Protégé - Palo Alto

(Ryan Reynolds wearing a bespoke jacket voiceover The vibe is crème de la crème of fine cuisine right here in Palo Alto on California Avenue. That's right, gents! Protégé is THE place from San Fran to San Jose. Paulina warmly greeted us. Dennis showed us to our table. Super nice and engaging! Kent served us. So amicable, stylish, and funny! Our evening had the super fab menu: Foie Gras wrapped in pastry. Crunchy, sweet and perfectly savory. Surf Clam. Gorgeous foam. Perfect clam w/ bits of tantalizing green apple. A slice of heaven from the ocean. And yes, I relished her taste! Glorious! Am I right, ladies? Sakura Smoked Sablefish. My gosh. The Osetra caviar was chilled and perfectly contrasted with the warm Sablefish underneath the delectably crunchy sweet onion dashi. Ooh la la. Oishi desu yo! Nika helped serve us. The Nine Layer Lasagna was gorgeous. The Porcini mushroom marmalade was delish. Wolfe Ranch Quail. This was an out if this world delight! Pomegranate. Stuffed w/ Charred Shallot Jam. Simply amazing! (It was so good that I nearly broke a front tooth biting down hard on the drumstick. Disaster averted. Whew! Flannery Beef Short Rib. Wow. Delish! Cordyceps mushroom. Delectable! A5 Ribeye. Perfectly seared. Shhh. The technique is 30 sec sear, full rest, 30 sec sear, full rest, repeated until perfect. Forget you read that. It's proprietary. But the taste and texture is Protégé legendary. The Assiette de Fromage was exceptional. Love the blues and creamy cheeses. The Peanut Butter Bombé is the highest evolutionary form of the Reese's Peanut Buttercup. And drop dead gorgeous female IG supermodel loved it! And that may explain why I just don't like peanut butter desserts. Yes, I'm a man. Peanut butter is for kids and beautiful women. There, I said it. What a perfect evening with the best conversations to celebrate small personal artistic wins w/ the most fabulous cuisine in the Bay Area. Life is about art! And one of the best ways to celebrate the eternal moment is dining at Protégé. Would order everything again! (And almost came back the next day but they're closed on Sundays. C'est dommage. Thanks again Kent, Paulina, Dennis, and Nika! Woohoo!

Came here for my birthday the other week and was honestly pretty disappointed. While the interior looked great, the food was very underwhelming. I had some expectations as this place has a Michelin star, but I really don 't know why. The drinks cost $24 and weren 't any better or more unique than something across the street for $14. The appetizer of fish and chips looked like something out of The Menu and didn 't even taste great. The service was fine, but when we asked to see the drink menu for our second round it took about 10 minutes for our waiter to come back. Also there wasn 't even a cute card note on the table for the occasion. I wasn 't expecting something crazy but even random little restaurants will give you a card or small thing if you 're celebrating a birthday. Overall, we felt this place was way overpriced for the mediocre quality of food drinks served don 't think they should have a star.

Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $100+ Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 4 Recommended dishes: Brick Chicken, Crab and Caviar, Spanish Octopus

Nice dining experience with yummy food. Would recommend this place for any kinds of celebration

This restaurant is amazing. Sat at the bar and chose from the normal menu. Brick chicken was awesome... Actually everything was great. The service from Trent (bartender) and the rest of the staff was exceptional without being pretentious. I think this is my favorite fancy restaurant in the Bay area. Would highly recommend, especially for special occasions. Have not tried the Prix fixe yet.