Restaurants Review by Sheila Himmel, San Jose Mercury News, October 1998

A Tapestry to feel and see and taste

I went to Tapestry twice on the same day. Now, this is not the usual way of restaurant reviewing, but I couldn't get a handle on this popular new place in one lunch. So I changed clothes and companions and said yes when asked at dinner if this was my first time at Tapestry.

At lunch, there were perhaps just three men among the 45 customers. Wine was being poured liberally. A great time was particularly had by four women who ordered two bottles of champagne.

Tapestry in the daytime is light and airy. With interior design by Los Gatos Co., the "vernacular Victorian" house of the Puccinelli homestead has been lovingly replicated. Two couples are partners in the restaurant: Carol and Joe Hargett also own Dolce Spazio and 29 E. Main Cafe in Los Gatos. Chef Gary Messick comes from California Cafe in Los Gatos, where he famously served President Clinton, and pastry chef Vickie Messick comes from Lion & Compass.

A dash of humor
The lunch menu reflects Gary Messick's sense of humor, starting with "Yesterday's Soup" ($4.50). Yesterday on our visit involved a thin fish broth armed with diced vegetables, pieces of salmon and ahi, and lots of pepper.

Messick's salmon salad ($10.25) worked well, with a nicely grilled filet, recently set -- the fish was still warm yet the salad had not wilted -- upon bright field greens, endive and frisee, with dices of mango and avocado, sweet corn kernels and thread of red tortilla chips on top. This is a salad that takes a long time to eat, with all the pieces, but it's worth it.

A large piece of yellowtail sat on gingery risotto, with flesh of orange and grapefruit in a citrus butter sauce. This dish ($10.50) came together nicely.

So did the panna cotta ($5) with plump blueberries in a raspberry sauce and a lace cardamon cookie. This was a very light and silky version of cold "cooked cream."

One problem at lunch was the pacing. Nothing, not even bread, came for a long time. Even with a reservation, lunch took 1 1/2 hours. Finally we smartened up and said we wanted dessert and coffee but needed to be out of there in 10 minutes -- and this was no problem. Clearly, the thing to do is not expect servers to be mind-readers but to make your wishes known.

At night, Tapestry still feels like a welcoming space, with light glowing off copper accents. The female-male ratio evens out, and the menu broadens.

On our visit, the bread dip had changed from butter to tapenade. The dips change daily, we were told, so people don't get bored. Maybe some people decide whether to go to a restaurant on a certain night because of a particular tapenade. In any case, this night it was a very good olive tapenade, delicious with bread sticks and sour batard from Bay Bread. A couple of items on the menu change every two weeks, as well.

As is the norm now, everyone is asked right away if they want bottled water. The spokeswoman for the table behind us happily declined, exclaiming, "Oh, we're not from Los Gatos. We're from San Jose!" (And having recently been robbed of $8 for a bottle of San Pellegrino in New York, I tip my hat to the wise woman from San Jose.)

Appetizers include "Really Expensive Mushrooms" ($8) and Honeymoon Salad "Lettuce Alone" ($5). Messick humor, again. His weakness for heavy construction, though, marred the otherwise delicious ahi "pagoda" ($8). The ingredients were solid -- Hawaiian ahi just-charred, tasty house-made shrimp and chips and punchy pickled ginger -- but there was no unifying force.

Meanwhile, the onion an dhouse-cured salmon tart ($8) melded nicely. Caramelized white onions are a perfect foil for salmon. A tuft of fresh dill and parsley added color and cut richness.

The wine list has been well-planned. Though short, it is sorted by different wine qualities. Prices are reasonable, for example, the '96 Steele pinot noir retails for $17-$18 and sells for $31 here. You can find a dry California chardonnay, or go a little sweeter, but basically any taste you're looking for is here, in prices mostly from $25 to $55. The Chateau de Beauregard Pouilly fusee '96 ($34) worked well with seafood and with red meat.

That would be the chef's signature dish: a 2-inch-thick filet mignon "Mongolian style" ($19), topped by baby bok choy and resting on a nicely grilled, thin portobello mushroom, beside a soy ginger sauce. It would have been a fabulous dish had the shoestring potatoes been hot rather than tepid.

Scallop-potato pairing
Three large sea scallops ($18.50), each with a shiitake mushroom hat, made their bed on delicious, sprightly pea shoots and thin-cut purple potatoes. Scallops and potatoes, like onions and cured salmon, are made for each other.

For dessert, we tried the excellent warm chocolate souffle cake ($5.50). Vickie Messick sets it on pain de sucre an dunder caramel mascarpone whipped cream. Should anyone need more stimulation, there's a rolled chocolate cigar.

The attention to detail at Tapestry is intense. And for a small bistro such as this, the restrooms are spacious.

The Messicks met at UCLA, where Vickie got a degree in anthropology, Gary one in economics. Getting into food was part of a bet they had with each other. Both were trained in classic French style.

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