Michael and David's Adventures with Food

Max's Cafe

2011-04-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

To anyone who happens to be reading this, thanks for sticking with us through the long hiatus, caused by job changes, relocation across the country, and general distraction. However, Michael and I are back and intend to start keeping up with the blog (which I know you will all understand is somewhat of a labor of love).

Anyhow, I will kick off the rejuvenated blog with a review of Max's Cafe in Santa Fe, which we visited for the first time last night. Let me start with the bad, which is that the visuals of Max's are, shall we say, unprepossessing. It is down a small and not particularly attractive back alley of Santa Fe. The entire restaurant is a smallish rectangle in which a large chunk has been taken out for the kitchen, leaving an L shape with a few oddish paintings on the wall and a rather unfortunate neon "Open" sign of the type usually found in roadside bars. There are, I am guessing, about 10 tables and seating for maybe 35 guests at a time, plus a tiny bar and service area (complete with cash register) protruding into the dining area. The few windows look out onto an abandoned parking lot.

To find the beauty at Max's, it is necessary only to look at the food. The menu is not extensive, but it is excellent with a number of intriguing choices. Michael went for the "two hour egg", very slowly cooked until it appeared to be the most tender and delicate poached egg ever, topping a bed of crispy polenta and a mound of reduced wild mushrooms. Just delicious. I had the special appetizer which was a torchon (the size and shape of a minature hot dog) of foie gras, perched on a log of rather sweetish brioche, with some dabs of blood orange puree and gelee on the size and nestled under a tangle of frisee. The foie gras was excellent...pure and rich flavored, although I could have used a little more of the pleasantly astringent citrus to balance the richness of the foie and brioche.

Michael's main course was a Wagyu flank steak which came in a series of slices over a kind of blue cheese stuffed enchilada. We both felt that while the steak/blue cheese combination was excellent, the pungency of the cheese was a little overpowering for the rather mild steak. Concept good, but a slightly more mellow blue might have worked better. I had zero complaints about my "suckling pig tasting platter" (and what could be wrong with that)...a triple confection of the most tender pork loin, pork confit under a shatteringly crispy top, and braised shoulder wrapped in chard (which tended to fall apart, so it didn't look as neat after being attacked, but it sure tasted good).

We spotted what looked like a chocolate bombe going by and had that for dessert. To our pleasant surprise, it was a chocolate shell which melted away when hot creme anglaise was poured over it, leaving a chocolate-flavored liquid studded with chocolate bits and other goodies I was too sated to fully identify.

With dinner we drank a bottle of Van Duzen (Oregon) Pinot Gris, which was crisp in the Oregon style, and very good with the food. One criticism I had of Max's is that the wine list is rather bipolar, with just a few selections in the under $50 range and many trophy bottles in the $100 or even $200 range, which seems a bit out of sync with the very casual setting and moderate prices. Max's needs to add a few more midrange options, particularly on the white wine side, as the list reads as though it might represent the leftover cellar of some defunct high end restaurant, salted with a few less expensive options.

Prices were reasonable for the quality with a bill of about $150 before tip, including the wine. There is also a chef's tasting menu for $76 but this seems very expensive for a restaurant with apps in the $10-15 range and mains for about $25-35.

All in all, though, the food was some of the best we have had in Santa Fe and we will definitely be back soon.

NYC: Calle Ocho

2010-08-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

In town for a short visit with my brother and sister-in-law, who took me to this Latin-themed place near their home on the Upper West Side. Active and crowded bar and front room was no surprise, but walking back through a corridor leads to a cavernous high-ceilinged room that looks like it might have been a temple of some exotic religion in a former life. Hard surfaces, but fortunately the high domed ceiling keeps the noise level to a tolerable level.

After a long day for everyone, we started with a round of drinks: pisco sour for me (tasty, if not particularly sour), cosmo for Ilene, strawberry mojito for Steven. I tasted both of the latter and they were certainly OK if not memorable.

It was restaurant week in New York and with 3 appetizer and 3 entree choices we just made life easy and picked one of each. Appetizers included bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese (the best thing I ate there), some fresh but rather bland ceviche, and some kind of potato croquette (quite bland). Main courses included salmon (predictable...farmed, no doubt), a flattened beef with crispy potato sticks (quite delicious...same texture as good Chinese double cooked pork) and carnitas with mashed potatoes, which was OK but a little fatty and bland.

