Michael Bauer returns to Los Gatos after Manresa underwent a significant renovation this year and added a new cocktail program. He gushes that GQ’s chef of the year David Kinch is “an artist” who’s “driven against reason … In his more than nine years in business, he’s continued to up his game, creating a restaurant that fulfills his vision, regardless of cost.” He says the food is “beautifully orchestrated,” and writes that until his dying day he will remember one spectacular dish in particular: “the raw milk panna cotta, glazed with an abalone gelee and strewn with petals of abalone and radish across the smooth, shiny top. It’s at once sharp, smooth, creamy, crunchy, subtle and bold — all the opposing elements that together make a great dish.” We’ll let you read the whole update for more gushing, but suffice it to say Bauer would give Manresa five stars if he could, but he settles with renewing the four stars they already had. [Chron, Earlier]
