EL Ideas

Fantastic experience and wonderful food!  The concept and execution are great, and I was very impressed.  If you like innovative food and have a somewhat outgoing personality, this is a must!

El Ideas was nice, cosy, and BYOB, but honestly, it's not a Michelin star quality restaurant. The last "new" restaurant we went to was Grace, and we walked out of there feeling amazed at how talented Chef Curtis was. We were expecting the same from El Ideas, but Chef Foss has a LONG way to go. Unfortunately none of the courses blew us away.

Here I am sitting in front of computer trying to write a review three days after the dinner, and I could only recall very few dishes. Everything was non-memorable. Dishes I liked: Oyster (I'm sorry, you don't really cook the oyster, so I don't want to judge);  homemade kimchi was interesting, but do not call the meat Korean bbq; chicken skin/mushrooms were very well seasoned and great texture contrast, but the parsnip was tasteless and nasty; squab was well cooked, the coffee sauce on the plate was way too bitter and overpowering. Wagyu, oh where do I start. I usually love wagyu beef, and they cooked it seemingly well, because the meat looked pink. When I cut a piece and put it in my mouth, it was chewy. Why and how in the world did you make such a beautiful piece of wagyu chewy?! To me that's an absolute crime. Salted caramel for dessert might be the best thing I've had all night. The chocolate truffles were again, kinda average...

Let me be clear, it's still a good restaurant. But given how hard it was to get a reservation, the location, not so top-notch service, and forgetting dishes, I think the proper word to describe it is "overrated".

It would be challenging for me to conceive of any improvement to this place aside from their location. They make fine dining accessible, and they let you bring your own wine. I couldn't possibly run back through the 8 course tasting menu we had here, but nearly every item was fantastic, and they managed to get us in and out in about 3 hours without making us feel disgustingly full upon finishing our meal. And they suggested wine pairings for us to bring!

This place rocks.