VIM Dining and Desserts

Cuisine	Dessert, American (New)
Price	$$$ (31-50)
Rating	6/10
Last Visit	Jan. 20, 2023
Location	SFBA: Santa Cruz

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General Notes

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I stumbled across this restaurant one day on Google Maps, and I was drawn by the high ratings, enticing menu, and the name of the restaurant (although I promise, the fact that I use the text editor vim every day only plays a small role in why I decided to try this place out). In a moment of spontaneity, I randomly decided to venture here one day by myself all the way from San Jose (and then head all the way back up to San Francisco). Overall, it was a nice experience! I wouldn't say it was incredible, but the food was nice, service was wonderful, and the restaurant has a nice atmosphere. Good choice for a more upscale occasion in Santa Cruz.

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Positives

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> According to the restaurant: "In an atmosphere of warmth and casual elegance, patrons are invited to linger over approachable New American cuisine, decadent desserts, and modern cocktails". I think this captures the essense of the restaurant really well! Especially "approachable New American cuisine" -- there are a lot of interesting techniques and ingredients used, but the dishes feel familiar. The servers make an effort to explain the dishes as they come to you as well.
> They offer complimentary porcini popcorn. I'm personally not a huge fan (I don't really like popcorn in general), but it's pretty amusing seeing a popcorn machine just sitting in the corner of the restaurant.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★☆☆ Apple Toffee Cake -- rosemary whipped cream, walnut oat struesel. Great idea in theory but the components which were used for this dish aren't quite right. The warm, somewhat wet cake is begging to be paired with some rich, cold ice cream -- the whipped cream doesn't quite lend it justice. The walnut oat streusel leans a little towards "hard" and doesn't have the right crispiness / crunchiness. The contrast is somewhat lacking in this dessert. The apples, toffee, whipped cream, and rosemary flavor are WONDERFUL.
• ★★★☆ Mushroom "Meatball" Pasta -- house-made spaghetti noodles, mushroom "meatballs", truffle butter, acorn squash puree, broccolini. This is actually surprisingly good -- the mushroom "meatballs" have a lovely flavor and taste remarkably like real meatballs. The broccolini is served with a balsamic reduction, and it's wonderful. The spaghetti with truffle butter is simple but delicious -- the only thing is I wish that the spaghetti were a touch more al dente. Otherwise, great dish!
• ★★☆☆ Apple Glazed Brussel Sporuts -- apple chestnut puree, pancetta, spiced cashews. The brussels themselves are cooked wonderfully (lovely color on them), and in general the flavor combination is a good one. The balance feels a little off -- the apple is a little overpowering and the dish feels a touch too sweet. In its excess it gives the chestnut puree a somewhat strange acrid flavor.
• ★☆☆☆ Porcini Popcorn -- complimentary; personally not my favorite (honestly, I couldn't really tell that it was porcini flavored), but I'm biased because I don't really like popcorn in general. It's something to nibble on in between courses, I guess.