Desserts were acceptable to good...unremarkable chocolate cake, rather doughy doughnut balls, and tasty coconut ice cream in a chocolate shell. The first two served with good ice cream on the side.

Good value for $35 on the RW menu, and not a bad local place, but hardly a destination. On the other hand, maybe the regular menu is better and it's not really fair to judge a place on the basis of a single RW experience.

Fore Street: Return to an old Favorite

2010-07-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Having just sailed a boat up to Maine, I took the opportunity to visit my old friend Malinda (who was nice enough to pick me up in Camden and drive me to Portland). I was happy to repay her kindness by treating her to dinner at Fore Street, one of my favorite restaurants in the whole country. I always have a wonderful meal there. It is not always the most sophisticated cooking, and not everything I have eaten there is innovative or even interesting, but the overall welcome and feeling I get there, and the anticipation with which I walk through the door, is one I have hardly felt elsewhere...certainly not anyplace I have eaten comparably often (this last visit was probably about my 12th at Fore Street).

For a slender, attractive young woman, Malinda is an eater, and an excellent dining companion. After a round of drinks while waiting for our table (it was July 5 and the place was, predictably, packed) we took our seats in the dark, brick-walled dining space with its warm copper-topped tables. Malinda, being a somewhat frugal girl of Yankee origins, suggested splitting an appetizer but I was, of course, having none of that. Especially after I spotted the sampler platter of pates and terrines at the bottom of the appetizer list. Malinda and I agreed on the pork terrine, rabbit rillettes, and sweetbread sausage. All of these were sublime, especially the latter which was served in 4 small coins. We could have also had chicken liver mousse or smoked pork, which I will have to try another time. As a companion first course, Malinda ordered a lettuce and pea salad, which was OK, but I found it rather dull, somewhat underdressed, and completely unremarkable (an example of the occasional miss at this restaurant).

There were no misses with the main courses, however. We agreed to share the sauteed scallops (as good as scallops should be, and generously portion) and an absolutely wonderful halibut, which was a dense block of perfectly cooked, flaky yet meaty white fish served in a small iron skillet and with a complementary acidic sauce (some kind of vinaigrette, I am guessing, livened up with mustard and possibly lemon juice). We also had, as an adventurous note, a side dish of chard with bacon, which was wonderful, and most welcome as the halibut came completely unadorned and ungarnished except for the sauce.

For dessert, Malinda, bless her heart, is a fellow chocolate lover and we had both of the chocolate desserts on the menu...a chocolate torte (good....kind of mousse-like) and chocolate cake (wonderful...intensely chocolate). The cake came with a kind of nectarine sorbet and the mousse with vanilla ice cream, but we decided that they worked better with the other desserts and ended up switching them.

With dinner we drank a bottle of Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir from Oregon, which was clean and elegant. I might have wished for something a little richer and fuller-bodied, but I should have known better, having had many bottles from this producer.

With all of that the bill before tax was slightly under $200....not cheap by any means, but a meal that I can still savor two weeks later, and how do you put a price on that?

Camden, Maine: Avoid Cappy's

2010-07-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

After a 4 day nonstop sail from Annapolis to Camden, my crew and I disembarked (conveniently, right around lunchtime) and headed into downtown Camden for a well-deserved relaxing lunch. I was joined by my friend and co-skipper Steve and owners Hemant and Sonal, with whom I had made this trip two years ago with a great deal more difficulty. On that earlier trip, the three of us had dined at Cappy's Chowder House, a local institution in Camden in which I had had quite a few acceptable meals over the years. The dinner in 2008 was unremarkable but not actually offensive; after the ordeal we had been through, we could all barely keep our heads out of the soup anyhow.

July 5 was a very hot day in Camden as it was on much of the East Coast, and Cappy's is not air conditioned, although I think it is hard to fault a place on the Maine Coast for not having air conditioning, which is only needed a few times a year. Too bad Monday was one of those days. We were quickly shown to a table in the drab upstairs dining area, where a fan provided welcome air movement.

