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More Reviews for us.

One of Southside by www.ViewEdinburgh.co.uk This is a Five Star review and well worth reading - link to it on http://www.viewedinburgh.co.uk/restaurants/calistoga-review-32966.html

The following one is of Central from The Journal - Edinburgh's Student Newspaper

Before arriving at Calistoga Central, my dining companion and I feared dinner at Edinburgh’s only California-inspired restaurant might leave us still ravenous enough to eat whatever languished in our unloved kitchen cupboards. Sushi and dressing-free salad may be the food du jour of any self-respecting LA starlet, but limp lettuce leaves are far from tempting on a bitingly cold autumn evening in Scotland.

For journalistic integrity, and to satisfy my daydream of a life spent in 60s California listening to the Beach Boys, I checked out the Visit California website for a less stereotyped idea of the Golden State’s cuisine. Armed with the tip to look for anything “fresh, local, organic and always innovative”, Calistoga was beginning to sound much more enticing.

Despite the restaurant’s proximity to George Street, the atmosphere could not be further apart from the pretentious air of many of Calistoga’s more showy contemporaries. The juxtaposition of upmarket linen tablecloths and plush leather chairs with Californian radio streaming 'Sweet Home Alabama' and waiters in T-shirts bearing the restaurant name might seem odd – but the mix is perfect for making dinner at Calistoga’s feel like an event, without the niggling worry that the haughty waiter is close to telling you off for having elbows on the table.

The appreciation of good wine by the owner, Gordon Minnis, is evident – from the impressive wine racks which make up a key feature of the room, to the wine tasting events the restaurant holds. With a mark-up of only £5 on wine, we took the chance to relax in this cosy atmosphere with Ménage a Trois, a delicately sweet rosé priced at £13.50.

Our complimentary appetiser of crunchy Edamame beans in vinaigrette and spice dressing was a perfect tease and we could not wait for our starters. Luckily the efficient staff ensured that we did not have to. We opted for the three-course meal, which comes in at a reasonable £13.50 for lunch and pre-theatre dining and £23 until last orders at 10pm.

My partner’s choice of lemon peppered chicken with black bean and basil couscous was reminiscent of a David Hockney painting, the abstract splashes of Southern colour looking good enough to frame. It was as revitalising as a starter should be, and demanded high praise from my companion who proclaimed that her life-long phobia of onions was cured in a mouthful. We later found out that the "onion" was actually white radish, but that ruins the story.

I tucked into a comforting starter of cheese and chive fritters with a plumb tomato chilli jam. It was the perfect antidote to the cold weather outside our Californian haven. The melted Mexican cheese alongside the Asian inspired chilli jam summed up all that is good about fusion food.

For the main course, I plumped for sesame seared duck breast with scallion mash and a raspberry and tomato fondue. The duck was perfectly cooked, tender and slightly pink in the middle, although it was let down by the fondue. The overpowering tomatoes thwarted any hint of raspberry flavour, a blend I was looking forward to tasting. The potato could not be faulted. It was encouraging to see that Calistoga has not fallen for the fashion of turning honest mash into an unappetising puree.

My companion had the goat’s cheese and spinach flan with a garlic cherry tomato skewer and vanilla confit potatoes. The vibrant beach colours of her starter were maintained, and while the goat’s cheese was too overpowering for her taste, the meal was nevertheless devoured. While the vanilla addition to the potatoes was too delicate to note, it was still an excellent dish.

The proof was in the pudding, as a modern take on American staples was evident in the innovative peanut butter and jelly pancake cheesecake. Creamy mascarpone mixed with peanut butter was layered into thick and fluffy pancakes in what was a fun and original cake, perfectly befitting a restaurant that does not take itself too seriously. It was absolutely delicious, and I was disappointed that the generously portioned starter and main course stopped me from finishing a desert that would have calorie-shy Nicole Richie quaking in her Louboutins.

My companion, who normally lacks a sweet tooth, loved the butternut brûlée with blueberry compote. The surface had the reassuring crackle that makes you adamant that the one essential for your kitchen is a blowtorch, and watching the juicy blueberries tumble into the brûlée as the pudding opened up was more seductive than any Marks & Spencer advertisement.

Calistoga Southside and its accompanying wine store, Sideways, are already well established and this new addition looks to fare just as well, with monthly changes to the menu ensuring that there is always a reason to visit this laid-back restaurant. As one customer succinctly put it in the comments book that the bill comes charmingly enveloped in, Calistoga Central is “bloody marvellous.”

