Archive for the ‘in California’ Category
California Photo-Storm (pt 1)!
t says: g and I are in the Golden State once again – we just can’t stop visiting! Between the friends, the food, and the wine – it’s a triple threat! We would have mentioned weather for a quadruple threat, but today, it decided to rain on us … hard … so we’re deducting points. But at least it gave us time to stop and make this post.
Ridge Vineyards: go there and look out onto Cupertino/Palo Alto/whatever it is that lies below. And wines are quite good – lots of varietals to taste!
Anyone want to start up a library of Ridge Monte Bellow cabs? The cost is steep … but doable …
Just watch out for rattlesnakes (there are a lot of signs warning visitors … although we saw no rattlesnakes – much to k’s satisfaction).
We went to Gabriella Cafe for dinner. It’s a little, unassuming place tucked away in Santa Cruz … and they served things like this: mushroom-stuffed gnocchia with a pesto and butternut squash. I was floored. I did not expect this non-descript eatery to nail this dish, but they did. Never have I seen gnocchi injected with something like mushroom, but they did it! I guess that makes it more like a ravioli? I have no idea.
g’s tortilla soup was also quite nice.
the next morning, we went to Kelly’s French Bakery, where we enjoyed a few morning treats. Above is a chocolate “goodfellow”. I have no idea if it was done “properly” or not, but it was quite good and something I wish I could find elsewhere.
Coffee at Verve roasters was a highlight as well. We snapped this photo because a had mentinoed that his heaven would be a cafe that also served bourbon … so here’s a coffee drink that uses some kind of Bulleit mixture (I assume they burned off the alcohol?). So, it’s final: heaven is in Santa Cruz. Next time, we’ll have to try it (they were out of it the day we visited).
There were lots of awesome photos of us scaling rocks in Monterey … but they reveal our identities, so we’ll skip them. Let’s just say that I’m pretty agile on those rocky shores …
La Bicyclette in Carmel-by-the-Sea offered up some simple breakfast items done very well …
… like the prototypical “California” breakfast featuring tomatoes, eggs, avocado, and a green of some sort. Not pictured was the flakiest, lightest croissant we ever had in the states. Rock on La Bicyclette.
We did some pretty awesome hiking around Point Lobos. We were tempted to do the 17-mile drive … but refused to pay money to see beautiful sights when we saw plenty of beautiful sights for free!
This was followed by a twisty-turny drive down US-1, with some of the craziest views ever!
By the end of our drive, we were a little tired, so we stopped at San Simeo, where I was able to walk up to these seabirds and they didn’t flinch at all!
Enchilada at Estrella in Paso was unfortunately mediocre. The wine list was a little too focused on nearby producers – which would be fine if they would offer some small flights or something like that for tourists like us. However, given the quality of the food, we’d pass on Estrella in the future – Artisan and La Cosecha looked great.
The diner across from our hotel was hi-lar-i-ous. Take a look at these menu shots!
lo-cal plate, anyone?
these are the banana pancakes at Margie’s. the syrup packet is there for scale. they were enormous. and don’t be fooled – they were chocked full of bananas (to be seen on the underside). I only finished half the plate. WHY on earth would anyone need pancakes to be this huge? I don’t know. But if we were staying in Paso Robles for more than a day, I would have brought them with me to the hotel to reheat for later (they had a microwave!).
We did a variety of wine tastings in Paso. Our fave was Clos Solene. Sure, their wines are a bit pricey, but Guillaume and Solene are gracious hosts with absolutely superb wines. Definitely the best Syrah I’ve ever had in the US. And the barrel-sampling of rose and white wines were fabulous – we’re totally in for some Clos Solene next Spring.
Inbetween wine-tatings, g and I finally conquered In-n-Out Burger – something g had been wanting to do for years! Welcome to the “animal style” burger with a “well done” set of fries. Personally, I think that the “secret menu” is kinda silly. But whatever. Grub’s good – I’d go back. It’s a notch above Mickey-D’s.