OK, the bottom line. I had a lobster roll and it was lousy. While it may not have been the worst lobster roll I have ever eaten (that honor most likely goes to a mercifully forgotten storefront somewhere down in the Kennebunk area) it certainly is in the bottom two or three. Finely chopped lobster meat (always a warning sign) with no taste, excessive and runny mayonnaise, untoasted and unbuttered bun. Not actively offensive, but so far from the concept of what a lobster roll ought to be that the people at Cappy's ought to be ashamed. They certainly know better. However, the curly fries that came with it were good. They ought to be, because they weren't included but carried a supplemental charge.

I regret that Steve followed my example and had the same disappointing lobster roll. Sonal had some kind of haddock chowder, which she seemed to enjoy (I thought it was way too hot for soup myself, but she'd just come from 4 months in Delhi, India). Hemant had a Reuben sandwich which looked much better than the lobster roll.

The price for all of this pleasure, with 6 beers and a cocktail among the four of us, was about $100. At that price, and for that food, what Cappy's says to me is...tourist trap. Stay away.

Charleston in Baltimore: Another winner

2010-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

We dined at Charleston, the best restaurant in Baltimore (easily) and possibly in the mid-Atlantic, with Mom and Dad, catching up on much family business that had taken place over the past month or so.

Our favorite waitperson, Leslie, had moved rooms so we dined in a small back room lined with wine bottles and with only two other tables (both quite large -- 8-10 covers each). One table went through an inordinate amount of wine, so much so that they had to keep the bottles on a side table in the corner. In due course we recognized famous wine writer and rater Robert Parker who was dining with the staff of his Wine Advocate...well, that certainly explains the massive wine consumption.

At our table consumption was comparatively modest. We started with a bottle of Pinot Gris from Zind-Humbrecht and it went so well with everything that we continued with a second bottle. The Charleston format, most refreshing, is not to divide food into courses but to allow diners to pick their own multi-course formats from among the list of available options. Menus are priced according to the number of courses chosen, starting at $74 for 3 courses (plus dessert, which everyone gets) and going up at the rate of $15 per extra course.

Well, I apologize that I cannot fully report on what everyone ate because there were too many courses crossing the table for me to take accurate notes. I do remember that Michael had the seasonal menu of five courses (plus dessert) which is a relative bargain at $89, but I wanted too many things that were not on that menu. Michael did admit later that it was probably one course too many for him to enjoy comfortably, as he ended up being only able to manage a little sorbet for dessert. My mom started, as usual, with fried green tomatoes with crabmeat which is one of Chef Cindy Wolf's signature dishes although not often on the actual menu.

I started with...well, I'm embarrassed to admit I can't remember the first course. I think it was a salad of some type. I then followed up with tuna, then duck breast, then buffalo tenderloin. The last one was of the finest pieces of meat I have ever had, as tender as a filet mignon but with infinitely more flavor. My dad had the same two final courses with a salad as a starter. For dessert I had a warm Venezuelan chocolate cake....with the traditional, possibly even cliched, molten center. However this was more cakelike (i.e., more cooked) than the traditional cake and was accompanied by sublime, and quite appropriately bitter, coffee ice cream.

Service as usual was highly professional although the flutter of activity around Robert Parker's table made us feel a bit like second class citizens for a while. On the other hand we did get 3 separate visits from the chef, which is unusual.

For a wide variety of options, a flexible menu, a pleasant setting with perfect service, Charleston is hard to beat.

Grenadines: Best Beach Lunch Ever?

2010-06-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

Recently got back from a week sailing in the Grenadines with friends Adam and Jeremy. Ate (and drank...and drank) on the boat for virtually the whole trip rather than eating ashore. Did have one extremely non-memorable meal at the marina in St Vincent before heading south, which shall not be mentioned further in this space.

The one meal we did have ashore, however, was a standout. It was at the beach bar/restaurant/hotel in Saltwhistle Bay on the little island of Mayreau in the Grenadines. I cannot remember the formal name of the restaurant but since it is the only restaurant on this particular beach, it is easy to find. Saltwhistle Bay is itself a picture-perfect little harbor fringed by palm trees and with the wind blowing through a cut between hills.

