A bit over the top?

Michael Bauer, the restaurant critic for the SF Chronicle, wrote a piece today about Christopher Kostow, the chef at the Meadowood Resort in the Napa Valley.  We've been to Meadowood to look around, but never have we eaten there or stayed there ($800 a night or more).


In the article, in which Bauer says that Kostow's Restaurant at Meadowood has earned 4 stars (as high as it gets) in his ranking system, there appears the following description:

The tasting menu at the Restaurant at Meadowood began with a waiter bearing a brown velvet pillow on top of which rested an amuse of house-made crackers, garnished with a minuscule flower and leaf from the restaurant's gardens. It looked like what a ring bearer might carry down the aisle. 

Then, still before the official first course arrived, the kitchen sent out a baked potato parfait, a custard cup layered with smooth potato puree, custard, herbed gelee, crispy potatoes and whole oysters, creating another example of how chef Christopher Kostow artfully marries opposing textures and flavors. 

Soon afterward we received a plate mounded with "rye dirt" where fine bread crumbs mixed with salt, and tiny radishes and carrots dipped in butter "grow" from the mixture.

The rest of the dinner was more intricate than this.  While I am all in favor of fancy meals, this seems a bit nuts.