Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio

Let me preface this by saying that I generally reserve my negative feelings about a restaurant and do not feel the urge to make them public; the business is just too hard to have to contend with a barrage of frequently uninformed opinions from self-appointed foodies. HOWEVER: the exception is when a restaurant obviously holds itself in high esteem and displays a certain haughtiness that ends up...+READ Let me preface this by saying that I generally reserve my negative feelings about a restaurant and do not feel the urge to make them public; the business is just too hard to have to contend with a barrage of frequently uninformed opinions from self-appointed foodies. HOWEVER: the exception is when a restaurant obviously holds itself in high esteem and displays a certain haughtiness that ends up being wholly undeserved. I think you can see where I am going with this.
A friend of mine was dying to bring my husband and I to Ubuntu as she had eaten there twice and thought I, being vegetarian, would love it. Here's the recap:
We arrived at 8:15 PM on a Friday, about three weeks ago. We were the last reservation for the night. The host neglected to greet us and never reappeared, which is usually a harbinger of a certain overriding FOH attitude (not good). The room was/is great; the music was largely innappropriate (as an unedited Pandora 'station' usually ends up being). We opted for the four-course family-style menu and asked our server that the chef pick out the dishes for us. However, my friend requested that he not send out the 'snake' of microgreens, which she had had before and felt was pretty disappointing. First course was - surprise - the 'snake.' Apparently the chef felt that we were misguided in our reluctance to order this - fine. I'll go with that. However, this is what is was: about a billion tiny microgreens ( a couple days old at most) that had lots of sharp herbaceous flavors, with some verr-ry light spicing. (You cannot dress greens this small in an ordinary way as they would wither immediately.) The result was tedious and un-delicious, a spectacularly un-loveable way to present fresh greens. The 'snake' formation on the plate was sort of ridiculous. The next dish had whole roasted beets that were pickled, with kale beignets and chevre. The beignets were fine, sort of rustic in a hippie-veggie way, but the whole dish was executed so clumsily. The beets, being whole and hard, were difficult to incorporate into the dish; the pickling added an intrusive note. We were also served a chickpea stew, which was rustic and good. By this time (9:00), the food was flying out of the kitchen as we were the last table; we felt rushed. Next course was based on focaccia and had pecorino and various vegetables. It's my experience that certain dishes really give you an insight into the chef, his skill, and that of his kitchen - and this was not good. It was disjointed and ill-conceived - there was absolutely nothing that tied any of the ingredients together. The focaccia was sort of dismal and bready; the greens were stringy and too large, the cheese served no purpose...without talking about the dish, all of us simply stopped eating it. Our still-full plates were cleared away. We finished with a sort of ribollita that was similar to the chickpea stew and was also good, probably the most successful dish of the evening. Dessert: wow, another epic misstep. We were served a porter cake with porter ice cream and 'cheesy corn.' The cake was a dry-ish spice cake. Ice cream was unexceptional. 'Cheesy corn' -- ok, I get that you want to do something unconventional. But to use tough pre-popped cheese corn that is inedible? We left most of this on the plate. Flecks of the 'snake' greens were scattered over every dish, including this one. Hmm.
Total tab before gratuity for the meal for four, which included only two glasses of wine: $280. We tipped the server generously as she was very good, a high point for the restaurant. However, my overall impression was that this restaurant with this chef is middling at best. However, these prices make 'middling' unacceptable. I feel there are serious issues here, and I wonder if the restaurant is aware of them. I would not recommend Ubuntu, sadly, since as a vegetarian I totally commend them for what they are about.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (13 Replies) (by pizzagal, created November 22, 2011)

