We last visited Aubergine in August 2023.   The tiny restaurant is in L’Auberge Carmel Hotel, a Relais & Châteaux under the direction of Executive Chef Justin Cogley.  He strives to have his guests enjoy a broad combination of flavors and textures and he and the restaurant have won numerous awards for their efforts.  They serve a blind tasting menu 5 nights a week in two seatings for 5 tables.   Since we were last here they were awarded the second Michelin star (2024)  after earning their first in 2019.   They offered only one supplement to the menu, midway through the meal, offering to substitute Japanese A5 Wagyu for the Nebraska ribeye that was on the menu.   Music was in the background and the lights were lowered but sun does come in throught the large curtain covered windows, especially in the summer.  The cozy room is only slightly disturbed by the regular parade of people coming and going to the hotel, patio or bar.  A large cabinet shields some of this.   Service was superb with someone making the circle around the large center floral display and watching for needs at any table.  The pacing and portion control of  the tasting was spot on and the food was fantastic.  If you can get here, do, it’s worth the trip.

Set-up

 

Food

The amuse bouche come together on one tray –  a crustade was filled with fromage blanc, fava beans, tomato and zucchini (bottom center)- crisp with good flavors inside.  Wagyu tartar was topped with pickled mustard seeds on chia seed toasts (far left)- an interesting texture.  Red abalone was sliced with artichoke on rye crisps (far right)- super thin and tender abalone.  Japanese Kanpachi marinated with leche de tigre was in a red masa soft shell (middle right)- excellent.  Bluefin tuna was on a squid ink tart shell topped with Kaluga Queen caviar and white seaweed (middle left)- a tasty set of bites.  All very different and also tasty.

 

Pacific Gold oyster was on chawanmushi with coconut and topped with a Thai basil and lemongrass emulsion.  The oyster had been lightly cooked and blended nicely with the smooth custard underneath.  The plump oyster was well enhanced by the coconut finish.

 

Amadai (line caught Japanese tilefish) was on bok choy with Koshihikari rice on the side.  The perfectly cooked fish was topped with its edible crisp scales in a broth of 5-spice and ginger.  The rice was topped with a peanut sauce and that was to be added to the broth after you finished the fish.  A perfect way to devour the great broth and the peanuts gave it a bit more texture.  Another winner here.

 

Hokkaido scallop was plated with English peas on rice noodles.  The Thai basil mint sauce  was fun to eat with the large perfectly cooked and sliced scallop.  The thin noodles were flat on the very bottom but delightful as part of this great dish.

 

A buttery brioche was brought to the table for us to share.  It was divine.  The exterior crisp and interior a pillow of buttery dough.  This was to also help in securing the last of the scallop sauce.  I could live on these alone.

 

Smoked and grilled duck was presented with carrots, salanova, beet and radish.  The duck was from Sonoma and had been dry aged for 2 weeks before being smoked over cherry wood.   An excellent broth was made from its bones with carrots and was the tasty orange liquid in the bowl.  The duck leg was combined with ginger and scallion and made into the juicy, deeply flavored ball.   The white bowl held a dipping sauce for the meat and the lettuces which were stuffed with strawberries.  The sauce was dotted with chive oil and enhanced the flavors rather than overpowering them.  This was a course with lots of  potential combinations of flavor and they nicely brought a moist towel to clean up afterwards.

 

Dry aged ribeye was plated with chimichurri, black garlic and sage.  The beef was dry aged for 32 days then seared.  The course came with a small round of sourdough bread and a dipping butter topped with broth gel.  The beef was so-so but the surrounding items helped a lot with flavor.  I didn’t need the butter/gel as the bread was great on its own and nice to pair with the beef.

 

A palate cleanser was made with cherry granita, goat milk gelato, dehydrated cherries and garnished with marigolds.  It was refreshing and good.

 

Lemon verbena panna cotta was topped with thin sliced pluots in a circle of cocoa streusel.  The pluots were sweet and wonderful and the cocoa gave a lot of texture to the smooth custard.  It was a fun, sweet and tasty combination.

 

One of the sommeliers brought around a cart of the Chef’s collection of Italian amaros from the 1960s and 1970s.  While fun to look at, we passed.

 

Final bonbons were a blackberry and a hazelnut sarsaparilla.  Both were sweet.

 

A parting gift was a vanilla fudge with strawberries?  A sweet thing.