After having spent a couple of days anchored out on the very unspoiled Tobago Cays, we sailed over to Mayreau on our way to Union Island. We seemed to be the only patrons and had our choice of large stone and concrete tables. Fortunately the large and placid lady who also took our order brought some cushions; otherwise it would have been quite uncomfortable.

We ordered a round of beers (as we had agreed not to drink hard alcohol while sailing). Unfortunately the only choice was the local Hairoun, pronounced by us Hair-on (as in, "there's a hair on my beer") but we managed to force down a couple of rounds. Meanwhile, Adam had inquired from Large Lady about the "local curry" as in "what kind of curry is it?" The bemused response was, "well, the normal kind". Being an adventurous type, Adam ordered it anyhow. Jeremy had the fisherman's platter and I opted for a simple fish sandwich with fries.

There then ensued a very long wait. We could have taken a stroll around the harbor, but we had already done that, so we sat and drank our beers and waited. Eventually the waiter/bartender appeared staggering under the load of two massive platters, plus my fish sandwich.

All of the food was fantastic. We quickly surmised that the curry was conch...and very tender indeed, which is not easy to bring about. The curry was quite mild but very flavorful. The fisherman's platter had a very large portion of delicious snapper plus vegetables and rice (also with the curry). My fish sandwich was large, on fresh bread, and stuffed with lightly fried version of the same snapper.

It was one of the simplest and most perfect al fresco lunches I can remember, on a deserted beach overlooking a beautiful harbor, and all for about $60. Hard to beat that! Kudos to the chef at Saltwhistle Bay.

Santa Fe Report: May 2010

2010-06-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry for the long delay between postings but we took a break from eating out, mostly, while Michael was creating his spectacular room at the DC Design Show House (which took up a lot of April and May).

However, we are just back from a trip to the Southwest including 3 glorious days in Santa Fe, our spiritual second home, so I am happy to report on the restaurant scene there as we experienced it, even though the reviews themselves are uneven.

1. La Boca: This was touted by our friend and real estate guru Todd Davis as one of the hip new places in town. It is in a small cozy space downtown just a couple of blocks from the Plaza, and is clearly quite popular. It is a tapas restaurant which allowed us to try a number of dishes. Of these, the boquerones (small sardines) and cucumber/avocado soup were standouts. The roasted asparagus and the Mediterranean salad were good, although the figs and honey-laced vinaigrette of the latter made it quite sweet. The flatbread with chorizo and cheese was not...kind of a thick doughy pizza with very muted flavors.

With a couple of glasses of wine each, the bill came to about $150. Service was provided by a slender young man with spiked hair and plenty of attitude, who was efficient but not particularly welcoming.

I supposed if you lived in Santa Fe and were anxious for a change of scene, we might drop in on La Boca every once in a while, but as casual visitors, we would not put it very high on our list for a return visit. We can get tapas at home, better than this.

2. Bumblebee's: Dropped in here for lunch after a morning exploring downtown. Good as ever. Michael had the usual taco sampler, while I, having learned that the shrimp tacos are the best, concentrated on those. Good, quick, cheerful. Always a winner. We were glad to see it hadn't gone downhill since our last visit.

3. La Choza: We had had a great traditional New Mexican meal on our first visit and were anxious to get back. After an evening strolling the galleries on Canyon Road, we showed up at about 8 to find a waiting room of people and an estimated half hour wait. Fortunately, two seats opened up at the bar and we sat almost immediately.

Unable to choose from among our favorites, we both opted for combination plates: I went for an enchilada, carne adovado, and chile relleno. Michael's was, I think, similar, but it was hard to tell. All of the food was excellent without being fancy in any way. The meal came with a small amount of rice and a nice helping of pozole. We also had some green chile stew (we shared) to start. Plenty of food. Unlike most similar places, La Choza charges for chips and salsa ($3.75) and they were not worth it...hard and oily. Salsa was good, but not outstanding. Guacamole is even more. The sopaipillas that came with dinner also were not up to the old standard, but otherwise the food was excellent. We drank two rounds of killer margaritas whipped up at the bar, and weaved our way home.

