The decor inside is cozy and welcoming, with banquettes, two circular booths, and mahogany tables. There's an open kitchen and a bar, and yesterday from where I sat I could see straight into the kitchen, down to the sous chef's shoes (clean and black, if you're curious).
My particular reason for going to Seasons that night was that they had recently changed the menu and had listed "Sweet Corn Bisque with tarragon oil." Now, I absolutely love any kind of corn soup; I will go out of my way to eat it. Seriously. The reason that I informed Nick of, however, was that we had now officially been dating four and a half years, which is a legitimate reason to go to a nice restaurant.
I ended up ordering the corn bisque as my starter, followed by the grilled wild salmon entree. The wild salmon was accompanied with beluga lentils, three-bean salad, beet relish & butter sauce. Nick ordered the fried Nordic smelt with aioli as his starter, with the roasted pork tenderloin and apricot couscous, spinach & cherry-Zinfandel salsa as his entree.
My soup came out and my first spoonful was sweet, creamy, and delicious. I enjoyed the texture of the soup, which was neither too pureed, nor too chunky. The tarragon oil was a nice, pale green contrast to the pale yellow of the soup, but its licorice flavor didn't really add to my enjoyment of the soup.
Nick's fried Nordic smelt was salty, crunchy,and lemony. I thought it would be a great bar snack with some beer. Higher-end beer, but beer nonetheless.
Our entrees came out, and our eyes soaked in all the colors and textures represented on our plates:
Nick's pick was right up his alley, with its meat, fruit, and vegetable components, and not so much up mine. He enjoyed the pork tenderloin very much, asking no one in particular where they got meat so tender. He cleared his plate, even the couscous he said he could do without. I think that's a testament to Seasons' greatness. They included a roasted apricot (novel idea for me) and a nicely balanced red wine sauce that must have come from the cherry-Zinfandel salsa.
My salmon and all its accoutrements didn't disappoint either. One of my pet peeves is when the dish doesn't taste as good as it looks. I mean, it gets me all excited for nothing! However, Seasons delivered a perfectly moist, grilled salmon fillet, with crunchy, nutty lentils (I observed they must be called Beluga lentils because they looked like Beluga caviar), some chickpeas, and the best three-bean salad I have ever tasted in my life. I am in awe of the herbed brine that they used to marinate the green and white beans. In my opinion, that was the best and most unique part of the dish, and helped tie every element together.
Our waitress noticed us taking pictures of our food, and asked us if we wanted our pictures taken with the food. Slightly embarrassed, we politely declined, but appreciated the thought. We opted not to order dessert, though I must recommend their Scharffen-berger brownie, and walked out feeling full and satisfied. As we left, I turned to take one last look at the restaurant and decided that after three years of eating there, I had never had anything I didn't like. I just wish we could eat there more often!
Tips:
Make a reservation. You can do it through opentable.
Go for lunch for a cheaper alternative, with just as delicious food. It's never busy in the lunch hour, and you get great service for around $25 for two people including tip.
Seasons
102 F Street
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 750-1801
website
Lunch: Tue-Fri 11:30am-2pm, Saturday 12-2pm, Sunday (brunch) 11am-2pm
Dinner: Tue-Thurs, Sunday 5-9pm, Friday, Saturday 5-10pm