»Sad Shadow of Former Self

Not to be a naysayer, but Ubuntu has gone down hill (it used to be one of my favorite restaurants). I went in mid March (2011) and most of our meal was inedible. The pasta dish we had was soggy, bitter (like long cooked lemon pith), and had no salt at all. The grit dish was just plain gross (this is especially sad for me since the grit dish that we had when Fox was there was so amazing that I...+READ Not to be a naysayer, but Ubuntu has gone down hill (it used to be one of my favorite restaurants). I went in mid March (2011) and most of our meal was inedible. The pasta dish we had was soggy, bitter (like long cooked lemon pith), and had no salt at all. The grit dish was just plain gross (this is especially sad for me since the grit dish that we had when Fox was there was so amazing that I have spent a lot of time recreating it). It was served in some strange hard bread bowl with some overdone greasy fried things that tasted like they were fried in week old oil.
The other two dishes we had were a beet dish that was good and a dessert that was just ok. Fortunately we weren't that hungry... We were there at 9pm on a Saturday. I hope they were just having a really bad night, but I won't return to find out. I am deeply saddened because I loved Ubuntu; they once inspired me to cook more vegetarian and blew me away with perfection... now they served me food that I couldn't even eat... So disappointed.-COLLAPSE (by lrealml, created April 13, 2011)

I'm really, really impressed with the way the cuisine at Ubuntu has been evolving. On my first visit nearly two years ago, I thought the food was good, but nothing particularly innovative (with the exception of the goat cheese/nori/radish salad). I can't remember much about my second meal there, other than the fact that my meat-loving brother declared it one of the best meals he'd ever had....+READ I'm really, really impressed with the way the cuisine at Ubuntu has been evolving. On my first visit nearly two years ago, I thought the food was good, but nothing particularly innovative (with the exception of the goat cheese/nori/radish salad). I can't remember much about my second meal there, other than the fact that my meat-loving brother declared it one of the best meals he'd ever had. Yesterday, I took the plunge and brought my parents, who raised us with at least 4 types of animal protein on the table every dinner, and who always shooed us away from meatless selections at restaurants because "if there's no meat, there's no value" (rough translation from Chinese, heh).

By the time they tasted their first lavender almond, they were swooning. The fried chickpea clusters were fantastic - I prefer these to the fried sunchoke version - and the romesco's since smoothed out to a more appealing texture.

The three of us ordered the entire savory menu - everything was really good, but the standouts were:

Sweet onion marmalade donut and burrata, fried shallots - first of all, this was easily the best burrata I've ever had. It was unbelievably sweet, and went beautifully with the sharp vinegary tang of the onion marmalade. The donut, while tasty and technically very cool, was almost an afterthought for me.

Squash soup - this was served as three quenelles at the bottom of the bowl - whipped coconut miilk, squash puree, and a bit of intensely flavored "condiment" - I think the base was minced caramelized shallot or onion, don't know what else went into it, but it was stunning - and a drizzle of mint/cilantro oil. The soup was poured in tableside. I loved the way every bite was different from the last. Unfortunately, like rahir, I had some timing issues - this soup came while I was still enjoying the donut and burrata, and with two complex dishes best enjoyed hot on the table, I think I rushed through the rest of my burrata to get to the soup.

Potatoes and sauerkraut with horseradish fondue - I think the server also mentioned pecorino and truffle in the fondue as well. Lady apple is listed as an ingredient, but I can't remember where that came in. Really densely complex and satisfying, especially on a cold, rainy winter day.

Mixed root vegetables with braised greens in a frothy coffee jus with mustard, cocoa nibs, and cardamom - a brilliant combination of earthy and sharp, rustic and new-wave.

Grits with goat milk whey, smoked trumpet bacon, egg - I loved the trumpet mushroom "bacon" - dehydrated, paper thin slices that were surprisingly sweet and meaty - but the lowly grits were the star. They were incredibly buttery, with the brightest corn flavor I've ever had from either grits or polenta.

We also enjoyed the bean stew, the sunflower seed risotto, the salad of broccoli and cauliflower (I was especially impressed with the may miso mimicked anchovy in this dish), and the beet salad. Several dishes featured quenelles of highly seasoned, minced vegetables as a condiment - something I don't remember seeing before (and that I liked enough that I may try experimenting with the concept in my own cooking).

