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Archive for the ‘chocolate’ Category
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013
My husband was away for a week on business. This happens regularly, it’s not unusual. My son and I have crazy busy schedules…well, he does…and the week flies by. One thing that is really different though is I cook less for that week. We’ll go out or I’ll make some simple pasta. Nothing that I consider real cooking. By Thursday I was depressed. I didn’t want to do anything. I had lots of things I could do, but I sat online, glassy-eyed, as my twitter feed rolled by. I tried retail therapy: got a really cute skirt on eBay for $10. I went to the thrift store and bought a big bag of things to rip apart and make new, cuter things out of. But still, I was just blah.
Then I realized what I was missing. Cooking! It’s my happy place. It’s what I do well and it makes me feel good about myself–as well as eating well which helps physically. Saturday night my husband got home but my neighbor and I were out seeing Eric Ripert and Tony Bourdain. I was inspired.
I invited the neighbors over for a fancy dinner on Sunday. I pulled out Eric’s A Return to Cooking and started flipping through. His are the only recipes I follow at all. I love them. Of course I still modify and cut some corners ;-)
I picked out Crab Salad with Chilled Gazpacho Sauce, Grilled Rack of Lamb and Cucumber Salad, and Pan-Seared Skirt Steak with Herbed-Butter Frites and Bitter Greens. I hit the store to stock up for the meal and they had no crab. They have had crab every day that I’ve gone in there until Sunday. They even had it when I went in two days ago. I had to go off script and decided to make my Green Curry Ceviche. The fish I bought was weird…possibly with parasites. First time I’ve ever gotten bad fish at my market…they refunded my money, no questions asked. I took that as a sign that I was trying to cook too much food.
I concentrated on the other two dishes. My husband took on dessert: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coffee Liqueur. It was inspired by the coffee infusion that he made about three months ago. We hadn’t tried it yet. It was a pound of Panama Gesha in Hangar One vodka. It better be good (it is!).
I also wanted to play with my Porthole infuser so put some ginger, lime and cardamom pods in there with some Oxley gin and let it sit. The plan was to mix up little drinks to go with the first course. Hubby took over that project when I was up to my elbows in lamb.
I cut the racks of lamb into chops and covered them in herbs and olive oil and set them aside. I put the skirt steak in the soy-based marinade from Eric’s book and set those aside. I sliced the potatoes into thin fry-sizes and put those in cold water. I made salad dressing. I washed the greens…I used regular lettuce, not bitter greens. I had a ton in my fridge from my CSA. I thinly sliced cucumber.
I tapped hubby for the infuser drinks. He muddled some cucumber, added lime juice, simple syrup and the gin and it was really good! The infusion was pretty strong even though it only sat for a couple of hours. The design of the Porthole works really well.
Then I started searing the lamb. I had to do it in two batches, the pan was too small. But that gave the first batch time to rest while I seared the second and the second batch time to rest while I plated the first! I sliced the lamb off the bone, tossed it with the dressing and piled it atop a nice little circle of cucumbers.
I had already par-fried (is that a word?) the fries and set them aside. So I fired up the oil again to bring it to 450° to crisp them up. I seared the skirt steak and set it to rest before slicing. I then sliced up the steak, tossed the salad with dressing and plated them. This was the best skirt steak I’ve ever, ever had. Eric is THE MAN. Yes, I cooked the food but the marinade was not my recipe.
The fries were also amazing, tossed with herbed butter and crispy as can be. I didn’t get a picture of those. I was too busy getting them on the plate and eaten while still crispy to take a photo!
The cake also ended up being rich and so incredibly good. Who needs flour when you have butter and chocolate?!
Needless to say, I was in a much better mood after 5 hours of intense prepping and cooking. Not many people would say that but I’ve always been odd.
Posted in beef, chocolate, dinner, eric ripert, flavor, food, recipe, self pleasuring, wine | No Comments »
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
You know how I feel about Eric Ripert. He’s probably mentioned more on this site than any other chef. He and Anthony Bourdain came to San Jose on their Good vs. Evil tour and of course I had to go. Even though I had a feeling I’d already seen a lot of the material at the two Cayman Cookouts, I didn’t care. My neighbor said she’d go with me so we decided to grab a bite to eat before the event. I pinged Jeff Bareilles, Beverage Director at Manresa, and found out we could get some food at the bar so we popped in there.
We sat and talked with the bartender, whose name I did not get! D’oh! He was a lot of fun. Jeff recommended my perfect cocktail. It’s one he developed called the Lemon Zest. He was spot on, it was sooooo good. My friend got the Manresa Bordeaux blend wine that Jeff blended. Also, soooo good.
