Dining out: Metropolitan

Call me a Metropolitan convert.

During a visit several years ago, one that I'd anticipated for months, the excellence of the restaurant's food was overshadowed by a lost reservation, meager portions and a snooty server who berated the couple at a nearby table for wanting tap water instead of pricey bottled water.

I know that many number Metropolitan among their favorites, so during subsequent years of not going back, I kept my mouth shut when people talked about the place. But I couldn't help but be interested in the changes recently at Metropolitan, not least a new team of four young chefs running the kitchen. So I decided, at last, to pay another visit.

The food is still excellent. Well, that doesn't cover it. The food is astonishing. Engaging. Creative, even witty, with a sly sense of whimsy. The artfully presented portions aren't the stomach-bursters you'll find at TGI Friday's, but I'd call them reasonable. And best of all, there will be service to match all the wonderfulness going on inside your mouth.

Metropolitan has always been one of the valley's unique spots in which to have a meal, with an atmosphere that's one part serene elegance, one part flight of architectural and decorative fancy. When my friend Melissa and I had dinner there on a recent weekend night, we were offered a seat in the dining room but opted for the bar, with its raised banquette and twilight view of the urban milieu outside.

The bar might be more noisy than the dining room, but I like it because the same menu is served in each, except you get a few delectable additions of "bar bites" if you eat out front.

We ordered the charcuterie from the regular menu and the Kobe beef sliders from the bar options. The charcuterie was a beautiful collection of delicious things that can be done with meat: fresh-and-supple cured salmon; chunky, satisfying country pate; house-made duck prosciutto with a meaty start and creamy finish. Then the touch that made me smile: a perfectly cooked Scotch egg with a crisp coating, thin layer of savory meat and white-golden inside.

But our favorite was the Kobe beef sliders, three tiny, plump burgers with caramelized onions on grilled buns. The meat was an entirely new experience for me: cooked to a beautiful sear outside, the inside is so meltingly tender that it becomes one with the bun.

For dinner, Melissa had "tuna hot and cold." On one side of the plate was sliced seared tuna over creamy but kickin' wasabi potatoes; on the other a salad-like melange of raw diced fish, herbs and vegetables, cunningly arranged between two crunchy slices of white daikon.