3. Tune-up Cafe. This had been one of our favorite little unpretentious SF places on two previous visits but it has really gone downhill in our experience. For lunch Sunday we were both craving green chile cheeseburgers. I ordered mine medium rare with cheddar, while Michael's was medium with jack. Well, surprise, they mixed up the orders. They also forgot the green chile, which we didn't notice until we were halfway done. The counter person, who had messed up the order, seemed rather unfazed...she did put in an order for extra green chile but after waiting 10 minutes for it we gave up and finished our chili-less burgers. The fries were crispy but not hot. Big disappointment. We went back for breakfast on Monday and also had a disappointing experience: my burrito was filled mostly with potato and Michael's basic breakfast was, well, basic. Based on these two lackluster meals, I'm sorry to say that we can't recommend this place any more, although we will give it one more chance.

4. Cafe Pasqual's: We saved this for our last dinner and it was as outstanding as we remembered. Michael started with a simple arugula and grapefruit salad -- similar to what we make at home -- while I had a special appetizer of skewered dates wrapped in prosciutto with some cheese. Very tasty, but a little skimpy (two skewers, one date each). However, we'd had some cocktail snacks at home so it was just as well. For the main course Michael had enchiladas with mole sauce, which he couldn't stop raving about. Being a sampler by nature, I opted for the Plato Supremo which offered a chile relleno, taco barbacoa, and one of the chicken mole enchiladas (so Michael didn't have to share), all of which were excellent. We shared a chef's sampler platter for dessert which was excessive with a slice of very good chocolate budino cake, banana cream pie, coconut cake, and some sort of vanilla-y ice cream. Oh, and chocolate mint bark scattered around the plate, as if the above wasn't enough. With dinner Michael had a couple of glasses of viognier and I had some Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir from New Zealand, which tasted much better than it did at the winery back in October!

We had very professional and very friendly service. One particularly nice thing is that any available waiter seems to be willing to serve any given table, which makes things much more efficient. Pasqual's has some of the best food in Santa Fe. It is decidedly not fancy, and not the place to linger (despite our full menu, we were in and out in a bit over an hour). So it doesn't necessarily appeal to someone wanting an "occasion" meal, but we love it.

Southwest Road Trip Report

2010-05-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

After our brief stay in Park City, we hit the road on a tour of some of the great Southwestern national parks on our way to Santa Fe. This is a brief summary of some of the memorable (and not so memorable) meals we had along the way.

We spent two nights in Springdale, Utah just outside the entrance to Zion National Park (where we had a fantastic time, by the way). We had 2 dinners and 2 breakfasts there (lunch on the trail). Both of the breakfasts were at Cafe Soleil, a very short walk from our hotel, where we enjoyed the burritos and excellent coffee (a rarity in Utah, we found). There was a very large and tempting assortment of baked goods for people who did not want the full breakfast, but we were fueling up for a day of hiking so we went for the maximum calories. Dinners, unfortunately, were not as successful although both were acceptable. The first night, our hotel clerk recommended the Bit & Spur where we had acceptable, but forgettable Mexican food. The highly touted (by them) margaritas were weak. I suppose you have to expect that in Utah, where alcohol is carefully measured. The beer was good, though. The second night we switched to the Spotted Dog which was somewhat more upscale. I had the pork loin which was good but not great...rather dry, but saved by a tasty sauce. Michael had pasta which seemed to be the choice of most of the patrons. A large portion of decent, again not memorable food. We did have a very nice Chateau St Jean chardonnay and I remarked that the wine prices were particularly friendly. Not fine dining in either case, but we were in Springdale, Utah, and our expectations were not high. Good thing, too.

After leaving Zion we headed to Bryce Canyon. Again lunch was an on-the trail affair. Dinner was at the time-warped (in a good way, kind of) Pines Restaurant just west of Bryce Canyon City. Imagine going to a roadside place in the 1950s and you will get the ambiance, with all of the pleasure (and dining peril) that implies. I stuck to the hamburger rule, only I made it an elkburger, and came up snake eyes. The burger was small...a little bigger than a McDonalds burger, although much tastier, and dry. Michael had the patty melt recommended by the informant which was indeed delicious. The restaurant is famous for pie so we could not pass up a piece...well, two pieces. Michael had banana strawberry cream and I had chocolate cream, both of which came with absolutely massive piles of whipped cream (real whipped cream, I think) on top. And the crust was good. Unfortunately the chocolate filling tasted canned. I shoulda known. The banana strawberry was better. We overhead the boysenberry being recommended and I am still kicking myself for not ordering it, but I did have a chocolate craving. Which excuses everything, always.