On the way back from Paso, we stopped in Mountainview to visit some friends, who treated us to this great little Indian restaurant nearby. I have no idea what it was called, but all I can say is that it was tiny and had great food.
After returning to SF, we went to a restaurant called Saru for lunch. cm unerwent an 8-piece tasting which made his eyes roll to the back of his head a few times out of pure enjoyment. They did look fabulous …
I did some fancy yellowtail sashimi (it was some special kind of yellowtail I don’t recall), as well as some way-off-the-hook Chirashi (in the background). Seriously. This Chirashi was like full-on 8 slabs of sashimi with egg, mushrooms, and rice for around $15. This was some of the best raw fish I’ve ever had (up there with Kiss Seafood, also in SF).
welcome to the grilled yellowtail collar. keep in mind that we, a bunch of silly sushi neophytes (face it, if your only experience with sushi is Philly nigiri and an occasional o-toro or “sushi tasting” when you want to feel “spendy” … you’re a noob), had no idea what we were ordering. now, having googled it, we understand where on the fish this piece comes from. And let us tell you: it was crazy-good. I haven’t had grilled fish this good in years. YEARS. If you go to Saru, you HAVE to order this and share it with a tablemate or two.
We brought a bottle of Quintessa with us from Philly to share with kp. A 2007, it was drinking beautifully, with a purity of fruit that was only beginning to gain some age. What a treat.
And now, for the grand finale of this post: our meal at State Bird Provisions. kp is a SBP veteran. He knows the standbys like the back of his hand. And, because of the dim sum style, there were SO many dishes that it was hard to keep up. The details are fuzzy, so if you are dissatisfied, you’re just going to have to go there yourself for the full experience. Above is the pork loin with an apple mustarda. A great way to start the meal (that one was early on).
Lamb pierogies in its own braising liquid. You know – how can you go wrong? Take some pierogies, which are inherently good, and jam some lamb up in there … and you have heaven …
… well … you had heaven until you ate this, and then you transcend to a whole new heaven. This was the “burrata on a sourdough garlic knot” topped with 5 spices. Easy enough, right? you figure, “oh, this is a bullshit dish – it’s all bait, and I’ve had it at Barbuzzo, so it can’t possibly be better”. WRONG. It can. And it was. I don’t know why or how. Was it the texture of the burrata? Was it the spices or infused olive oil? Or maybe it was the pull-apart texture of the bread. Well, whatever it was, it has taken over as the new Best Burrata to have ever touched these lips …
This is the dish that made g drool. Correction. The food didn’t make her drool – the smell did! It hit the table right in front of g, and she immediately started drooling based on smell alone. She had to wipe her mouth because she was drooling too much – I took a picture of it, but she threatened to delete it if I posted it. So what was the dish, you ask? It was the signature “California State Bird with Provisions” – fried quail with strips of cheese and herbed braised onions underneath. Now, I missed out on the onions (cm interjects: t, your meal must have sucked not having had those”; g agrees: big mistake … huge.), but the quail was juicy and delicious. To be fair, it could have broccoli for all I cared – it was so fabulously fried – but the quail did complete the dish nicely.
Yet another dish that sounded underwhelming but delivered the goods: sourdough, sauerkraut, and ricotta. They look like benign little pancake thingees … but what you got on the palate was a luscious burst of cheese and onion that made you want to order 10 more …
… but don’t order 10 of those, order 10 of THESE. These are the dumplings. They are filled with guinea hen and a combination of spices that was insane. The waiter’s description required like 3 sentences, 4 dependent clauses, and 5 breaths to finish. And it killed it. After that, there was simply nothing else I needed or wanted. Now the broth that you see it sitting in is the real dark horse. kp and I could have downed it by the cup. Meanwhile k spoke out: “you know … it’s too salty”. We were flabbergasted. No way. It was perfect. I guess you’ll just have to go and decide for yourself.
