Restaurants like this with eclectic, upscale, creative food, almost always disappoint me. They try so hard that they lose the balance of flavors and elements overpower, or they use presentation and ambiance to compensate for mediocre flavors. Not Rood though. Every single dish I tried was executed to perfection. I don’t understand anything less than a 5 star review.

The rolls had a nice herb flavor from lavender, and were accompanied by a high quality butter and a ginger, cardamom, and apple sorghum. The sorghum concoction was mind blowing and I would pay $50 for a jar of it. I ended up putting what was left on my Asian Pear Salad.

Speaking of Asian Pear Salad, the pears were poached beautifully (only complaint I have is that I wish there were more pears) and the cherry blossom vinaigrette was very light with subtle flavors. The real highlight was the toasted miso, which added such a beautiful complex flavor to the salad. Has to be the best salad I’ve ever had.

The crab cakes were small, but packed full of crab. They were cooked all the way through (hate when I get a runny crab cake!) but not dried out at all. I’m not usually a fan of grits, but the grits they came on were super delicious.

My sea scallops had a wonderful sear, but not rubbery at all! Such an incredible flavor and PERFECT amount of salt. I prefer the taste of scallops alone so I didn’t eat them with the sauces, but i tasted them afterwards. The farro had a delightfully chewy texture. There was supposed to be a zatar oil, but honestly, I couldn’t pick up on the zatar flavor.

My partner got the boar ragu. He said it lacked salt, but I thought it was acceptably salted. Probably could have used a bit more salt, but fine as is. I’m not a fan of the gamey flavor of boar, so I won’t comment further on this dish.

Now the star of the show…. Pie. Historically, pie is not a dessert I typically enjoy or gravitate towards, but that’s not the case for Rood. Sometimes I go just to pick up some pie. I’ve had nearly every pie Rood has, and was eager to try the Apricot + Pistachio. I don’t really have words for how delightfully perfect it was. Salt + Honey has been my favorite for so long, but it has now been usurped. Just try it.