Scratch Restaurant Review, Mountain View

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Scratch 401 Castro St. (at California) Mountain View, CA 94041 650-237-3131 Scratch Website Book Reservation

Scratch is a new restaurant from Rob Fischer who runs Palo Alto Creamery, Reposado, and Gravity. This restaurant opened at the end of 2010. Fine Dining meets American Comfort Cuisine is their motto. We happen to be in the area and decided to give this place a try. The restaurant is modern, with clean lines, lots of wood, and large windows to the Street. Our last visit was at the end of 2011.

Summary – Scratch is one of the highlights of the many restaurants on Castro Street in Mountain View.
Insider Tip – Eat at the bar and enjoy the view

Cuisine – New American
Location – Castro St., Mountain View
Opened – 2010

Service – Solid service although there were some miscues with regard to silverware.
Verdict – Scratch serves up modern American cuisine, something that was not present in the area before they opened up. Google employees need not trek far for some fine dining. If this place was in SF, it would be packed.
A good sized wine list with Wines by the glass from $8, bottles from $32.

Signature Dishes – Short ribs, pork belly

Full Scratch image set

Picks:

Passionfruit Sangria ($6) did a good job of blending fruitiness with the wine.

Steamed P.E.I. Mussels ($12) Shallot, garlic, light cream broth, French fried Kennebec potatoes were stellar even though there could have been more mussels. Excellent broth to sop up with the fries and bread.

Bourbon glazed pork belly ($11) Creamy Anson Mills grits, braised country greens, honey glazed bosc pears is a signature dish and a must get. A nice crisp top along with some tender pork meat on a bed of polenta like grits.

Short ribs bourguignon ($22) roast celery root purée, Pearl onions, glazed Applewood bacon and Portobello mushrooms is also a signature dish. This is a huge dish with lots of tender meat that was full of more fat than we would like. The rich hearty accompaniment could have been improved with more starch.

Maple Glazed Hudson Valley Duck Breast ($25) Wild rice with walnuts and orzo, huckleberry sauce was cooked to a nice medium rare and hit the target.  Excellent orzo, wild rice combo.

Grilled King Salmon ($25) Black lentils, glazed autumn vegetables, tasso ham, lobster cream
sauce and tarragon was also cooked just right.  Large piece of tender goodness.

 

Rustic pizza ($11) tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fennel sausage and fire roasted peppers made for a reasonable pizza that possessed medium thickness, a soft center, and very hot crust. This is not an artisanal Neapolitan pizza.

Brussels sprouts ($8) pecan and pancetta came in a nice Staub metal pan, and was on the rich side with lots of chopped brussel sprouts, and strong pancetta. Nicely done but a little on the rich side. Next time we ordered it with out the pancetta.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Mojito ($9) was more of a spiked sweet slush. Pretty foo foo and sweet.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

Restaurant Map: