madera

palo alto, ca

website

madera is now one of our favorite special occasion restaurants in the area, right up there with evvia. it's a favorite restaurant (also hotel/spa) for the venture-capitalist/hedge-fund/dot-com/silicon-valley types. not that derek or i fit into any of those categories, but we know good food when we taste it. we've been here twice already in the last few months - once to introduce m+s to silicon valley (they recently moved from berkeley) and again when derek's parents visited. it's a beautiful location - sit outside for dinner if it's not too chilly and you'll have a gorgeous view of the sun setting behind the mist covering the distant hills.

my favorite dish here is the appropriately titled "rich & salty" - which consists of three split bones with roasted bone marrow topped with osetra caviar. yes. bone marrow topped with caviar. i know! the toast points on the side were underwhelming - bland, thin, and too crunchy. i wish they would serve a proper toast accompaniment - like the crispy bread with garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar at casa mono. but i'm just being picky. the rest of the food at madera was good, but everything paled in comparison to the rich, fatty, salty goodness of this simple yet extravagant appetizer.