The desserts sound lame on the mnu. Trust us: they aren’t. They are full on flavors and as complicated as the regular menu items. I won’t bore you with the details, but just know that they keep the party going and aren’t in the least bit “phoned in”. cm wants there to be special mention of the huckleberries on the apple cake you see in the background, “they really made the dessert”.
1760 rocks it … Bauer be damned!
t says: When visiting SF on a recent trip, I let kp choose our dinner. He opted for 1760, a restaurant located at 1760 Polk street. Not knowing anything about the restaurant beforehand, I was excited to go, as kp was excited for some octopus dish that was a “Top 100 in SF” item according to 7×7. What he/I/we did not know was that the place had be wrecked by SF’s critic, Bauer; he didn’t have one good thing to say about their food! Funny thing about Bauer is that we had crossed paths (like two ships in the dark of night) before, having eaten at Sons and Daughters right before his review broke; now that was a restaurant which we were initially lukewarm about but apparently has gone on to garner Bauer-love and a Michelin star.
So how did 1760 fare? Check it out:
February 2014, Wednesday Dinner, Party of 2. kp and I were ushered in from the rain and seated immediately by a smiling hostess – they got points already.
The format of the restaurant encourages multiple courses in series. As such, there would have to be a lot of re-setting of silverware … except for now, when all you’d have to do is reach for the box of silverware already one the table! I initially thought it was kind of lazy, but you know what – it was actually kind of brilliant! I could switch up my silverware as often as I wanted! kp and I were down for the choose-our-own-fork adventure! (I only wish they would have had a variety of different styles of fork – it would have been fun! Like, Talula’s Daily should do this with their mismatched silverware – it’d be quirky and cute!)
two slices of apple … the literally gave us two slices of apple to “cleanse our palates”. for real. when these came out, all I could do was contemplate, “really? two pieces of apple? what kind of amuse bouche is that? maybe they do things way differently here in SF”. But of course, it wasn’t just two slices of apple – it was two of the best pieces of apple I’ve ever had. Why? Well, it was apple compressed with vanilla and orange zest. The wizardry of citrus-apple-vanilla combination was fabulous. I liken it to eating a sorbet … that had all the textural consistency of an apple. It’s like they played god and made their own apple. As a result, this single apple ruined all other apples for me. I guess I should just stop eating apples altogether now …
raw scallop + ugni + caviar + onion + soy = 5(bait). Beautifully balanced, with the mix of briney-salt and soy-sauce-salt that was so fun to watch.
yellowtail ceviche with shaved celery, a line of homemade sriracha and a bit of yuzu bubbles. This dish tasted like it was ripped straight from the mind of Peter Serpico, himself … which means that it was thoughtfully composed and perfectly executed.
you can’t see the shisito peppers, but they were there … and they were solidly done … nothing beats a well-charred shisito pepper for a fun finger food to munch on as time passed …
the crispy octopus was … very nice … with a fun crispy exterior and soft interior … but let’s be honest: koo zee doo’s milk-braised octopus (R.I.P.) is a benchmark that just cannot be passed.
welcome to monkfish liver mousse. this was kp’s only pick of the evening (the octopus dish was compulsory, and I got to choose the others – kp felt that he’d always have a chance to come back, whereas I was just visiting … he’s thoughtful like that) … and it was incredible! absolutely incredible! If the ocean could be experienced like a symphony … in your mouth … that is what this dish was like. And I say “symphony” because it had this “time course” of flavor, where it started off mild and subtle, followed by a soft crescendo of ocean breeze and lightly sweetened compote which was then followed by a surge of sweet-savory mousse which was then followed by a climax of savory-salty squid ink crisp which was then followed by seconds upon seconds of fading flavors – I didn’t even want to sip my wine with it because I didn’t want to risk losing the delicate flavors of the dish. It was the single best dish of my trip! Forget the octopus being on the “Top 100” – this thing should take up like 4 spots on that list!
the lamb shoulder cavetelli was fine .. nothing too crazy going on here – solid lamb flavors, good bitter greens, al dente pasta … they read the textbook and followed it down to every dotted i and crossed t.
