Early bird

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I was getting together with a friend tonight and took the opportunity to take her to Neighborhood.  This fan of David Lai's has enjoyed numerous visits to On Lot 10 over the years, and was really looking forward to checking out the new digs for the first time.  We decided to have an early evening and took the first seating.

Truffle poached artichoke / smoked garlic aioli - my friend loves artichokes, so this was definitely on our hit list.  The flavors were about as expected, although this was unusually cold.

Burrata / Gariguette strawberry / balsamico - the restaurant's Facebook page had shown pictures of burrata from Thailand, then pictures of this.  It looked interesting enough, and I was happy to give it a try - especially since Gariguette strawberries are in season.

The burrata was pretty soft and creamy, although it would have been even better had it been a little more liquid.  But the creamy burrata worked well with the sweetness and acidity from both the strawberries and the balsamico.   The fragrance from mint leaves and fennel flowers provided a subtle accent on the dish.

Baby razor clams / zucchini / basil - the kitchen does wonders with these baby razor clams, usually with a lemon butter sauce that has nice acidity to it.  Plenty of garlic here, too.  We couldn't resist using the delicious sourdough bread to soak up the sauce.

Grilled chicken / garganelli / morels - apparently David left word for the kitchen to serve this to us... so how could we refuse?  I've always been a fan of David's roast chicken, and this was no less delicious as his other creations.  Love the flavors from the skin!  The whole dish - chicken and garganelli included - was drenched in delicious sauce that had a nice bit of acidity to it.  Squeezing the sauce out of the morels with one's teeth was pure joy.  BURP!

Chocolate palette - my friend was gonna pass on dessert until I mentioned this... and she sure was glad we ordered it!  That chocolate ganache was just... Sinful.

Canelés - nope, can't get enough of these.  The humidity is getting to these so that the shell is no longer as hard and crispy, but there's still enough crunch there.  Love the moist centers.

A pretty good early dinner, and we both enjoyed the simple dishes.  Yeah, it does look like I'm coming here almost as much as I used to go to On Lot 10...