The food didn’t disappoint either. A Belon oyster with a citrus granita started everything off. If you didn’t say it was an oyster and I blind tasted it, I’m not sure I would be able to tell you what it was. It was ridiculously good. Don’t get me wrong, I love oysters…my friend does not and she loved it too…but this wasn’t like any oyster I’d ever had. The Arpege egg came out and I, once again, had to tell the L’Arpege/food poisoning story. I however wasn’t poisoned so I ate the egg. I like that concoction until the end where all I have left is yolk—unfortunately, runny yolk is not my thing.
The remaining courses were awesome: chicken with potato mousseline (not Mussolini, no dictators in my dinner please). And dessert was a goat milk ice…thingy. It was ice cream with an ice on top and goat with goat. Yeah, I didn’t write it down :P The final plate had macarons that tasted like the best damn nutter butter you could ever imagine and crunchy little chocolates pieces.
We headed out of Los Gatos and headed to the San Jose Center for Performing Arts. Last time I was there was with this same friend and we sat front row, center for Tori Amos. Amazing night. We weren’t that close for Eric and Tony, those seats were crazy-expensive!
I have to say, I find it pretty amazing that these two chefs…well, one chef and one former chef now traveling gourmet…can fill this huge theatre. I mean, I love Eric and I find Tony very entertaining but I’m usually an anomaly. I’m the weird one. I’m the one who squeals like a ’60s Beatles fan when my favorite chef walks in a room….I mean, who does that?!
We had a moment of hometown and just-eaten-there pride when Eric listed David Kinch as one of the 3 chefs he’d want to have cook for him if stranded on a desert island (the other two: Suzanne Goin and Joel Rubuchon). Tony was really, exceptionally brutal towards Eric. I’m amazed they can do this night after night and remain friends. I was right, I had seen a lot of the stories in the Caymans, but there was plenty I hadn’t heard. In particular the story of Eric, in a restaurant in France, telling a woman she was mal baisé then punching her husband! ERIC RIPERT! Practicing buddhist, proponent of calm, encouraging surroundings….PUNCHED a guy in the nose. Not saying the guy didn’t deserve it or that he wouldn’t have clocked Eric but…OMG! That story was worth the (significant) price of admission alone!
I’m also amazed that they can talk for 2 hours every night of this tour and either continue to come up with new material or, when it’s rehashed, continue to look so authentically surprised and/or embarrassed. All in all we had a lovely food-centric evening. Food at Manresa, hilarity with Eric and Tony.
Posted in amuse bouche, celebrities, chicken, chocolate, dinner, eric ripert, flavor, food, Michelin star, photos, restaurant, seasonal menu, self pleasuring, table dance, tasting menu, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
Many moons ago I won a fundraising auction for a table for four at the as-yet-unopened Central Kitchen. We could be one of the first to dine there. I was very excited. I informed our friends of the wonderful news and we aligned calendars. That proved more challenging that we though but we eventually had a table booked for November. My husband was in an accident at the end of September and was still not mobile by reservation time so we had to put it off. Finally, he was up, walking, off the crazy meds and we could enjoy a weekend in San Francisco. I booked the table for a Friday night.
We got up to the city with just enough time to check into our hotel, change clothes, hop in a cab and get over to the Mission. We were a little confused about where to enter the restaurant. We ended up going through the salumeria but cut through the back door when we saw our table mates were already seated.
The tasting menu had a few things that neither I nor one tablemate could eat but the kitchen was amazingly accommodating. The first course was fine for all though: A taste of pork. The pork rinds, as I called them as I ate them by the bag as a kid, or cracklins, were fine, crispy but not much to them aside from crunch and they were slightly oily inside. This was seriously the only minor disappointment all night. The pickles alongside the cracklins were crisp-sour-salty-tangy-wonderful and the pork consomme….THE PORK JUICE! Cup-o-heaven. Wayyyy too small of a glass of this broth. It is the basis for every good soup you could think of. It was gone far too quickly.
The pork fat was sadly left behind but we didn’t miss it long as a light, refreshing, and beautiful plate of Hamachi, kumquat and insanely thinly sliced hazelnut was delivered. Clean flavors, cool and crisp.
When I read there was geoduck coming up next I was taken back to Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island. We were brought a plate that looked caprese-like. Tomatoes, cucumber…not cucumber, geoduck. Raw geoduck very much resembles cucumber in appearance and not at all in taste. This was not the case at Central Kitchen. It was served in a bowl with quail egg, and amazing lemongrass broth. Between this and the pork broth, I just wanted a vat of each to soak in. Whoever is in charge of making the broths deserves a medal.
I assumed the mussel, smoked sturgeon, black cioppino dish was going to be a seafood stew but not at all! The sturgeon which, at first bite, was overwhelmingly smoked seemed to be tamed by the…well, black cioppino sauce??…it was jet black. It was thick. It was rich and so good.