Service was friendly and enthusiastic as always, although I don't think it was totally necessary to check in with us quite so many times to make sure everything was ok.

Jeremy Fox was heavily quoted in this excellent piece: http://www.chow.com/stories/12009 (note to Chow editors - please, more pieces like this, and less fluff!), and no wonder - he has to be a leading innovator in vegetable cooking right now. I love that there were so many new things that I hadn't seen or tasted before (either at Ubuntu or at other restaurants). The meal I had yesterday was exactly what I've been hoping to see from Ubuntu - ultra-creative, innovative cooking, beautiful plating worthy of a 4-star restaurant, and deeply satisfying flavors.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (25 Replies) (by daveena, created January 24, 2010)

Finally made it to Ubuntu on impulse, after the hour-plus cheese tasting at Raymond vegetables were very appealing.

Pretty place, elegant, but very casual. Servers in Ubuntu T-shirts, nobody was very dressed up and some customers were dressed way down. No reservation but at quarter to six on Sunday only a few tables were occupied and it never got more than maybe half full.

The almonds were...+READ Finally made it to Ubuntu on impulse, after the hour-plus cheese tasting at Raymond vegetables were very appealing.

Pretty place, elegant, but very casual. Servers in Ubuntu T-shirts, nobody was very dressed up and some customers were dressed way down. No reservation but at quarter to six on Sunday only a few tables were occupied and it never got more than maybe half full.

The almonds were good, had I think exactly as much lavender as they could without becoming too perfumy. Portion would easily have served eight, we brought most home.

Castelvetrano olives, lovely but couldn't taste what difference the carrot top pesto made, maybe it just enhances their usual fresh and fruity qualities. Portion was about right for four.

Chickpea fries with romesco, oh my god. I'm glad there were only two of us.

Carta da musica, this was fun and delicious though a bit hard to eat. I can see its family resemblance to Manresa's "Into the garden ..." but it's really not very similar--less complex and more like a normal salad. The "dirt" was reportedly dehydrated beets.

Potatoes roasted in hay, couldn't tell what effect the hay had. Nice texture. I don't remember much else about it.

Sunflower seed "risotto" with sunchoke puree, this was very good and really unique.

The avocado parfait was amazing. The parfait itself was salty and not at all sweet, the only sweetness was in some little meringue kisses. I think there was also a sauce or cream or something.

The receipt also shows mushroom and turnip dishes and a sweet potato dessert, I remember they were good but don't remember the preparation and they're not on either of the online sample menus. Something had Blue Bottle coffee in the sauce and I remember thinking it was a brilliant touch. During the meal I remember thinking that one (and only one) of the dishes could have been improved with a bit of demi-glace or some other meaty element, but by the end I couldn't remember which it was.

Total for two before tax and tip was $112, remarkably reasonable for the quality. We were full but not unpleasantly so the way we would have been from a meal of similar size with lots of meat.

The wines were also reasonable--great stuff for $9-10 a glass.

Most other restaurants could take a service lesson from Ubuntu, service was stellar but friendly and unobtrusive.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (25 Replies) (by Robert Lauriston, created January 13, 2010)

»The Inaugural Tuesday Dinner @ Ubuntu

I was fortunate enough to get four seats for the first Tuesday night dinner at Ubuntu with guest chef James Syhabout of Commis. I have enjoyed dining at Ubuntu a few times prior and was looking forward to this free form dinner. They took 18 reservations and the guests were seated at the large communal table that runs through the center of the restaurant.

Chef Jeremy Fox and Chef Syhabout worked...+READ I was fortunate enough to get four seats for the first Tuesday night dinner at Ubuntu with guest chef James Syhabout of Commis. I have enjoyed dining at Ubuntu a few times prior and was looking forward to this free form dinner. They took 18 reservations and the guests were seated at the large communal table that runs through the center of the restaurant.

