A tame take on Vietnamese in heart of tech
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were spotted together recently at Tamarine in Palo Alto. It caused a stir in the tech community — what could they be discussing? — and led to a lot of speculation.
My question was: Why Tamarine?
I reviewed the restaurant soon after it opened in 2002 and revisited it in 2010, but I hadn’t returned in nearly seven years. It piqued my curiosity as to how the food and atmosphere have held up.
The first thing that struck me was the elegant interior, featuring carpeted floors, whiteclothed tables and comfortable leather chairs. The double row of dangling crystals shimmering over the communal table looked even more dramatic with the dark color palette. This soft, cushioned feel sets a different tone from the hard surfaces and industrial appointments we usually see today. Tamarine is a place where diners can enjoy a civilized conversation; it’s a calming environment for Tammy Huynh’s inventive Vietnamese food.
While no one was able to report what the highpowered executives were discussing, the noise level on my visit was low enough that we could overhear the conversation at the next table, where the couple were discussing with another couple their plans when they turn 60 later this year.
For the most part, the interior fit with the age of the diners, which skewed to an established customer base. That may also be why the food tends toward the sweet.
Although I tried not to, I couldn’t help comparing the menu to its nearest competition, Slanted Door in San Francisco. At Slanted Door the ingredients star, which gives more complexity than what you’ll find at Tamarine, where the sauces often dominate.
I also noticed that Tamarine Taste, a collection of four signature appetizers, has risen from $17 seven years ago — adjusted for inflation, that would be $19 — to $25 today. While the taro rolls tasted a little tame, they were crisp and nicely fried; the shrimp and vegetables inside the translucent rice-paper crepe tasted fresh; and the papaya salad, topped with dried shredded beef, was evenly cut into threads and judiciously dressed, an improvement over my last visit when this dish was underseasoned and bland. The best of the four was the beef wrapped in grape leaves that was unexpectedly juicy.
We ordered four other dishes, including crab with cellophane noodles ($27) that begged comparison to a similar dish at Slanted Door and lost without a contest; fried Brussels sprouts ($13); clay pot black cod ($28); and poached chicken and rice ($27), where the kitchen failed to remove large globules of fat.
Our waiter indicated he would pace the items, something that must have gotten miscommunicated in the kitchen because everything arrived at the same time.
If not memorable, at least all these dishes were satisfying, particularly the black cod, which had a sweet caramel-like sauce with molasses balanced by garlic and black pepper.
Desserts, however, were a major disappointment.
The coconut tapioca ($10) was served in a white bowl that reminded me of a Toto urinal, ringed with a green sauce that tasted like basil and with a scoop of passion fruit and coconut sorbet with a caramel-colored drizzle of pandan in the center.
The banana beignets ($11) were misleadingly named. They were simply bananas fried in a rice- and wheat-flour coating surrounding a scoop of coconut ice cream in a pool of caramel sauce.
Both presentations looked a little disheveled, as if the kitchen wasn’t putting much effort into the sweet courses.
Yet the dinner also gave me a clue why the two titans might have agreed to meet here: The food is safe — neutral, if you will — and the noise level allows for serious, or fun, conversation, depending on your purpose.