The next morning we hit the road, skipping the overly elaborate breakfast at the National Park lodge, and by 9 we were hungry, so we stopped in the little town of Escalante for breakfast at the Golden Loop restaurant. A little scary looking from the outside (and from the inside...the waitress was in need of some serious dental work) but there a few patrons there not driving pickup trucks and we sat (and parked) close to the door in case we needed to make a quick escape. Which was not, as it happened, necessary. Except from the food, maybe. Michael had a burrito approximately the size of a throw pillow which he said was pretty good. The juice choice was orange, in a bottle from the cooler. Coffee was bad diner coffee. I ordered pancakes and sausage. One of the three pancakes was burned so badly it was inedible. Fortunately the sausage was good and I certainly got enough nutrition from the other two. We can't recommend the Golden Loop, but there aren't too many other choices on Highway 12 (which is a spectacular drive in other respects).

After a brief stop at Capitol Reef National Park, where we just got a brief overview of some of the very interesting rock formations, we pulled in to the small town of Hanksville, Utah (a gas stop, really) and dined at Stan's Burger Shak [sic] advertising famous burgers. Leaving aside the delightful ambiance overlooking the fuel pumps of the Hanksville Shell station, we found Stan's burgers to be no better than OK. The fries would have been good...nice and crisp...but they were cold, alas. I thought about asking for fresh ones but decided not to. The shakes, however, were outstanding...enormous cups of very thick shake bordering on soft ice cream, in all sorts of flavors. If you should happen to be passing through Hanksville, I'd recommend you pack a lunch but stop in to Stan's for a shake.

This portion of our trip ended in Monument Valley on the Utah/Arizona border where we stayed in the View Hotel on the Navajo reservation, run by terribly well meaning and friendly tribal people who are still learning the hospitality trade (the hotel is only a couple of years old). After a long day in the car, we were ready for a drink and some dinner. Well, no drink unless it's iced tea...the reservation is dry, which we can certainly understand given the long and difficult relationship between Native Americans and alcohol.

Anyhow we took a brief hike up to a viewpoint near the hotel with a magnificent panorama over Monument Valley, then, there being little else to do, went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The service was not terribly polished but was awfully friendly and solicitous, especially after the initial very taciturn female waiter was replaced by a most chatty young man. We ordered "Navajo tacos" which are like regular Tex-Mex tacos except they come on (surprisingly delicious) fry bread, which is kind of like naan. Fortunately we'd ordered a portion to share because it arrived on a large platter, four tacos around the size of salad plates (each) and piled high with goodies. After this we could have just stopped eating, but I ordered the pozole, which was tasty although the pozole itself was kind of crunchy, which I don't think it should have been. Michael had the green chile stew which was remarkably underseasoned...it improved with handfuls of salt and a good bit of ground pepper. Indeed, all of the food at the View Restaurant was characterized by a fundamental blandness, as though the chef had been instructed not to spice things up too much lest he disappoint the busloads of tourists that pass through the place. (And indeed, there was such a busload staying in the hotel...a group of elderly Japanese. The Japanese and Germans seem to be colonizing the West, from what we could tell).

Anyhow, while the food was neither exciting nor memorable, it certainly wasn't awful, and the view was sublime. It was also more food than the two of us could eat for $33, which is about the cheapest dinner check I have ever gotten in a place that had tables and waiters.

Chimayo: Big City Prices in Park City

2010-05-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

After a day of hiking at Sundance Resort, we treated our friends and hosts David & Ann to dinner at Chimayo. Dave & Ann live in Park City during the winter so are a wealth of information about where to eat, what to do, and so forth and we had a delightful couple of days hanging out with them at the start of our trip (including awesome, albeit expensive, drinks at the fabulous and empty St Regis resort on the other side of town).

