All of the best food in Reno still lives at Lulou's.
The menu has changed a little, but they still serve my favorite Seared Foie Gras. Tonight they tend toward a sweeter interpretation, a flavor-burst of fatty liver melting over a bed of sweet-beet molasses, sticky like the summer sweat, lightened by a fruity half of char-grilled apricot.
The Pork Buns could be their own meal. Twenty-four hours of braising does the pork belly good, and shiitakes add a firm texture to the fat. Hoisin sauce brings the sugar, and the pickled cucumbers add a new dimension, an extra element of acid. Not part of the pork bun tradition, but still a very wise decision.
Keeping it simple with the steak. Prime Dry Aged Ribeye says it all, and the black garlic-truffle butter is divine. The steak is decadent with its marbled fat, an on-the-dot medium rare makes it melt like rivers of silk.
It's a sneaky surf n' turf if you find someone willing to trade you some Lobster Spaghetti for the ribeye, but both dishes stand alone so well. Gorgeous, ebony ropes of squid-ink spaghetti are al dente to the max, and they swim in a creamy consomme-like broth. Giant edamame beans float aloof, cutting through the cream with a garden green. Take a moment to gape at a entire lobster tail with both claws, a juicy succulence for a firm spaghetti.
Dessert comes too soon as the lobster still has me reeling. The Cherries a la Mode are a cold shower, a light dish of port-poached cherries and a creamy vanilla ice cream. Langues de chat are an experience, sugary, air-biscuits with barely-there vanilla hints.
The Pavlova is gently hard-hitting, a mix of brown sugar meringue so impossibly floaty and light like crunchy cotton candy. A decisive pastry cream is far more cream than sugar and grounds the candy crust. Summer strawberries declare their sweet and tartness, and shreds of bolder basil leave a lasting impression. This may be the best dessert I've had.
I sit stunned, long after the bill is paid. I can barely process what happened here. Hit with all my favorites, ambushed by every one of my culinary soft-spots, all in the same meal. One things for sure: someone at Lulou's knows what they're doing, and they need to clone themselves all over Reno.
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