This dessert was a little hokey. That bourbon sauce overpowered everything else on the dish … which wasn’t that bad because it was delicious as hell, but it lacked the balance of a “deconstructed chocolate s’more” … and it made me long for Talula’s Garden’s chocolate s’more dessert, which will go down in history as my favorite dessert in all the land …
In all, 1760 did a wonderful job with the dishes we ordered, and still, there were plenty more that we wanted to try! The lack of “cohesion” that Bauer pointed out isn’t a big deal, as I enjoyed the opportunity to compose a unique adventure from start to finish. I think that the key is to find awesome dinnermates who are willing to share so that you can maximize the tastes. While not every one is the blow-you-away-killa’, everything was nicely done with a delicate, deliberate hand … oh … and that monkfish liver mousse just straight-up killed it …
As an aside, kp and his roommate also took me to Nopalito on another night and it was ridiculous. There were too many dishes to do a blow-by-blow, so I’m just going to have to put up a single pic so I will remember going there:
porky yumminess.
Manly Epicurean Adventure
t says: I had the opportunity to visit Napa with kp and another colleague (our fourth, a, bailed at the last minute), but only for a day; we had a lot of stuff to cram in a single afternoon+evening. Realizing that our better halves were unable to join us, we nicknamed it “the manly epicurean adventure”. Below is a recap of all we conquered:
First thing we did was conquer brunch at Zazie. We killed some bread pudding pancakes that were out of control. On one hand, some were put off by the soft almost-mushy texture of the pancake, but I loved every bit of it (it was like real bread pudding!). I likened the experience to eating forkfuls of sweet sweet banana-laden clouds …
Zazie also served up some poached eggs which we wasted no time pillaging. One had the equivalent of salsa and bacon, while the other had tomato and prosciutto. Beautifully balanced salty-savory-acid in both cases – could not think of anything worth improving upon. We now know why there is a line to get into Zazie when they open at 9am on a Sunday.
Our first Napa destination was Ma(i)sonry, but have no photos, as we’ve already photo’d the bejesus out of it on the blog. My tastes must have changed over the past 6 months because this time, I was drawn to less fruit-forward cabs, favoring instead some well-done 2011’s with the right balance of acid and fruit. Funny how things change. Overall, Maisonry was a fantastic way to get in the mood for the cabs of Napa (the gang preferred reds to whites, so that’s what we focused on). Our second tasting of the day, at Paloma, courtesy of hookups by a and a’s dad, is pictured above. We could have listened to Barb, the proprietor, for hours upon hours, with her stories from 31 years in the valley. As you can see, her view is incredible (the tasting is literally at her house). Her wines were impressive expressions of Merlot, inspiring us to walk away with a few bottles in hand. A great visit!
In contrast to Paloma, MacDonald Vineyards, our third and final visit for the day, was a super-tiny cottage hidden amongst the vines …
… and some gnarly old vines at that! As Graeme and Alex walked us around, it was exciting to hear their story. It was hard to not catch their infectious enthusiasm. This was not one of those times where the goal was to wow you into believing that they were the end-all-be-all of vine mastery, rather, humble pupils who recognize that they have a unique opportunity to make great wine from hallowed land. These guys are young, they have no obligation to any sort of winemaking legacy, and they have open minds … in the world of wine, they are dangerous as hell … in a good way …
There’s no tasting room at MacDonald – instead there’s a picnic bench under a giant tree next to some vines. I cannot imagine a more perfect setting. Even when these guys do get around to building a winery and a cellar and a tasting room, I hope they never lose that sense of chatting around a wicker basket and vinyl tablecloth. I have to say that out of every tasting I’ve ever had, this was probably the most personal. I don’t know if it’s because my tablemates had already consumed ample amounts of wine throughout the day (I spit at every tasting, so I was DD), but the conversations meandered from wine to friends to weightlifting to medicine to bachelor parties and back to wine. Before we knew it, the sun had set and we were near-shivering … now that is a tasting!
