Kyoo C.
Yelp
Still didn't get to eat at Jane on the latest visit to SB, due to some film festival in Feb that had the theater in between blocked off and all. Was still able to get to Jane, but of course all tables booked out no seating available...
Wife was sad to be denied Jane's incredible chicken picatta again, since I didn't know there was such an event and didn't think to reserve.
I suggested let's eat at Opal, since I still remember they had great Filet mignon when I first had it maybe a dozen or more years ago. And wife remembers the filet from the one time we had it maybe a decade ago.
Opal was full as well, but they had outdoor tables set up and the gentleman at the front was so very kind to make a table available for us outdoors, to save the evening! (sorry for poor pics, not good lighting I guess)
Ordered up the Paella which sounded good.
Chicken picatta on penne pasta sounded a bit strange, since too used to Jane's chicken picatta.
Went for the herb grilled filet mignon in the larger 9oz size.
- Bread basket = the multi bread was so gluteny chewy good!!! Would be happy to eat just that and butter all day.
- Paella = excellent seafood flavoring in the broth. Could slurp this up, but there wasn't too much rice to be able to enjoy all the goodness. Great flavor, but a little lacking in quantity to fully enjoy.
- Chicken picatta on penne = this looked nothing like the chicken picatta entree at Jane, wife asked did I know it was a pasta? I said yes, but wasn't sure what it would be like, took a chance, lol. Looked like a bland and weak dish... But don't judge a book by it's cover! Wow! Can't even describe what this was like, but it was strangely fantastic!!!
The multi dimension of flavors in this thing was just so addicting, could not stop eating it. Penne is my least preferred pasta, but this penne texture was so soft and perfect texture, it must be in house made to be that good, wow.
This was a delightful surprise and us 3 cleaned it up to the end!
- herb grilled Filet mignon = ordered medium rare and was expecting a pretty good filet from my foggy memory of having the version with the stuffed chile.
Wow, this filet just blew our minds!!! Was cooked perfectly with incredibly enjoyable. KISS keep it simple stupid, the filet spoke for itself here. Not sure how they cooked it so perfectly, but was perfect texture and delicious. Steak even had a hint of aged flavor somehow, which made it even more awesome. I think this was one of the best filet mignons we've had. And 9oz was nowhere near enough with this kind of flavor. I barely got maybe 3 pieces and wife maybe 1 or 2 with the kid loving most of it...
Needless to say, being denied Jane ended up reminding me how good Opal is I've always told wife Opal and Jane are both awesome restaurants, and this meal actually just reminded us of how good the filet is at Opal. Now it'll be an even bigger struggle next time we visit SB, will have to stand at the theater in between staring at Jane and Opal and be torn where to eat.
Classic chicken picatta, I say Jane owns it. But we won't have any qualms eating the addictive picatta penne at Opal!
Filet, I say Opal hands down now.
Sauce maybe I like the mushroom gravy at Jane, but I really don't even care about the sauce any more when Opal's filet itself is top notch quality...
All I can say is I am not sharing the 9oz filet at Opal next time.