The Elderberry House has been the premier fine dining establishment in the area for 30 years.  In the Sierra Mountains, minutes from Yosemite National Park, it offers a 3 or 5 couse tasting menu curated by Head Chef Ethan de Graaff.  Graaff stated in 2019 at the Sous Chef  until he was promoted to Chef de Cuisine in 2022.  The place is part of the Château du Sureau, a Relais & Châteaux that is a 9 acre castle resort with 10 guest accommodations.    It is a short walk through some gardens to the restaurant building from the hotel.   The white cloth covered tables were well spaced in a lowly lit room with fairly loud background music.   Lots of windows look out on the gardens and fountains and spotlights hang from the vaulted celing to light each table.  Paintings and mirrors are on the walls and the tables are set with large upholstered chairs and fresh flowers.  Unfortunately the table was set with a cotton-polyester blend napkin which is one of my pet peeves.   They offer wine pairings or you can chose your own wine, which we did.  Service was friendly but very slow.  Portion control was good and the server stated that the 5 course portions are about an ounce less than the ones on the 3-course.   Nothing was bad but I’m not sure anything was outstanding however if you want fine dining in this area I think this is the place to do it.

Set-up

 

Food

The amuse bouche was a raw Shigoku oyster with yuzy granita.  The Washington oysters were nicely shucked and tasty with the lightly sweet granita.

 

Hamachi crudo came in a sauce with pear, lemongrass and yuzu kosho.  The thick cut fish had mounds of fresh pear on top and was swimming in loads of sauce.  It felt more like a ceviche but the fish was not cooked through.  It was tender, tasty with a hint of spiciness in the sauce but top slice caught most of the coarse sea salt that was spinkled on the plate.

 

Foccacia bread was housemade and surprisingly not greasy.  It came with a cultured butter and the bread was seasoned with rosemary and thyme.  It was a bit dry on the outside.

 

Roasted celery root was plated with grapes, black truffles and celery leaf.  A crunchy bit of toasted granola was on one side.   The root was loosely diced and formed into a ring that looked like a crab cake on the plate.  The quartered grapes were a fun addition to the dish which was creamy yet mild.

 

Berkshire pork tenderloin was plated with apple, fennel and rosemary.  The braised fennel was nicely cooked and well seasoned. Some fennel mousse along with the apple spheres added sweetness to the dish.  The tenderloin was cooked to a tender medium which kept it moist.  It had a well flavored sauce to give the meat taste.

 

Beef ribeye came with cipollini onion, chanterelle mushrooms and jus.  The demi glace nicely accented the medium rare meat but it was the center of the ribeye which is the leanest and driest part of the ribeye.  That gave the beef just an okay in my book but the sauce and mushrooms made it an acceptable course.

 

Chocolate torte was surrounded by espresso, caramel, meringue and apple.  A thickened layer of chocolate was on the outside of the creamy chocolate mousse portion and the meringue dots were soft not crunchy.  The rounds of apples were sweet as was the caramel sauce.  It all blended nicely into a good sweet end for the meal.

 

A final treat was chantilly stuffed pumpkin spice pâte à choux.  Very seasonal, it was aromatic and tasty.