A couple of months ago we went to a restaurant in San Francisco that will remain unnamed. It was a very large dining room…huge in fact. We had lovely oysters and good wine and then I ordered the duck and the waiter said, “The chef suggests it be cooked medium.” I very much disagreed. That is far overcooked for duck. I said, “Really?! Odd. I want it medium rare.” The waiter said, “I’ll see if he can do that, you know, duck is very hard to cook.” Ummmm…right. Note that there was no discussion of how to cook the duck at Central Kitchen, it just came out perfect with thin slices of kumquat and celery root puree.
The palate cleanser was the perfect pregnant lady’s drink (my friend is expecting) and when I was pregnant with my son I couldn’t get enough lemons. This was Meyer lemon ice with whey and topped with celery salt. I actually ordered her a second one :) Even not pregnant, I would have loved a few of those!
Last but surely not least we were destroyed with a wooden bowl of chocolate death: Dark chocolate, caramel, sesame. I was stuffed but not so much that I couldn’t move. Perfectly stuffed. We had the wine pairings which all matched beautifully and were all over the map and not at all familiar which was a rare treat.
Posted in chocolate, decadence, dinner, flavor, food, photos, restaurant, salt, seasonal menu, table dance, tasting menu | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
We arrived a day early and spent my birthday in the amazing waters of Grand Cayman. We snorkled and swam and snorkeled some more. The water is warm and clear and full of some of the cast of Finding Nemo. It was incredible. I snorkeled in Hawaii many years ago but it was not like this. The water here was warmer and clearer.
We were going to be booked solid with demonstrations, lunches, dinners and events so I wanted my birthday completely schedule free. Because of that however, we didn’t make dinner reservations. Once we got in from snorkeling, I realized I really wanted to be able to eat at Blue by Eric Ripert for my birthday. We called. They had a 9:30 table. We have a 7 year old. That wasn’t going to work. My husband had booked it though before we got back to the room and decided that was a bad idea. So we walked down to Blue to tell them we wouldn’t be using the 9:30 table assuming we’d be heading to one of the other hotel restaurants for dinner. We were in shorts, not dressed for an Eric Ripert dining room. They said they could seat us then if we wanted. OK!! We sat and were presented with the many choices for dinner and, surprisingly, a kid’s menu! I never expected that. Le Bernardin sure doesn’t offer a kid’s menu. ;-)
They brought out the amuse bouche which was a tortellini with…honestly I have no idea but it was so wonderful, and a scallop ceviche bite. They gave my son what looked like two tater tots but they called “potato croquettes”. He was not interested. I told them he’d really rather have the scallop and they brought him the “grown up” dish instead. He loved it, they thought he was awesome.
He got tomato soup with croutons and local snapper with rice and vegetables from the kids menu. We ordered the 3 course a la carte menu since we knew that he wouldn’t have the stamina for a full many-course, multi-hour tasting menu. I started with hamachi 3 ways, then the lobster and for my main the tuna. My husband got the conch ceviche, the tuna with foie gras (a signature Ripert dish) and the snapper.
While we were eating, we got to ogle the table full of celebrity chefs and they’re beautiful wives having dinner on the patio outside our window: Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Jose Andres, Richard Blais, Francois Payard, April Bloomfield and others. It was hard not to stare. The weekend had just started so we hadn’t had our brush with culinary fame yet. This event is so small (compared to most food events) that you are constantly running into a culinary hero as you’re walking the beach, traversing the hallways of the Ritz or at the events.
Dinner was spectacular. The service at Blue is on par with Le Bernardin. The sommelier noticed our son was getting antsy and came over an made him a mouse out of a napkin! They were so incredibly accomodating even though they were also having to serve their boss and some of the best chefs in the world on the patio just outside.
This is one of those meals ….one of those weekends…that it seems silly to “review” the food. It was excellent of course. That’s what we flew many hours on a red eye with a bonkers kid playing 12 hours of video games for. The hamachi was clean and refreshing, acidic and salty, rich and cool and the same time. The conch had no chewiness like I expected, but it also had bell peppers so I only snuck a tiny bite from my husband to see what it was like. The lobster was, well, lobster at Blue! Imagine it and you’ll probably be correct!
I ordered the chocolate death for dessert and it arrived with “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate on the plate. I am not one to hide the fact it’s my birthday. I don’t worry about getting older. I tell everyone I meet it’s my birthday. I revel in my day. It’s all about me. I got a candle and a chocolate wish. And I was in the Caymans with my favorite chef in the world. My birthday was the most amazing one I could imagine. Well, except for the woman who told me her husband flew Eric Ripert to her house to cook dinner for her and 6 friends. That is unbelievable but nevermind that. I would never dream of anything better than the Cayman Cookout for my special day.
And it would only get better.
Read about Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4!
