Oakland: Parlour

For SY's birthday, VT and I took her to Parlour for dinner after work.  I got there before the girls.  It was a bit awkward waiting outside with the entire restaurant wide open like this:


Once you're seated inside, however, the openess of the place was nice:


We started with the wood over levain bread ($5):


The people of Yelp made a big deal about the bread and the "house-cultured" butter.  It was definitely good, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure what all the fuss was about.  I won't be having any cravings for Parlour's bread any time soon...or ever, really.

The king salmon belly with black truffle, seaweed, and lemon ($15), on the other hand, was amazing:


Love the brightness of the lemon and the freshness of the salmon.  I wanted to hog the whole thing to myself.

The squid ink spaghettini ($18) was interesting:


The crunchy bread crumb bits added a nice texture contrast.  I was uber excited about the sea urchin butter (not so much the cherry tomatoes), but couldn't really taste it.

I can't stand goat cheese, but for SY's birthday, I endured the frog hollow peaches pizza ($18):


It came topped with prosciutto, goat cheese (blech), basil, and peaches.  Gotta say, the sweet/savory thing going on was good.  Still hated the goat cheese though.

Can't have birthday dinner without dessert.  The chocolate creameux bar ($8) was divine:


The chocolate was super creamy and rich and went beautifully with the sea salt and orange curd.

The atmostphere at Parlour is chill and relaxed (and very hipster).  The food is great.  But is it worth the cost?  I'm not so sure about that.  Then again, that might just be my cheap Chinese side talking.

Had an awesome time catching up with my Chicago girls though.  And that makes everything worth it.


Parlour
357 19th St
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 451-1357
http://parlouroakland.com/

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