I visited Bellamy's recently for the first time. Such a beautiful restaurant with top-shelf service. Fernando was personable, funny and a truly professional waiter. The dining experience is unique, built around their French influenced, California-modern cuisine. We ordered a variety of dishes and the overall quality of the food was somewhat of a mixed bag. When making my reservation I requested a booth but we were sat at a table. I found the chairs to be very comfortable. When offered water service, I thought I was back in Europe! We were given the dizzying choices of sparking, mineral, still, tap, etc. For what it's worth, the tap water here is very good. The classic margarita extremely sour. I enjoyed the impressive wine list.
The "Baby Romaine" is their version of a Caesar Salad. It had a little too much going on, especially the pepita seeds which I found unnecessary. The seared poached egg was a nice touch. Bread service was fairly pedestrian. Lukewarm, flavorless sliced white loaf accompanied by rock hard butter triangles. My son enjoyed his French Onion Soup. Unfortunately the baguette was soft; either not toasted or already sogged out. My wife had the "Steak Frites". Made with a prime flatiron steak that was cooked past the requested medium-rare. Fries were very good; thin, hot, crispy, etc. My son's "Red Wine Braised Beef Short Rib" was probably the best dish among the three.
I ordered the "Baja Stone Crab Pasta" and in retrospect wished I hadn't. The spaghetti was cooked to a perfect al dente, but didn't have enough moisture in the lemon-butter sauce. The strands just clumped together and didn't easily separate. The crab seemed rather institutional. Looked and tasted like a pasteurized, bulk food-service type crab. There was such an abundant amount of crab in the dish it overwhelmed the balance with it's strong smell, flavor and mechanically separated texture. I couldn't eat it all. For dessert, the Creme Brûlée was tasty, but the top was soft, completely void of the glassy snap you expect from a good brûlée. The Lemon Cheesecake tasted excellent and was beautifully presented. At the price point of this establishment I had higher expectations for the food. Everything else however was quite lovely.
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