Posted in ahi, ahi tartare, amuse bouche, chocolate, decadence, dinner, eric ripert, flavor, food, Le Bernardin, photos, restaurant, review, snapper, table dance, tuna tartare | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
To call this a review would be ludicrous. The meal was perfect. I got to meet Eric Ripert. I was a giddy, squealing ’60s Beatles fan girl. You should have seen me! I maintained for my conversation with him but I was jumping up and down once I got outside. I have met many-a-famous-person. I’m a fan girl. I stay after concerts and booksignings in the off chance I’ll get to say hi and take a picture. Never has a rockstar or author had this effect on me. I think it’s because Eric Ripert does something I would love to do: cook seafood *perfectly*.
We were seated near the kitchen and I immediately asked if I could peek inside. I’ve made the mistake of waiting until after the meal and the multiple glasses of wine to head into the kitchen and I’m a bumbling, drunk idiot. So, sober tour for me this time please!
Unfortunately, Chef Ripert wasn’t in the kitchen yet. But it was such a different space than other kitchens, notably the French Laundry. When we went into that kitchen I felt like if I breathed too loudly, I would ruin a dish. In the Le Bernardin kitchen there was a lot of movement and, not chaos, but constant motion. But the chefs (ranking designated by the blue baseball caps) all looked up and acknowledged us, said hello, looked like they were enjoying themselves.
They’re enjoyment came through in every bite. First off, I have to say how much I loved coming to a 3-Michelin star/4-NY Times star restaurant and being given a SPORK! How awesome is that?! The star of the first 3 bites was the fluke. In On the Line it states they can’t take the fluke away, too many patrons would complain. I agree. I made one of the marinades the other night and it was delightful (I used filet of sole, we don’t get fluke here).
Every dish was magic.
CAVIAR – WAGYU
Nebraska Wagyu Beef; Langoustine and Osetra Caviar Tartare
Black Pepper-Vodka Crème Fraîche, Pomme Gaufrette
Champagne Dom Ruinart 1998
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The *only* complaint I had of the entire meal was the smokiness of the dashi gelee. I only ate a very small percentage of the gelee on the plate. The gelee itself was fine but the ratio was off to me. If I had all the gelee, it would have been overpowering.
TUNA
Ultra Rare Yellowfin Tuna; Spiced Dashi Gelée
Green Peppercorn – Iberico Chutney
Yuki no Bosha, Yamahai Junmai, Akita
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Anytime we go to a fancy-pants place like this, I try to get the waitstaff to relax with us. We aren’t uptight. We’d like this food on a plastic table with folding chairs…I don’t care about ambiance and rituals. Every course that came out required a new set of silverware. Including the trowel-like knife which never got used because all the fish was like butter. Every time they brought a new one I laughed! Finally I said, “Seriously, leave the knife!” And he laughed as well and said, “I can’t, it’s my job security, what do you think they’re paying me for?!” He was great.
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LOBSTER
Warm Lobster in a Rosé Champagne Nage
Currant Tomatoes and Hearts of Palm
Chablis, “Vieilles Vignes”, Domaine Savary, Burgundy 2009
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SALMON
Barely Cooked Wild Salmon; Asparagus “Risotto”, Smoked Pistachio Pesto
Château Grillet, Neyret-Gachet, Rhône Valley 2005
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Every dish that came out was amazing but I think the winner of the night was the black bass. It was so wonderfully salty and the mini pork bun was right out of Din Tai Fung in Sydney (my favorite place there!). All elegance and table manners went out the window for me, I was lapping every drop up with my finger.
BLACK BASS
Crispy Black Bass; Lup Cheong and Beansprout
Mini Pork Buns, Hoisin – Plum Jus
Rioja Reserva,Viña Bosconia, Lopez de Heredia, Spain 2003
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KING FISH
“Barbecued” King Fish; Marinated Mango and Napa Cabbage
Sancocho Broth
Barolo, Mirafiore, Piedmont, Italy 2007
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I cook a lot of fish. At least once if not twice a week. I don’t know how he does it. I could take the same ingredients and they would taste good, but not like this. The fish truly is the star of the plate.
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CITRUS
Lime Parfait, Meringue, Avocado Purée, Mint, Grapefruit – Tequila Sorbet
Poire Granit, Pear Cider, Eric Bordelet, France
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CHOCOLATE-TEA
Dark Chocolate Cremeux, Cocoa Pain de Genes, Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream
Pineau des Charrentes Cask No. 2, Paul Marie & Fils
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After the meal, my husband wanted an after-dinner drink so we migrated to the lounge to free up the table. They brought us, what I later found out, is a signature dish of theirs, the chocolate-caramel Egg. It’s in my cookbook but I’ve literally never looked at the dessert section…not my thing. I was so full at that point but the egg was also amazing (tired of that word yet?)