Oh … and the wine … we had the opportunity to sample the 2011 MacDonald Cab, which was really a treat. Not to be released until Fall 2014, I have to say that this was easily the best wine we had all day, and we had had wines from multiple talented winemakers (Thomas Rivers Brown, Melka, Jeff Ames, Pahlmeyer) over multiple vintages from multiple sites! My companions agreed. But beware – this is no fruit bomb or berry milkshake; certainly no oak monster here. Bright red-and-dark fruits up front saturate the palate with silky tannins so smooth that you forget they’re there; the fruit is followed by a mouthwatering, moderate-length finish of cool-vintage cab flavors that dance on the palate. As time passed, it took on even more layers of flavor, including herbs and baking spices. Overall, it’s a feminine expression of cab, but don’t construe that as “wimpy”, rather, think of that seasoned, graceful principal ballerina, floating across the stage … no one would dare call her “wimpy” – she’s just ridiculous at making it look effortless.
We had visited Oakville Grocer earlier in the day for a cheese break (after all, with all the wine we had been tasting, we needed a little something in our stomachs), but when it was dinner time, we needed to get some serious grub. I picked out Bistro Jeanty – a Yountville staple at reasonable prices. And that night, they were on fire. The above escargots were amazing, exceeding the deliciousity, texture, and size of Bibou’s. Similarly, the bone marrow in the background with that red wine sauce was absolutely stunning – made oh-so-simply but so profoundly flavorful that I could have eaten every single piece if allowed; once again, it bested even Bibou’s bone marrow.
Bistro Jeanty’s momentum carried through the main courses. My lamb was perfectly prepared, coupled with blue cheese potatoes and green beans …
… and kp’s cassoulet surprised the hell out of everyone. On the menu, it sounded almost benign – like a “light bean dish” … except for, you know, the hidden duck confit, bacon, and garlic sausage … Oh, and the beans that could have potentially been healthy? Not no more – because all the fat from those meats had to go somewhere …
Dessert was of high caliber – maybe not as crazy as the first two courses, but still damn good. The chocolate creme brulee struck again (I loved it before when I had it), and the lemon tart was so close to being perfect (the orange marmalade-ish sauce was confusing – they should have kept it lemon … or maybe gone lime … but orange was weird).
Don’t let the above picture mislead you: I was sad that g wasn’t there – she would have loved it. And of course we missed a … but … be that as it may, I’m pretty sure I can say that Man Trip 2014 was a success!
finishing in Napa and killing it in SF
t says: I have to say that up until this point, g and I were pretty successful in attaining wine in Napa (Quintessa, Sinskey, Massican, Larkmead) … BUT … we were a little disappointed that we hadn’t found something “new” or “exciting”. For example, last time, we “found” Larkmead, we “found” Tor, we “found” Massican (i.e. they were around for a while and it was our first time tasting them, so I am saying that we “found” them), but this time, nothing really shocked us … (well, except for how mediocre Maisonry and Napa Vintner’s Collective were). (g cuts in: hey – Newton’s Puzzle was delicious – I’m shocked that you didn’t buy any!). Be that as it may – our last day in Napa started off with 750wines. This “wine concierge” service is now our new favorite place in Napa. It’s totally NOT for newbies, but basically you email them, you arrange an appointment, you fill out a questionnaire where they ask you about your price point and wine preferences, and they take it from there with a free tasting. I’m not sure why it’s free – maybe they have that much faith that they’ll find something that you’ll buy? No idea. But It. Was. Awesome. First off, the host, Monica, is fabulous. She knows her wine, and she knows how to talk to people – very refreshing and surprisingly not commonplace in the Valley (for example, we went to one place shopping for “a crowd-pleasing, fruit-forward, super-smooth red” and all we got in response is, “we don’t stock those here” – are you for real? Are we still in California?). She also knows how to put together a tasting, and took it upon herself to “push us” a little, making 3 of 6 wines well outside our “comfort zone” in terms of what we typically drink (e.g. she included some chardonnay, some Italian stuff, some pseudo-Spanish stuff) – we would have never tasted these wines otherwise! And you know what – they were more impressive than the ones that we would have predicted we would have liked (i.e. your standard cabs and sauv blancs). Furthermore, she was willing to improvise some, pulling out a 7th wine because our conversations happen to meander some, inspiring her to show us yet another unique bottling that we would have never found. Actually – if memory serves me correct, 6 of the 7 wines only had around 300 cases produced, so this was some low production stuff. So yes, it was a great tasting, and although we only left with two bottles, if we had to join one wine club in Napa Valley, this would be it for sure! We have that much faith in her ability to find wines that would appeal to us! Oh, and she also gave us a tip about MacDonald Vineyards and their first ever release this year, which we hope will be the next big name in Napa.