Knowing of our love of Southwestern food, they thoughtfully made a reservation at Chimayo, one of the most respected restaurants in the little but oh-so-chic hamlet of Park City. We did have a lovely meal there, although the prices were a bit shocking.

Ann and I started with duck enchiladas. What could be bad? Only the size...two tiny little rolls (more like the size of taquitos than enchiladas...think of a very thick pencil, but not as long). The flavor was delicious though. Ann and I stayed in tandem and both had the "london broil" of elk which was wonderfully flavorful and just gamy enough. Michael started with a stuffed avocado on greens and had, of course, salmon (this incarnation was mustard seed encrusted and grilled) which he reported was excellent. I forget Dave's appetizer but his main course was the buffalo flank steak (which was my second choice)...Dave said he should have had the elk as the buffalo was rather unexciting.

We had two bottles of wine...a Hogue Gewurztraminer which was delicious with a distinct but not overwhelming sweetness...and a Qupe Syrah which I found disappointing with a rather acid edge to it, not nearly as rich and soft as I was hoping for. Michael also had a glass of Conundrum with his salmon. Wine availability in Utah is much better than it used to be but pricing is still painful...the two bottles together were just about $100. In general the less expensive bottles seem to be marked up an inordinate amount, although maybe that was just this restaurant.

With entrees over $40, the total bill after tip for this...with no dessert or cocktails ... was well over $400. The meal was good, but not that good, especially since the room was very plain (bare wood tables and chairs) and service, while pleasant, was not very polished. Probably Chimayo suffers (or we suffer) from it being once of the fanciest restaurants in a very expensive resort town and the pricing attributable thereto.

Good food...arguably very good...but not a very good value.

Spices: A Misnomer

2010-03-29T08:06:00.001-07:00

This will be a quick one. Michael had a craving for Chinese food last night. Well, as far as we have discovered there is no good Chinese food in Washington, not even average Chinese food, so we were reduced to ordering takeout from Spices which has the major benefit of being close to us. We had a large feast of tofu "fries", dragon dumplings, caramelized chicken, "shaking" beef, crispy vegetables, and curry laksa.

The tofu looked like fries (same shape) but were flabby and gummy, although pleasantly spicy. The dragon dumplings were reasonably tasty although doughy. The caramelized chicken was not. It was chicken pieces sauteed with onions in a generic brown sauce. The shaking beef was tough little cubes of meat with large untrimmed stalks of some green Chinese vegetable. The crispy vegetables were also not. Sauteed in the same generic brown sauce as the chicken, along with big square chunks of tofu (better than the fries, but not much). The laksa was good, I thought, moderately spicy with a hint of coconut milk (Michael wanted more coconut flavor) and with large chunks of chicken and green beans and with bean sprouts and noodles to be added. A decent value at $10 and the only successful dish of the bunch.

Hopefully the next time Michael gets a craving for Chinese food we can wait until it goes away. Otherwise, I will hold out for City Lights which while not truly authentic, was much better than this poor collection.

Bardeo: Still our favorite neighborhood hangout

2010-03-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

After a long and eventful week, neither of us really felt like cooking so we headed over to Ardeo/Bardeo for our Friday evening meal. I made an Opentable reservation (mostly to get the points) although I found out that this really applies to the more formal Ardeo side, while we prefer the usually more lively Bardeo part. Indeed, at 7:00 we got the last Bardeo table while as far as I could tell, Ardeo was seriously underpopulated. (You can get dishes from either menu at either place, so it's really a matter of atmosphere.)

We had, as usual, a delightful and delicious meal. Starters included fried rice balls (delicious), a dish of red peppers with sardine fillets (OK, but the peppers needed more seasoning), and squid ink risotto (rich, generous, and very filling). Michael then had a "medium plate" of steak chimichurri while I had a hamburger...both came with excellent fries. The hamburger for $12 must be one of the best bargains in DC.

For drinks we both started with a wine flight: Michael's included a Gruner Veltliner, Torrontes, and Muscatel, the latter from Spain, all of which were OK but not great. I had a more interesting flight that included a California Chardonnay (name escapes me, but good enough for Michael to order a full glass), Zinfandel and Cab (the Zin was great, the Cab a little heavy). I then followed by a glass of Touriga Nacional which I had wanted to try for some time...I thought it was very nice, well balanced and great with the food although not fruity and rich enough for Michael to have more than one sip.