It was then that Chef Ripert walked by…I said hi and that’s when the giddiness hit. I was happy with that but my husband asked the maitre d’ if we could meet and take a photo with Eric. They escorted us back to the kitchen and there he was…just standing there. Squeee! He was so incredibly nice and accommodating. I got to tell him I’m a huge fan, not from Avec Eric or the appearances on Top Chef but from his cook book. Once I started making his recipes I became a big fan. He turned to my husband then and said, “So you get the benefit of this then?” :)
Then he had us move over for a picture so we’d have the kitchen behind us. The photo is now one of my prized possessions. And we got to tell him we’d be seeing him at his Cayman Cookout event in January (on my birthday!). It’s going to be the most amazing birthday EVER!
I know I put the picture at the beginning of the post but it’s worth a second look…it’s me with ERIC RIPERT!!!
Posted in ahi, amuse bouche, chocolate, decadence, dinner, eric ripert, food, Le Bernardin, Michelin star, photos, restaurant, restaurants, review, Salmon, seasonal menu, table dance, tasting menu, wine | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
This is worth a walk to the East Village. And you really should walk a long distance so you also have to walk a long distance back. These ice creams are not dainty little scoops. This is a huge, amusement park-sized, dipped soft serve cone lined and dipped in goodness.
I got the wonderfully named “Salty Pimp” (Vanilla Ice Cream, Dulce de Leche, Sea Salt, Chocolate Dip). Possibly the best part of the name was my seven year old son debating whether or not he should get the Salty Pimp. He ended up with a nutella-lined cone with vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles. The concoction was as big as his head and he ate the whole thing. Luckily we had to walk back to west village so some of that sugar wore off!
The people who run the store are lovely, the toppings are amazing, the menu is vast. It’s not your boardwalk soft serve.
A definite fun NYC pitstop.
Tags: ice cream
Posted in chocolate, decadence | No Comments »
Monday, August 16th, 2010
Main Street Garden & Cafe
3101 N. Main St.
Soquel, Ca. 95073
831-477-9265
We were looking for a place for our anniversary dinner. We tried Cellar Door first and they were booked (yes, we were calling at 5:15pm for a 6-ish reso!). I started poking around some blogs trying to decide where to go. I found on Christina Waters’ blog that Brad Briske had moved from Gabriella to Main Street (the restaurant formerly known as Theo’s). We called, got a table and drove straight there!
We started the sunny summer evening by peeking into the garden. When an old friend worked at Theo’s, he took some of hubby’s hops and planted them in the Theo’s garden. They are still there and are happy and flourishing. Then we returned to our table to peruse the menu of, seemingly, all local fare. We started with the Happy Boy Farm Watermelon Gazpacho with Monterey Bay Squid, Garden Pancetta and Calabrian Chili Oil. No, they aren’t growing pancetta in the garden, the italicized “gardens” on the menu all refer to things they cure or grow themselves. The gazpacho was wonderful. I could not decipher the ingredients. It wasn’t too sweet so there was something in there with the watermelon, but whatever it was, it was mild and just added some slight savoriness. The pancetta was crispy, the squid was tender, the chili oil was perfectly proportioned. It was a wonderful balance of salty, spicy, sweet and creamy.
You can’t go wrong with slices of raw, fresh, yummy fish. I don’t like halibut cooked. I never order it. It’s too easy to dry out and I’m just not interested. However, it was on the menu here as a California Halibut Crudo with Garden Sun Gold Tomato Conserva and Garden Radishes. It tasted like summer. Fresh, crunchy, not fishy at all. It was good. But even better was the California Albacore Crudo with Armenian Cucumber and Cucumber Water Aioli. And this wasn’t better because of the fish but because of the ailoi. It was so flavorful, it really made the dish.
We ordered the 2 salads on the menu: Lindencroft Farm Lettuces with Fennel, Almonds, Everett Farm Raspberry Vinaigrette. This was lovely. Nothing new and earth-shattering about it but it wasn’t over dressed, the dressing was well balanced and it was crisp and nice.  The 2nd salad is one of my favorite summer flavor combinations: Arugula Panzanella with Albacore Conserva, Garden Tomato & Cucumber with Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette. You cannot go wrong with bread and tomatoes…and basil, and vinegar and really, very mild arugula. I have said this before but, I LOVE SUMMER!!
The only main course we got (we got 5 of the 6 appetizers) was a lovely plate of Squid Ink Ravioli with House Cured Salt Cod, Potato, Cured Tuna and Garden Chive Blossoms. I know squid ink doesn’t really do anything for the flavor of pasta but it looks damn cool to get a plate of black food! It’s creepy and halloweeny and they still taste awesome. The chive blossoms looked so cool on top and I thought they’d be a bit of an innocuous flavor but they were sharp addition that I wanted in each bite.
