Flora--Oakland (Contemporary French influenced cuisine)

From the owners of Doña Tomás, Flora is an art deco-inspired restaurant serving exceptional contemporary-French-influenced food and well-made drinks. Located at 1900 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, Flora has become one of my favorite lunch spots. They only serve lunch on Fridays, but it's worth the wait for such comforting food. Here are some of the things I've enjoyed.

http://floraoakland.com/index.htm

Acme bread and butter. Always good bread. Acme has bakery locations in Berkeley, San Francisco and Mountain View, while also providing products to certain grocery chains such as Whole Foods and Andronico's. They use only organic flour and take pride in their breads. The butter Flora served with this bread was very rich and creamy. Reminiscent of the butter I had in France. Yum.

Local Dungeness Crab Cakes. All crab crab cakes were expertly fried and served with a light frisee salad with winter citrus fruits, green goddess dressing and chile oil. The greatness of this dish is just in the fresh crab and letting that stand out with minimal fuss.

Seared Tuna Niçoise. This was an incredibly fresh and tasty salad with perfectly seared albacore tuna, green beans, heirloom tomatoes, herbed potatoes, niçoise olives, medium-boiled egg, a splash of frisee and sherry vinaigrette. Every ingredient was fresh and tasty.

Short ribs. A ridiculously succulent piece of bone-in short rib braised in red wine and served with mashed potatoes, broccolini, buttery carrots, pearl onions and gremolata.

Potato Gnocchi. Fluffy, buttery and light gnocchi pillows were served with chestnut puree, sunchokes, parsnips, brussels sprouts, carrots, maitake mushrooms, and parsley oil. This was a delightful plate of flavors from quality ingredients that were exceptionally prepared.

Grilled Hampshire Pork Chop. The seared golden crust kept in all the juices from this amazing dish with corona beans, cabbage & caraway seeds, carrots and salsa verde. The lime in the salsa just brought out the flavors of the porky goodness. So delicious.

Caramel Pudding. Heavenly pudding with whipped cream, candied coconut, and sprinkled with sea salt. This had a perfectly balanced caramel-salt flavor, lightly sweet and it was the just the right amount; enough to feel satisfied while still wanting a bit more.

Spice cake. A very moist and dense piece of cake that was nicely spiced and served with caramelized Full Belly Farm apples and grapes, rosemary-calvados anglaise and sesame brittle.

 

 

Crepes. Filled with pear butter and huckleberry and topped with honey mascarpone and toasted hazelnuts. All the different textures melded together wonderfully; from soft to fluffy to creamy to crunchy.

 

 

 

Flora changes their menu weekly, so their lunch and dinner offerings may change, however, the pudding is always available. Their dinners look amazing too, but be sure to make a reservation well in advance.