We followed up 750wines with a return to Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. My duck burger was probably the best burger I’ve had in the past year (I only wish it tasted a little more ducky) and chicken-topped salad put a smile on g’s face. This was our last meal in Napa … except for the Kara’s cupcakes we bought on the way back to SF …
Now, SF featured a lot of relaxing and catching up with k and kp, so we’ll be vague about the activities. But the food … now that is some adsz-worth stuff, so we will try our best to shock and awe with picture upon picture … starting with our first dinner of SF … which was SPQR! (PS – these are only SOME of the pictures we took)
g had a weird dish called “sweet carrot and lentil salad, medjool date, and vadouvan curry crema”. What actually came out was an assortment of like 37 different root vegetables and a few blobs of random textures … and g liked it! i was also impressed – it was like something that we could have found at a casual version of Vedge.
because we brought a red wine (i.e. because kp brought a red wine), i started off with a wagyu beef appetizer … which was interesting because the broth and greens were fabulous, and the dancing bonito was a sight to behold (i took a movie on my iPhone, but for some reason can’t post it to this blog – you’ll just have to trust us) … However, this was probably the weakest of the appetizers as the beef preparation was less-than-superbly executed (the three slabs weren’t super-tender, lacked seasoning, and was somewhere in the medium-medium-well range). consequently, this dish was kind of a fail.
buckwheat tagliatelle with bacon-braised suckling pig. now this dish should be, in v’s terms, “all bait”. But to be honest, it was a little underwhelming, as the pasta’s graininess was sadface-inducing – I would have taken a plain ‘ol barilla pasta because without the textural distraction of the buckwheat, I could have focused on the splendid oink-oinkiness of the rest of the dish … which was indeed everything that a pig-based pasta dish could be (i.e. heaven).
now g’s pasta, on the other hand (mustard cappellini, guinea hen ragu, savoy cabbage, mimolette cheese), was so ridiculously addictive that i think i had more of it than she had! and to further blow your mind – it was not even the “best” dish of the evening – that would be kp’s (not pictured). He had this lasagnette (which, when served, looked like a boring folded over crepe) and meatballs that were in-sane. It hit you in the face with memories of 5-year-old you, the first time you ever had your own meatball to yourself on a fork, with wide eyes and a cheesy grin with your tongue trying to reach the corners of your tomato-sauce-covered face. in-sane.
for this dinner, kp reached deep into his cellar, past the santa margherita everyday “date wine”, and over to the “special wine” row to find this beauty. This 2002 Revana was “tots cray”, with a nose of “man” (leather, tobacco, musk), but then palate of plush dark fruits that slid smoothly across the palate to make you pause and savor. What’s the secret to this wine? Is it the terroir? The deep “family” wine-making heritage? …
… nope! It was the ringer that the proprieter hired to make his wine: Heidi Peterson Barrett, the “first lady of wine” who gave us a 2002 that far outclassed the Dominus 2002 we had a few years ago. How great! In retrospect, while the food was delightful at SPQR, it was the wine (and company) that made it truly remarkable.