For dessert we had chocolate overload. A Caramel-Chocolate Pot-de-Creme and a Flourless Chocolate Torte. Both were rich and lovely and creamy and rich…oh, and rich. Did I mention they were rich? There was no chocolate missing there…I think maybe we should have shared one dessert, neither of us could finish either chocolate death dish.
We will return. Our only criticism at this point is the wine list. It’s very, very slim. It’s all local which is great but there are many, many amazing wineries around here. I hope they get the capital to expand the list. Until then we did enjoy a wonderful Windy Oaks Pinot Noir. No complaints about that one.
See you soon Main Street!
Posted in chocolate, dinner, gardening, gazpacho, raviolis, restaurant, restaurants, review, santa cruz, squid, table dance | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
I always very much look forward to Recchiuti events. Michael Recchiuti never ceases to surprise me with the combinations he can come up with. This time was no exception.
We started with a classic, homemade graham cracker with a melted chocolate to dip in. Sitting in front of us were 4 glasses for 4 vermouths. Three of them are “deconstructed” versions of the final glass which is the Sutton Cellars finished vermouth. The final concoction contains 17 ingredients. Four “major” ingredients including orange, chamomile and rosemary and the rest is a big fat secret! Those three could not be secret ingredients. And each stood on it’s own as a great drink that were paired with 3 chocolates containing the same ingredients. The first, Madagascar chocolate with candied orange peel. The second, caramel with chamomile on milk chocolate. The third, 64% Valrhona (custom blended for Recchiuti) with salt and rosemary. And not surprisingly, the finished vermouth went well with all 3 chocolates.
The next adventure was lavender ice cream with a Pinot Noir. Not a pairing I’d probably do…and not necessarily even a pairing per se. The wine was very tart and the ice cream very rich and creamy so in that sense they contrasted well. The ice cream, even though the lavender was as subtle as lavender can be, was still very lavender-y. The pinot was acidic and earthy and quite lovely.
Michael announced that the next dessert out was a macaroon. I can’t say I’ve ever had a macaroon I liked…I couldn’t before now at least. Usually they are coconut or amaretto, very poofy and don’t have much flavor in the cookie part. In Michael’s macaroon, he replaced most of the almond flour normally used in the cookie with cocoa nibs. 50% sugar, 50% cocoa nibs made into a meringue, cooked at a high temp and filled with a ganache made with Sutton Cellar’s Syrah (with which the cookies were paired). Syrah is not my favorite red. This was a good one but with the cookie was harsh and tight and had a little to much leather and gaminess happening.
We took the obligatory and awesome tour of the kitchens. I love seeing where the magic happens. I also love that we get to try chocolate right off the belt. God that’s good. And with it we had a little vermouth spritzer drink with a twist of grapefruit. Perfect hot summer day refresher…with a kick!
Michael busted out something to share that I feel very privileged to have tried. It was an Ecuadorian chocolate that is made from wild-growing cocoa at about 3000′ elevation. The only way to get in is by donkey. Michael got about a pound of this stuff and generously shared it with us. Wow…how many chances do you get to try something like that? These sorts of things are why I support Recchiuti, not just because the chocolate is the best around!
My notes, as happens a lot, get a little blurry at the end of the day. We got to try the mother of Sutton’s Solera. It goes into the final bottling which right now is a blend of 1999-2006 vintages. The solera was great. Memory of it is fuzzy, but it was good!
We came home with vermouth, pinot and solera. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the vermouth as an after dinner treat. I don’t like whiskey and port is usually too sweet for me (except for on special occasions) but the vermouth is a wonderful evening sipper.
Two things were said that sum up both Sutton and Recchiuti. They are both breaking traditions and expanding horizons but most importantly, having fun with their creations. You can taste the love.
Tags: solera, vermouth, wine
Posted in chocolate | No Comments »
Monday, April 19th, 2010
 Manresa
320 Village Lane
Los Gatos, CA 95030
I have been wanting to go to Manresa for ages. It seems like it’s harder to plan to go to a place just 20 minutes away over our lovely mountain highway than all the way up to San Francisco. I finally realized, Hey! there are hotels near Manresa too! Just make a weekend of it!. So we stayed at the Tollhouse Inn, which was lovely and comfortable and I would stay there again (next time we eat at Manresa). Oh, did I just give away the ending? Yes, our meal was incredible. We will go back. And now for why…
We were REALLY early for our reservation. They were lovely enough to let us loiter at a table on the patio with the wine list. I passed the time by twittering our wait…what did we do before smart phones? Actually talk to our companions? ;-) Six o’clock rolled around and we were shown in. I listed off my food aversions to the waiter and we ordered the tasting menu with my caveats written in the waiters notes. I’ve decided to make business cards with a list of my dislikes…like a little medic alert card for my taste buds!