The List also reviewed Central - read it at http://www.list.co.uk/article/14253-calistoga-central/

The Scotsman Review

Restaurant Review: Calistoga, Edinburgh

California dreaming with a dash of spice

Published Date: 20 September 2008
By Gaby Soutar
'EXCUSE me, what's a radishroom?' my boyfriend Rolf asked a waiter when we recently visited the new branch of Californian eatery, Calistoga. 'It's a radish that's carved into the shape of a mushroom,' answered the member of staff, looking, it must be said, a little embarrassed.

Yup, just when you thought life was too short to stuff a mushroom, CalisADVERTISEMENTtoga goes and whittles one from a root vegetable. Still, the rest of the menu at this Edinburgh restaurant is slightly less fantastical. Its healthy Californian theme features a hybrid of Mexican, Scottish and Oriental-influenced cuisine, with a distinct essence of Haight-Ashbury hippiness and surf-dude 'tude chucked in the mix.

For his starter, from an imaginative choice of six, Rolf went for the hearty-sounding Mexican tortilla soup with Manchego shavings (£5). I decided against the radishroom option (which came with a ramen noodle salad), and instead chose the goats cheese and almond crostini with ginger and balsamic dressing (£5.50).

The service here is super efficient and, although this may sound a contradiction, itís also very laid-back. So our first courses came quickly, but with the minimum of faffing around.

Rolf wasn't blown away by his fresh-tasting soup initially, although he soon warmed to it after he discovered some melted shavings of rich cheese below the surface. The tortilla in this sweet pepper and tomato gumbo, which had the merest hint of chilli and lemon, was, unusually, cut into matchsticks and placed on top. Because he's a growing lad, he might have wished for a little more of this flat bread on the side, but most people wouldn't need it.

As he was feeling a bit jealous of my crunchy crostini, made from toasted slices of baguette, I scoffed guardedly. The contrast in texture between the smooth cheese and scaly topping of almonds was intriguing, but I did feel it needed a little sweetness to lift it. That was, until I discovered that the tangy dressing on the accompanying leafy salad, which I'd typically pushed to the side of my plate, was the perfect foil to the salty cheese. Doh!

On to the main event, and I'd gone for the healthy-sounding miso-crusted salmon circle with lemon sticky rice and wasabi petit pois sauce (£14). This was nicely presented and tasted wonderful. The layer of fermented soybeans on top of my fresh mignon of salmon added a very subtle flavour and texture while the little tower of sticky basmati rice managed to be citrus fresh, without tasting of washing-up liquid, and the blobs of wasabi pea puree on my plate gave a toned-down kick to the fish.

My dining companion loved my meaty salmon too. 'That tastes like proper line-caught salmon straight out of the Spey,' was his comment.

Thankfully, Rolf was equally smitten by his choice of slow-roasted duck leg with zesty orange rice and pistachio and pepper pesto (£14.50). The poultry had obviously been cooked for an age, as it had crispy skin and the brown meat just swooned away from the bone. Alongside it, the square block of nutty, basil-flavoured crumble gave the protein a rustic crunch, and the orangey rice was an Indian summer in carbohydrate form.

On a rainy day, our very mellow bottle of wine, Dancing Coyote Verdelho 2006 (£16), also reminded us of sunshine, this time made quaffable. Weíd chosen this, as all the staff were wearing T-shirts proclaiming it to be the Wine of the Month. That wasn't the only thing to sway us. As this restaurant is a sister business to Sideways, a Californian wine shop in the capital, all wines are priced at only a fiver above their cost price. Bargain.

At this point, we felt the food weíd consumed had been comparatively light, so we had ample space for pud. As it's one of their signature dishes, I ordered Calistoga's cinnamon and blueberry pancake cheesecake (£5), while Rolf selected the teacake ice-cream with Muscat strawberries (£5).

When this arrived, he discarded the grown-up, marinated fruit and dug in to the huge portion of vanilla ice-cream, which was mixed with what looked like deconstructed Tunnocks confections. We did worry that this might rival a deep-fried Mars bar in its astronomic calorie count. Who cares? It was unpretentiously yummy, as was my slab of cheesecake, if you can call it that. This concoction, which had all the hallmarks of a US of A pud, consisted of layers of pancake stuck together with a mascarpone and clotted cream 'cement' and studded with blueberries. I'm not really a fan of stodgy desserts, which this undeniably was. However, once I started eating I couldnít stop; it had a comfort factor similar to eating cookie dough off the back of a wooden spoon.

While unhurriedly finishing our wine, we decided weíll definitely revisit soon, especially while the £11 three-course lunch and pre-theatre menu (before 6:15pm) is on offer. To use a Calistoga portmanteau in the style of radishroom, the food in this place is tastilicious, and the vibe perfectly chillaxed. When we do return, we might even ask what the tumbleweed (also on the menu) is, and hope the waiter doesn't make a whistling wind sound under his breath. 

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