And so, the night ended and we went to bed with full stomaches and a smile … especially because I knew what was going down the next morning:
Day 2 in SF started off with a trip to revisit Brenda’s French Soul Food Kitchen – we were back for the beignets! And they were exactly like last time: one chocolate, one apple, one plain (that k demolished later with Blue Bottle coffee), and one crawfish. And just like last time, it continues to completely ruin any other non-filled beignet ever, including those in NOLA.
the shrimp-n-grits was similarly fabulous. Now grit-for-cheesy-grit, kp’s are superior, however, that bacon-tomato jam is crazy-addictive and should be sold in jars so I could put it on anything and everything.
After a day of shopping and parking (that’s a gerund for a new verb “to park”, which means “to relax in a park”), we went to a place called Ice Cream Bar – a cute little shop with frequent visits by cute little kids eating cute gigantic ice cream cones. g and k got things like soup and sandwich or something boring like that. But not me – oh no – what you see above is a pb&j&b, where the second “b” is “bacon” (the waitress was totally unphased by my inquiry to add bacon to the sandwich).
That night, we went to Tsunami Sushi, which had some of the best fish we’ve had in a while. While chirashi typically includes boring cuts of fish, Tsunami did it right with quite a variety, as you can see above. I think my only criticism was that the rice (actually, the sushi rice used in all the sushi there, not just the chirashi) was a little mushier than I come to expect from a Japanese eatery. But that’s ok – becuase after sipping on the Taketsuru 12-year, I didn’t care anymore – it was just as fabulous as it was in NOLA at Cochon (which reminds me: I have got to get me some of that! Either that or splurge on the 17-year). What are the drawbacks of the place? Maybe the music is too loud for this aged 31-year-old’s ears.
Our last day in SF started at “The Mill”. I have to confess that g and I are not cool enough to eat here (ok, g is, but I’m not). Their main dish is “toast”. No really – it’s “toast”. And it’s toast that takes 10 minutes to prepare. Like if you had someone brew a cup of coffee (like hipster-style, poor-through-a-chemex) versus someone making a slice of toast (e.g. above is “country” toast, with honey, salt, peanut butter, and apple butter), the toast would take longer to construct. And yea – it’s some darned good toast – but come on people – it’s toast!
After a day of some full-contact, no-holds-barred shopping (g and I tore it up in the Mission and on Hayes Street), we went for some lunch. After failing to get Mission Chinese (closed on Wed) and Ken Ken Ramen (for some reason not offering lunch), we went for the safe lunch at Absinthe on Hayes Street. Great “pasta of the day” and a refreshing salad. And, even better was that wine shop next door … which was the only source of Massican Sauvignon Blanc in the entire US (seriously – why the hell is it so hard to find?).
Now, I want to say that dinner at Bar Tartine, like the rest of our dinners, was also crazy-good. But, I have no pictures! We relied on kp for pictures and the flash makes them look a bit weird, so I’m not going to include them here. Let’s just say that the menu looks boring-as-all-hell, with what seems to be an assortment of bread-related spreads, an assortment of pickles, and then a lot-lot-lot of vegetables. Well let me tell you that despite the snooze-ville of a menu, these dishes were crazy. Like the above was the “blue cheese and beet salad”: it was 95% blue cheese, 4% beet (two kinds!), and three leaves of lettuce – and it was off the hook. Other highlights included a smoked salmon with cucumber and serrano chile jam that blew all of our minds, another dish that looked like ice cream in chocolate sauce but was actually smoked potatoes in barbecue sauce, and a green chile seafood stew that tugged at your heartstrings like an old-fashioned ciopino but had such a fresh zing to knock you on your ass. Amaze-balls.
yea, we had some chocolate “salami” (almonds and cherries were the specks) and a currant-apple gelee (best petite four ever!), but really, by then we were so impressed with the rest of the food that we tuned out the sweets. There was, however, a more savory dessert course with carob (n.b. no matter what the server said, it does not taste anything like chocolate), goat cheese, walnuts, and 18 other components, that when put together, hit the sweet, salty and savory much like that gruyere “s’more” at DiBruno brothers. Bravo. Did not see that oen coming.
this was our “find” of the trip – a bottle of 2012 Annia signed by the man Dan Petroski himself. g did her “booyah” dance four times as we were exiting the store, as we were charged not a dime on top of the standard price (we have a crush on Dan Petroski … bigtime).