The meal started with Orange in Jasmine jelly. It was really tart, refreshing and, well, a little soapy but that’s just my weirdness with jasmine. I used to LOVE jasmine green tea…I’m talking up until about a month ago! Something changed on my tongue and now it tastes like soap. Blargh. But this was still lovely!
Next amuse bouche was Pear Sorbet with an Avocado puree and “yeast crumble”. This did something amazing to the champagne. The yeast on the dish made the champagne less yeasty…not surprising really but a lovely shift in the mouth. The only thing I would have liked on this one was a few more sprigs of the teeny baby mizuna so I could have one with each bite. It reminded my husband of avocado pie but not me because I’ve never had avocado pie!
One of the things my husband can’t eat is sea urchin (Uni). The reason for that is our 2001 trip to L’Arpege in Paris. Something I left out of the review was that my hubby got a wicked case of food poisoning. We’re guessing either from the egg or the urchin…or maybe even something we ate earlier in the day. Either way, the flavor that stuck with him was urchin and the other dish that stands out from that meal was the other risky one: the egg. When talking about our food aversions, he *almost* told the story but I stopped him, why bring that up, right? Well, here’s why!! The next course was, I kid you not, the “Arpege Egg”. The EXACT same dish Alain Passard has made his signature dish. What the hell!?!? What are the odds??? This one seemed a little more poached. We both recall the egg at L’Arpege being raw but when looking back at my notes, it was poached as well. This one was more poached and tasty but I still couldn’t eat it all, I’m not a fan of runny eggs in general, and especially not when it reminds me such experiences!! Don’t let our bad association ruin your enjoyment of this though, I’m sure everyone else loves this to no end!!
The bread came next. The BREAD! OMG, the seeded wheat bread!! So, I love me my carbs. I really do. I think the bread platter was my downfall for the evening. I ate too much bread even though I kept saying, “No, I don’t want to fill up on bread.”….I filled up on bread! This will be an issue later.
The L’Arpege egg wasn’t a weird enough coincidence, there had to be another. In 2000 we went to Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island. We had a dish that was a caprese-like salad made with geoduck. At the time, I’d never heard of such a creature. I haven’t had it since…until this: Geoduck with watercress gelee. Well, it was geoduck. It is very, wharfy…and salty…and it tastes like a beach covered in seaweed. The wine cut through the wharfiness in a lovely way though!
Now, this next dish blew me away: Sacramento Delta asparagus with bonito butter. This is where the wonderful bread was so incredibly perfect with the bonito butter. And I was grateful I had a spoon. Husband asked, as I was slurping up the contents of my bowl, “You do know that’s butter right?” YES! Fantastic bonito-filled butter. Like a rich, salty soup. Later in the evening our neighboring table said, “It’s like a butter latte.”
I was very excited to see the next dish placed in front of me. I’d read about it, I’d seen it on the Food Forward trailer: From the Garden. A beautiful plate of fresh garden goodness. This plate encapsulates my beliefs about cooking, although it is all raw. Sprouts, leaves, purees. So much flavor and every bite is different. And every day it’s different. The more you eat, the more you uncover in the garden on your plate. This dish made me smile.
The abalone came highly recommended. This was my husband’s favorite of the night. I have no idea how they got the abalone this tender. It was served over smoked lentils which made it taste like there was bacon in the dish. It reminded hubby of my chanterelle-lentil-spinach salad which is one of his favorite things I’ve made…ever. We mopped up this plate with more of the wonderful seeded bread (oh, more filling up! Noooo!). My husband couldn’t figure out why this combination tasted like memories of being in Big Sur…it was an Everything Bagel with lox! The combination of the fishiness of the abalone, the seeds of the bread, the salty of the broth–it was a palate-memory awoken!
I have to say here that at this point in the meal, we have had an insane amount of wine. My notes get scribbly and short. The True Cod with peas and something illegible was beautiful and scrumptious. My picture is dark and I can’t read what I wrote! I do remember it fondly though!
So, one thing I now have on my list of “do not eat foods” is organ meat. I did not stipulate that before this meal. I feel awful about this. The course was Veal Sweetbreads. I thought, “I can do this…I can try it.” Then I cut into it and the texture killed it for me, I could not eat that. So sorry David!!! I bet they were the best sweetbreads ever, to quote my retired-surgeon-father-in-law, “They don’t have a strong organ flavor.”
Then lamb showed up. I managed to eat 2 bites, it was phenomenal…and I don’t like lamb! But I was so incredibly full at this point (told you the bread would be a problem!). I tried to eat more! I really did! I couldn’t do it!! I think I have a savory-fullness level I hit and can’t surpass. Luckily the lamb was the last savory course and we just had sweet to go.
