina have been fine tuning this operation for about five years now and it seems to have taken root. Tables are full, the mood suggests thriving success and the food remains wonderful.
So much of what one experiences at Goosefoot reminds you of Blackbird. The attention to detail and high level of exceptional execution means this is a house where excellence is a mandate. But like a musician or any other creative being, Nugent puts his own spin on food elevated to art. He’s particularly gifted at soups. The Hubbard squash, pear and chestnut soups are each delightful. We wanted to write sonnets to the corn soup on our last visit. Nugent has the ability to extract all of the essence from the featured component and frame it in flavors that enhance, complement or frame it so that it glistens on your palette.
Like just about all top tier dining spots, the price point is definitely significant when you have to drop a couple of hundred dollars per person for dinner. But it’s not often that dinner places you firmly in the realm of the sublime.
While celebrating a wedding anniversary, highlights included; beyond the soup, eleven more courses that featured lobster veiled scallop, mushroom tortellini, angus beef and passion fruit.
With twelve courses you know your plates are going to run small. The exceptions are the protein forward dishes like the tortellini graced with bits of rabbit and the angus beef. Unlike some mega course tiny plate rooms, you will leave sated.
The restaurant also has its own greenhouse where it grows micro greens and other dwarf plants that are intended to be eaten like miniature begonias and pea tendrils. They incorporate them all beautifully.
Having said all of that, I will also say that I found the chocolate/caramelized banana/coffee/ sea salt dish that resembled and tasted like an exotic tiramisu a tad too sweet. This detracted not an iota from the composite experience. There’s a reason why these little fellas are raging hot in the world of fine dining. They are eye popping delicious.