Trademark southern touch intact, new executive chef Tim Humphrey has taken over the stoves at Tiburon Tavern. Humphrey, who built his career working as sous chef to his executive chef brother, Joseph, brings the same caliber of experience (Meadowood, Murray Circle at Cavallo Point, Dixie) in fine dining to the fore at Tiburon Tavern.
As Humphrey works to update the California pub menu, look for some unique new dishes and a more refined look. The watermelon tomato salad that developed a following at Cavallo Point is here, updated with pickled watermelon rind and crudité. Sweet corn bisque, lush and smooth, takes on a southern accent with poached shrimp; a corn and micro cilantro garnish firmly roots the dish to California.
A highlight of a recent meal there was the beef tartare. Glistening, deep-red cubes of Marin Sun Farms beef, floating in a golden hollandaise sea, found the perfect balance between salty and savory. Wrap up the experience with bourbon and honey pot de crème, dense and creamy with a potent nip of bourbon on the finish. The bourbon? Bulleit, natch.
Tiburon Tavern is the restaurant at the Lodge at Tiburon, 1651 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon. 415-435-5996