 Rhubarb and Fennel with Brioche Sorbet. There was something about this that was reminiscent of pineapple upside down cake from childhood. It was a caramelized-cakey-sugary flavor. Excellent.
I wrote down a quote of my own from the evening at this point that sums up my headspace at this point, “I’m having troblems”. Yes, I was trying to say I was having a hard time writing down info about the meal…”troblems.” Yay wine! ;-)
The finale: Yuzu sorbet, chocolate sorbet and candied citrus, including Buddhas hand, which I looked up and it looks like some sort of creature from Star Wars or Star Trek. Crazy fruit! But a lovely candied treat.
As we were stumbling out, praising the meal, the manager asked if we wanted to see the kitchen. This is really something I would love to do again sober! I wanted to have an intelligent conversation with Chef David but was a slurring mess! Drunk on food and wine. An amazing experience all around. I’m already looking in my calendar to find out when we can go back!
Don’t walk..run! And don’t drive! Get a driver, stay at the Tollhouse (6 short blocks away!). But go to Manresa immediately.
Posted in amuse bouche, avocado, chocolate, dinner, flavor, lentils, Michelin star, restaurant, review, table dance, tasting menu | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
The Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building #3
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-861-8032
I had a few errands to run in San Francisco. All food-related so it was worth the drive up. My first stop was Omnivore Books on Food to pick up my signed Alice Waters book that I wasn’t able to get signed in person. Love that shop! Didn’t buy any other cookbooks because, well, I have soooo many and I exercised self-control.
I stayed and talked to Samantha at the book store for quite awhile and it was lunch time all of a sudden! Since I had to go to the Ferry Building anyway (I was out of Recchiuti Toffee!!), I decided to eat there to save time and parking woes. I ended up at Slanted Door because, well, it’s awesome!
Slanted Door always has a wait for a table but since I was by myself I easily snagged a seat at the first-come-first-serve bar. I was excited. I hadn’t been there in, wow, about 3 years! I over-ordered…somewhat on purpose. I wanted to get a good overview of proteins (fish, shellfish, pork, beef) and didn’t have anyone with me to share so I had to go it alone. I was determined to conquer the dishes!
First up was the Japanese Yellowtail with Crispy Shallots and Thai Basil. I really tried to savor this. I wanted to taste every little shallot and the wonderful sourness of the lemon juice (or yuzu? not sure) drizzled over the top. I wanted these thin slices of heaven to last. Alas, I scarfed it down in about 30 seconds. I couldn’t help myself! This was incredible. So simple but so unbelievably good. I would have been happy to have only this for 4 courses.
The Wood Oven Roasted Manila Clams with Thai Basil, Crispy Pork Belly and Fresh Chilies came and I got over the loss of the yellowtail. Salty, porky, clammy, a little spicy but only slightly so all the other flavors still came through. The only problem with this dish is you really need some bread to sop up all that broth at the end. I did my best to just drink it! Maybe next time I’ll stop at Acme bread on the way so I have a secret little stash to use for mopping up!
Typically, I would have been fine with those two courses for my lunch. I was on a food-quest today though. I still had the Flank Steak with Fresh Ginger over Rice Noodles with Roasted Peanuts coming. I’m running out of adjectives to describe YUM! My waiter seemed to be getting a kick out of my voraciousness. I worked my way through the intensely flavorful beef and saucy, perfect noodles…very slowly towards the bottom of the bowl. I stared at that last bite for a while, not sure I could do it but I managed. I really didn’t want to leave any of that behind! I think I left a couple of noodles and a few strips of lettuce, the waiter asked, “What, you can’t finish?” Har har ;-)
So, I was so full I could barely breathe…Dessert menu please! What was I thinking?!?!? Initially, I thought I’d just get some sorbet. Unfortunately it was coconut (blech) so that was right out. All the other desserts were rich. I asked the waiter what I’d have a better chance of finishing: the pot de creme or the creme caramel? He laughed at me…then suggested the chocolate. So up came the Milk Chocolate Pot de Creme with Toasted Rice Crunch. I think I would have finished this if it was dark chocolate…even though that makes it richer, the milk chocolate made it taste fattier and heavier. Still, I made a good-sized dent in it but couldn’t eat it all. The waiter said I couldn’t leave until I ate my rice crispy treat…I said I wasn’t going to get to leave then! I was destroyed!!
I didn’t eat dinner that night. That NEVER happens. I’m always hungry at meal times. The last time I was that full was when Kim Boekbinder and I had raviolis for dessert and then still had the pot de creme….I sense a theme.
So, not like this is a secret, but go to the Slanted Door! You won’t be disappointed…well, at least with the dishes I ordered…I’ll have to go back to taste the rest of the menu!
Tags: clams, noodles, Slanted Door, yellowtail
Posted in beef, chocolate, flavor, food, restaurant, review, San Francisco, table dance | 1 Comment »
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