Chef Jeremy Fox and Chef Syhabout worked as co-Sous Chefs at Manresa and are good friends. They never worked together on the line as they were on separate sides of the kitchen at Manresa so this was an opportunity for them to work together.

The dinner started out with an amuse bouche of sunchoke veloute - a warming cup of smooth, creamy puree deeply perfumed by the earthiness of sunchokes along with a restrained addition of vanilla. The foamy top layer was dusted with the tiniest smidge of finely ground ritual coffee; the bitterness of the coffee rounded out the innate sweetness of the sunchokes perfectly. This was the only course besides dessert to be served individually - the rest of the meal was served family style.

Next came a crunchy oca salad. Oca, citrus, fuyus, avocado and macadamia came together in a textural fireworks display - crunch of the oca, silky smoothness of the avocado, acid from the citrus, toastiness of the macadamias and the tart sweetness of the perfectly ripe fuyus made it one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Next was a platter of "big ass" beets - a variety of different - a few of them GIANT, cooked in a salt crust. The dinners were instructed to break the crust and scoop out all the different kinds of beets. This was great fun. The beets were gorgeous and quite tasty - served along side an absolutely delicious quince soffrito and a horseradish green salsa - the sweetness of the beets matched with the savoriness of the soffrito and the pungent blast of horseradish was a revelation.

Then we were treated to a platter of deeply flavored Pinnacle Farms potatoes roasted in hay served with savoy cabbage, brassicas and fried eggs - really a simple dish but so complex at the same time. . .the potatoes had a bright earthiness from their own natural flavor and the hay. The eggs were gorgeous - bright yolks perfect for dipping potatoes into! The platter was layered with a deep purple rough puree of purple cauliflower - it was utterly delicious. The savoy cabbage was perfectly cooked leaves scattered about the platter.

The next course of the evening showed the chefs' playful side - Roasted Riverdog Farms "misfit" carrots - gnarled orange and red carrots steamed until just tender with little divots dug out along each carrot and those divots dotted with teeny tiny raw carrots - served simply with a little creamy carrot puree on the plate, caraway salt and carrot top greens - simple and playful - the carrots having an amazing depth of flavor.

Next came a deep bowl of mashua that had been cooked by burying the root in ash and embers - it was smoky and tender. It was served atop a purple yam puree that was rich with coconut milk - the dish was accented with cilantro and marash pepper which accented the smokiness but added a nice kick to the overall flavor of the dish.

The next dish to the table was a yin & yang "risotto" made up of a creamy black barley risotto swirled into the dish's namesake symbol with a white barley risotto - this dish was deeply flavored creamy and rich. The richness was countered by crystallized sunflower petals and crunch was added with sunflower seeds. Lots of cream and parmesan cheese in this dish made this the richest dish of the evening. It was really delicious.

They saved the biggest and best for last. A giant Lunga di Napoli squash filled with an absolutely stunning savory brioche stuffing. . . studded with port soaked sultanas, rich brioche, and crunchy pine nuts. The two halves of the squash were so massive that they had to fashion makeshift platters with full sheetpans, burlap and string - it was a joy to watch the kitchen "McGyver" the solution!

Last course (by now we were all begging for mercy) was a delightful dessert of a masterfully fried beignet topped with a mulling spice roasted fuyu persimmon, thinly fanned atop the beignet topped with chamomile ice cream sitting atop a burnt mandarin caramel. As spent as I was, I managed to eat this beautiful dessert.

Wine was donated and served by Jamie & Michelle Whetstone - they were wonderful wines that paired perfectly with the food - the wine flowed freely and generously.

