Dakan

Historic Nevada City's newest restaurant is Restaurant DaKan. It opened recently and created a positive local buzz about its culinary creativity. We wanted to see for ourselves. We reserved a table for a Thursday night which turned out to be a good idea since the place was packed. Our hostess, Sari (sar-RYE) greeted us at the door and served us attentively for the two hours we were there. The menu had a variety of starters, featured dishes from land and sea, and sides. We started by sharing the Broken Caesar, a nicely-assembled selection of baby romaine, anchovies, croutons and shaved parmesan. Sari recommended the Butternut Squash Ravioli as a second course. Iti is sold by the piece so we ordered 2 of them to share. I am a fan of Butternut Squash Ravioli and this was a first-class rendering of this dish. Our third course was the Hokkaido Scallop, also delicious.We accompanied our meal with a bottle of the 2022 Domaine Vignerau-Chevreau, Vuvray, from the Loire Valley, France. It was spot-on.The prices are in accordance with the quality of the food. The Broken Anchovy Caesar, 2 Squash Raviolis, and 2 dishes of Seared Scallops came to $100 before taxes, tip, and wine.The restaurant was busy and, consequently, moderately noisy. They also have outdoor patio dining available during the warmer months.I would recommend Restaurant DaKan to anyone what enjoys creative fine dining.

The menu is fantastic. My absolute favorite is the Ox Tail Ravioli. The sauce makes me want to lick my plate in public. The Squash ravioli is fantastic too. The sauces... They are by the each for $5. I've tried the Yakinuki skewers which are incredible, Scallops, Wagu burger, Striped Bass, Buratta... All excellent. They have a nice variety of small plates. The staff is great. Location is excellent. I'm looking forward to the patio opening up with music! Reservations are pretty much required. Bon Appetit

This is the best dinner I've had in a long time. All the flavors and combinations on the menu made my mouth water. We started out with wagyu carpaccio, melt in your mouth paper thin sliced. Sweet potato and chestnut soup with black garlic was velvety smooth, and the ravioli are perfectly sized to share: butternut squash and sage, or braised oxtail sitting in rich jus. The poutine made my husband mad because it was too good and blew any other he ever tried out of the park. Scallop and prosciutto roulade was cooked to perfection, so soft you don't even need to chew and expertly paired with greens and celery root foam. Wine selection is impressive and the server is very knowledgeable about how to pair them. I loved the option of poptails since I don't drink alcohol. Dessert was the cherry on top, we couldn't decide so we got a golden milk crème brûlée and a chocolate bourbon hazelnut mousse with blood orange crème anglaise. The expertise and perfection of every dish, pleasing to the eye and embracing your palate, is one of a kind in Nevada county. My new favorite restaurant! Ambiance is cozy and inviting.

The service was scattered, we sat at the bar and halfway through our first glass of wine we had a server come over and bluntly tell us she needed two seats and needed us to move over instead of politely asking. The charcuterie board was the worst I've ever had, the venison dish I had was cooked perfect but had two small pieces. And my wife's chicken was the worst, overdone and all you can taste is cumin. Our server was very sweet and attentive but the food was hit or miss and that does not match the price. Overpriced and lacking consistency, they're new but they have a lot of things to work out.

Best restaurant experience of my life. From the first pleasant interaction with the hostess to meeting the Chief/owner who was quietly helping his team and serving plates. Oysters app were so delicious almost asked for another order, but glad I did not as everything else that followed was just as delicious.

We selected this new restaurant for our anniversary, wanting a fine dining experience without it being pretentious. Dakan was perfect! The food selections were diverse, giving you a fish, shellfish, vegetarian, or meat base. Almost everything was locally sourced. I selected the Sweet Potato, Smoked Chestnuts and Black Garlic soup. It was so flavorful and smooth I thought it had cream in it, but it didn't - it was the careful preparation. My husband, the cook in our family, had the poutine, which he loved. It's pretty hard not to love that great Canadian dish, but this one added Duck Confit and Cheese Curds, making it even more addictive. I selected six of raviolis - Butternut Squash, Brown Butter, Sage Pine Nuts and Black Trumpet - excellent! He choose Seared Scallop and Prosciutto Roulade, Celery Roots Foam, Braised and Crisp Swiss Chard and said it was the BEST scallops he has ever eaten. High praise from the cook! We had dessert, too: dark chocolate mousse with hazelnuts, and the creme brulee. Both very, very good. As for wine, we selected the Sonoma Cab. The whole dinner with wine was $133, exactly what would be expected for the service, preparation and food of this quality. It's wonderful to have another good restaurant in Nevada City to add to our rotation. Only one thing...they are doing their best to keep that ancient and beautiful interior warm, but it was a bit cool. It was perfect for my husband, but I had to keep my sweater on. We will be going back! Soon!