Restaurant review: Jojo Restaurant in Oakland, CA

I've been wanting to go to this place for years, because it just looks like it would be good from the outside, and my hunches are usually right on. This place went beyond any expectations I had, and blew me away! The food was delectable and everything was perfect. The staff were friendly and professional, and enjoyed bantering with us over our impressions of each dish - which to me is the mark of a consistently great restaurant.

First off, the bread was served warm, and was quite similar to the Italian batard from Acme, with a nice crunchy crust and soft insides (why doesn't every restaurant serve their bread warm? Even crappy bread tastes pretty good warmed up with some butter...)

We began with the Onion, Nicoise Olive & Goat Cheese Tart with Parsley Salad: the caramelized onions melted in my mouth, marrying ever so nicely with the tart shell, whose pastry on the crust was flakey and slightly sweet, with a buttery finish - but not too rich. The goat cheese and olives were mild enough so that the whole dish was in a perfect balance. The Italian parsley salad, with a few slices of radish, cut the richness of the tart and added a bit of zest. What a delicate pleasure of the senses for the beginning of our meal!

Now for the mains: I had the Grilled Niman Ranch Flat Iron Steak aux Frites with Anchovy-Mustard Butter. The steak, which I ordered medium-rare, was exactly that - and so tender and flavorful, complimented and spiced up with the subtle but hearty anchovy-mustard butter, which doubled as a sauce. This special "butter" was the key to the dish that took it beyond simply perfectly prepared steak aux frites, and gave it some serious character. It was light on the anchovy flavor (as the anchovy was fresh and not tinned), and the mustard was not overwhelming in the slightest; the overall effect was a unique and robust flavor that cut the richness of the steak, but allowed the beef's excellent flavor to fully unfold. The frites were among of the best I've ever had, not greasy at all, and cut in the nice-and-thick style, with crispy outsides and soft insides. The oil they were fried in was clearly fresh, as is not often the case with fries!

My mom had the yellowtail jack with haricots verts, mashed potato and cherry tomatoes - a dish that sounded simple to me but was executed so exquisitely and flawlessly that at first I wished I had ordered it for myself! The fish was cooked, as promised, rare, so that the middle was soft and meaty and the outer parts flakey, and the fish was still hot and juicy through and through. The cherry tomatoes were small, tender, and their flavor packed a punch that colored the meal gustatorily as well as visually. The bright green haricots verts had a nice crunch to them but remained tender, complimented perfectly by the mildly acidic and buttery vinaigrette that bathed the whole affair.

I can't believe we packed in more food after this, but after such success we couldn't quit without sampling the desserts: we shared the special vanilla custard bread pudding with baked apricots and cherries, and the lemon verbena custard with chantilly and fresh fruit. The warm bread pudding was more custardy than bread pudding-y, reminiscent of the "undergarments" of the best creme brulees I've had - it melted in my mouth in a seamless and tantalizing way. The bread part was on the top and provided a more robust texture to ground the ethereal custard. The cherries, my mom and I agreed, were not the best part - but I enjoyed them quite a bit, and the apricots were prepared in a way that I have had only on rare occasions in my life, whereby they acquire a slightly caramel character, and a bit brown sugary mixed with butter flavor - balanced by tartness that leaves no aftershock. It's actually a struggle for me to describe - and one of my favorite flavors ever. YUM. The lemon verbena custard nearly brought me to tears, particularly when melded together with the thankfully unsweetened, fluffy but substantial chantilly. Oh lordy. The lemon verbena was exquisitely fresh, and permeated the custard so that I had the impression that I must have been nibbling on a corner of a lemon verbena leaf simultaneously. The fresh fruit was a lovely addition of flavor that balanced the richness of the custard.

So all in all....what could they possibly have done better? Nothing. The meal was a masterpiece. Coincidentally I'll be going again with my husband tomorrow night...

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