August is housed in a neat little building that was built in the 1860s. I got to check the place out while I wandered around looking for the bathroom (word to the wise: it's on the second floor. If you reach a point where the air conditioning shuts off, you've missed the bathroom and you're in the attic). It's a cool place, and serves as a perfect backdrop for the food.
The meal started with an amuse that consisted of some kind of fishy-egg custard, served with caviar inside an egg shell. Of course, the waiter explained it in much more detail, but too quickly for me to comprehend anything but "don't let your husband eat this, since he's allergic to seafood." I had to eat both of them (darn!) and although they were pretty to look at, I found them to be a little salty, and not necessarily something I'd want to try again.
Our appetizer was foie gras three ways. What a nice presentation!
The striped one is foie with oxtail (the least successful of the three), the middle is served with sausage and champagne gelee (YUM) and the last, and best, was plain old foie with a wonderful raspberry jam. All three were great, but they paled in comparison to the best foie of the night, which was still to come ...
For dinner, I ordered my favorite fish, red snapper, with Meyer lemon aioli and a warm salad of artichoke, potatoes and tomato. I like how Chef Besh treats his fish like a protein, and the seasoning on the potatoes was wonderful. Another pretty and delicious dish.
However, the best thing I ate all night was actually on my husband's plate. He ordered the sugar-and-spice-rub duckling with grits and foie, served with fresh strawberry jam. I don't like duck, but I LOVED his foie. He was kind enough to allow me two small bites, which is actually quite generous, considering it was probably the best thing either of us has ever eaten (and no, I'm not exaggerating). Paired with the jam, this foie managed to be savory, meaty, and sweet. It literally melted in my mouth.
For dessert we had a very good banana and rum cake with white chocolate icing and coffee. My husband mentioned that it was the first time his meal has ever been richer than dessert. It was still tasty though.
Service was exemplary, which is exactly what you would expect at a restaurant like this. Several servers worked with us, and all of them seemed very knowledgeable about and proud of the products they were serving. It was nice to see so many people working together as a team.
Everything at August was predictably wonderful, with one exception: the foie gras on my husband's plate. That was ridiculously wonderful. Like the creamed corn at Capital Grille or the creme brulee at Pappa's, that foie is something we'll be talking about and trying to replicate for years.