While the food was incredibly good, I think the best part of the evening was watching the chefs interact with each other and with the guests - they were truly having fun. If you've ever been to Ubuntu or Commis for regular service, you know the intensity with which both these chefs cook - this was a chance for them to let loose a little and have a lot of fun all the while serving incredibly delicious food. Chef Jeremy asked for a song list from each guest, made a playlist and that was the music for the evening - it was great fun trying to figure out who requested what song. The service was casual but still attentive. All in all, I felt like I was experiencing a once in a lifetime event and am very happy to have been there. Chef Syhabout was asked if he'd host a similar dinner at his restaurant and he said yes and that it would include a lot of meat!-COLLAPSE / REPLY (6 Replies) (by pastryqueen, created December 18, 2009)

»Ubuntu review (Napa CA)

I got to Ubuntu and was very surprised at how stylish and sophisticated the decor was. I guess I assumed that because it was a vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio that it would be all hippie or something. Not at all. But still very friendly vibe.

We ended up ordering 5 courses to share and then our own desserts. I asked the waitress to bring wine pairings for me to match the dishes, which...+READ I got to Ubuntu and was very surprised at how stylish and sophisticated the decor was. I guess I assumed that because it was a vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio that it would be all hippie or something. Not at all. But still very friendly vibe.

We ended up ordering 5 courses to share and then our own desserts. I asked the waitress to bring wine pairings for me to match the dishes, which she was happy to do. Our waitress was super nice and knowledgeable. Service was great, all around.

(Though we did see a really weird thing at the start of our meal where a 2-top near us threw down their napkins and stormed out, the guy shouting at the woman bringing them bread that they will NEVER GO THERE AGAIN, and his date giggling. I don't know what was up with that, we had no indication of any problems in service during our visit. I felt really bad for this poor woman who was just bringing them bread and got this anger. Ask for the manager, dude, if you're unhappy, don't scream at the busser)

Anyway, I ordered a Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc at the start of the meal and I enjoyed it with our starting snack, the marcona almonds with lavender, sugar, and salt (so good!!!) as well as our first course which was housegrown heirloom tomatoes with olive oil, basil, pine nuts and we added the burrata cheese, which was an excellent choice, because of the overwhelming awesomeness of every bite of the plate.

For our next course, we had the kohlrabi and black fig "ravioli" with smoked royal trumpet "bacon." Our server brought out a glass of Gruner Veltliner, Hidler, "Loss," Kamptal Austria 2008. Both were excellent. This was my husband's first choice dish, as it contained figs. The way the dish evoked other flavors while still being true to the ingredients was amazing.

After that, we had the roasted and glazed sunchokes (aligote style) with "slow borage condimento, mutsu apple, and albino beet thinnings." basically, it had a mushroom sauce and truffled pecorino. It was completely and 100% umami tastes and so satisfying on the palate. One issue was that one bite of the sunchoke I had was extremely fibrous and tough- I was picking it out of my teeth and mouth for the rest of the evening- it was like I'd eaten the "choke" of an artichoke, which I assume the sunchoke (aka Jerusalem artichoke) shares biological structure with. I mentioned it to the server as more an FYI for the kitchen, but got sort of the runaround on that. ::shrug:: Whatever- every other bite in that dish was wonderful. The server paired it with a Zmor Pinot Noir from Russian River, 2006. The wine paired beautifully- the flavor matched up with the "meaty" umami flavors but didn't overwhelm it- with nice light bright notes.

The next dish was my first choice- grits infused with goats' milk whey with a soft farm egg, spinach, and green tomato jam. Such comfort food!! I loved it. The wine that our server brought out was a Moscata Thurnof "Goldmuskateller" Alto Adige Italy 2008. It was a crisp sweet wine, which cut the fattiness and richness of the grits & egg.

For dessert, I ordered the lemon verdana rice pudding with watermelon granita, pistachios, raspberries, and raspberry sorbet. Good lord, that was good. It was a great way to end the meal. My husband ordered the cornbread pain perdu with figs, ice cream, and ground cherries. also excellent. he ordered it for the figs and stayed for the cornbread pain perdu. Genius!

A great meal, great service (excepting the small sunchoke issue on both counts, but not enough to ding our experience). We both loved it there. I feel like we could eat there all the time, yet it was a special occasion experience.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (3 Replies) (by noradeirdre, created October 17, 2009)