Changes at Sonoma Grille and Seviche

Changes are afoot at both of Yves Carreau's Cultural District restaurants, Sonoma Grille and Seviche.

At Sonoma, there's a new make-your-own tasting menu section. Diners can make three selections for $35, four for $45 and five for $55. Inerestingly, there are no rules about what categories the dishes have to come from, so a diner could conceivably choose three main course selections (Mr. Carreau himself pointed that out in an e-mail about the new options).

Options include most of the regular menu, besides the tapas tasting appetizer and the mixed grille.

As usual, desserts sound fantastic: Gianduja tartlette with hazelnut brown butter caramel, chocolate ganache and Frangelico gelato; lemon meringue cheesecake with Earl Grey meringue, poppy graham crust, and blueberry tea reduction; and an ice cream sandwich trio.

 

New additions to the Seviche menu also emphasize this idea of assembling multiple smaller portions into a meal. Mr. Carreau has noticed the growing popularity of their nuevo Latino sushi, and the new menu emphasizes these flavors with dishes such asa pork empanada ($9), a vegetarian tostada ($7) with a homemade corn tortilla, black beans "frijoles," queso fresco and salsa; a pulled chicken tostada ($8) and grass fed beef tacos ($10).

There's also a new "mid plates" section described as "larger than a tapas, smaller than an entree," which includes dishes such as chorizo wrapped diver scallops with roasted corn polenta, wilted spinach and Peruvian BBQ sauce ($16); banana stuffed pork tenderloin with a dark rum glaze, wilted spinach and fried plantain ($15); and paella mariscos with chorizo, diver scallop, shrimp, calamari and mussels ($18). 

It's hard to know how good of a deal any of this is without knowing the portion sizes (or actually trying the food), but it's always nice to see restaurateurs shaking things up a little.