Dining Fancy at Perle

My bookclub recently dined at Perle, a French inspired restaurant in the Montclair district in Oakland.

We started the evening off with the fancy caviar service.  This was my first experience specifically ordering caviar at a restaurant.  The Perle Caviar service includes caviar from the California Caviar Company, créme fraîche, brioche points, gougère, and potato chips.  Everything on the plate was put there for a reason.  I loved the experience and it made me feel like an adult. 

We each ordered our own entrees.  Although listed as an appetizer, two friends ordered the beef tartare and bone marrow.  The beef tartare was topped with truffle caviar and the bone marrow was topped with an herb salad.  I took a bite of everything and it was nothing less than luxurious. 

Another friend ordered the Wagyu steak which comes with potato au gratin, portobello mushrooms, sugar snap peas, and a red wine sauce.  It was a classic dish that anyone can enjoy.

I ordered the champignon ragout. The mushroom ragout with black truffle coulis and poached egg was set between fazzoletti, also known as handkerchief pasta.  It was a rich and fragrant dish and the runny egg yolk made it even more pleasurable.

For dessert, we shared the celebration cake and the créme brûlée.  The celebration cake was a super cute chocolate cake. It was everything you look for in a chocolate cake; it was rich and moist.  Because of the personal size, each bite had a good amount of frosting.  The creme brûlée was also executed perfectly with the glass-like caramelized sugar and the silky custard.

I had a wonderful and elegant dining experience at Perle with my friends from bookclub.  I will return and hopefully partake in some of their other interesting menus including happy hour and Prime Rib Mondays.