More hunting in Napa
t says: Day 2 started off with a bright and early with a 10am tasting. But of course, tasting too early on an empty stomach is generally a bad idea. Fortunately, I got up early and made another run to Bouchon Bakery.
Ahhh, sleepy, peaceful Yountville. Nothing like a brisk morning walk with hot air balloons in the distance … followed by pastries and macchiato. (Not pictured)
The Larkmead tasting was phenomenal, as usual – and we got to talking to Dan Petroski, a winemaker at Larkmead. Such a nice time! We wished a was there – he would have loved it! Ultimately, the 2010 cab offered the best bang for the buck … So we walked away with some juice! The streak was over! And it was over in a big way, as we then proceeded to go on a shopping spree at Quintessa and Robert Sinsky (the former more impressive than the latter).
We lunched at Bounty Hunter, where g vanquished a BBQ pork sandwich and I took in a veggie sandwich. Quite a nice change of pace from the new American cuisine that’s on every corner in these parts. The beer can chickens looked pretty awesome, too!
Before dinner, we squeezed in a trip to back room wines and Napa Vintner’s Collective. The highlight if our acquisitions was a signed a numbered bottle of Massican Annia (signed by Petroski!!) – g did her booyah-happy-dance.
For dinner, we kept up the theme if chillaxed eating and dined at R + D Kitchen, a relatively new resto in Yountville. While this place is essentially like an upscale Ruby Tuesday, we have to confess that we actually liked everything we had! The chicken sandwich was crazy good with a beautiful zippy slaw and super-crispy chicken. And g’s salad had so much extra “stuff” that she smiles the whole way through!
The return to Napa – it starts …
t says: It’s been about a year since our last Napa trip and g and I were looking forward to a revisit of wine country as well as visiting kp in SF. We made up our list of wineries and tasting rooms to visit, booked our virgin America flights, and off we went … after a several hour delay leaving philly …
We started off day 1 with some quiche and donut from Bouchon Bakery. The quiche was second only to some of Talula’s Daily’s creations, while the donut was a little too butter-laden for us..
But we did think it was cute that hey gave you a donut AND a donut hole!
We then went to Maisonry – a great place for rapid-fire tasting in a serene setting. The ’10s and ’11s we tasted were very lean and green – it was going to be a tough time for wineries to pry money out is my wallet this trip! Oh and there was a dude hawking his late harvest Sauterne-style wine (and Trader Joe cheese) – quite good for the amount of sweetness it had (g and I tend to avoid sweet wines). But if it’s going to be $75 for a half-bottle, it better make me cry with how good it is.
Lunch was courtesy of Reddwood, a new addition to Yountville, and right next door (kinda) from Maisonry! It had some kickass food, from a delish chopped salad …
… to a crazy burrata (which inspired g to say: you know there is nothing better than burrata and bread …)….
… To meatballs and greens …
Newton was our first winery visit this trip and the winery was beautiful, with nice gardens and sweeping views of rows and rows of vine. The wines, themselves were pretty good – g liked the ’09 Puzzle – but I wasn’t convinced that any were worth the price tag so I held out – two wine stops and no wines purchased! A new record!
We went to Bottega for dinner. g was initially embarrassed to take pictures, but when this hamachi came out, I told her I was overruling her and did as I pleased …
. The pastas were out of control, too! g did a version of carbonara and I had the sweet corn pasta with squab ragout. Quite a great meal (and WAY better than Bouchon).
after dinner sneeze 