We left very well fed and very happy. What a great place to have in the neighborhood. Would be even better if we could walk to it...well, maybe in the summer.

Bourbon Steak: Just as good the second time

2010-02-28T07:57:00.001-08:00

With friends Jeremy and Jen, we headed down to Bourbon Steak, the new(ish) Michael Mina restaurant at the Georgetown Four Seasons to celebrate...well, something. Snowmelt? The end of February? No matter, we were ready for a nice dinner with good friends whom we don't see often enough.

Actually, this was our second trip to Bourbon Steak...the first one, which went unblogged (sorry) was back in November with friends David and Ra'ed. That dinner was so memorable that we had long looked forward to a repeat visit. To be honest, Jeremy and Jen were not the most likely candidates since Jen is a vegetarian, but she is a good sport and always finds things to eat even in the most meat-heavy environments. Although she does refer to it as "the dead cow place".

Anyhow, I immediately caused a bit of commotion when I rejected the offered table, which was very close to the loud and not particularly good music emanating from the lounge next door. The staff was very nice about it, though, and quickly reset a better table closer to the windows and better for conversation.

As with our first visit, we were welcomed with the restaurant's signature trio of fries with three different seasonings and three different dipping sauces. Well, I never met a fry I didn't like, including these, although I did get the distinct impression that these fries were more than a few minutes out of the fryer. Tasty, but neither super-hot nor super-crisp. Probably my punishment for messing up the table arrangements. Unlike the first time, when they were addictive and devoured in a few minutes, these sat around and actually went unfinished.

Oh well, on to better things. Jeremy and I had the iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing and lardons, which was excellent. OK, it's not exactly haut cuisine, but still good. They did a good job of not drenching the lettuce in the thick dressing...I had been afraid of it being a bit overwhelming but the proportions were exactly right. Michael had the yellowtail sashimi which he described as very fresh, delicate, and delicious, and the mint and grapefruit accompanying it were delicious. He was not wild about the presentation....the fish was served curled up rather than laid flat as is normal...and the portion seemed just a bit skimpy, but the quality was irreproachable. Jen had a green salad which looked fine from my vantage point.

Main course: Since there was no vegetarian main course, Jen made do with mushrooms, broccoli rabe, and brussels sprouts (normally prepared with bacon, but omitted for her). I sampled the first two and both were succulent and delicious. Michael and Jeremy had the red-wine braised Wagyu beef, which Michael generously shared with me. It didn't seem like such a big portion when it arrived but it was incredibly rich, almost like braised short ribs (which it might have been...the cut wasn't specified). It almost had the richness of eating foie gras, which I guess is the attraction of Wagyu. It was indeed terrific (inducing an eye-roll of delight from Michael when he first dug in) but very, very filling. Meanwhile, I went simple with a seared skirt steak which was one of the best pieces of meat I have eaten in a while. Ordered medium rare, it came perhaps just a little darker than that, but had wonderful flavor and also surprisingly tender. I had brussels sprouts (with bacon) which were also very good, chopped fine and cooked until just tender. I need to rethink my brussels sprout preparation at home...clearly I have been overcooking mine as these got Michael's seal of approval which is not easy to get.

For drinks, we started with a round of cocktails: I had a dangerously addictive pisco sour, just to do something different, while Michael had his standard Domaine de Canton negroni which he said was overly heavy on the Campari...that's the trouble with non-standard drinks I suppose. Jeremy had one of their speciality drinks...a Kerouac I think...about which I received no feedback, and Jen had a glass of Malbec which I tasted and which was unremarkable. With dinner Michael had a couple of glasses of Au Bon Climat chardonnay, which he liked very much, and the three of us shared a bottle of Vita Nova Merlot blend (including Sangiovese and Syrah) which was introduced by the very helpful and friendly sommelier. This wine was an interesting find...more French than Californian in its balanced acidity and complexity, not quite as obviously charming as the Shiraz I had my eye on but very good with the food selections, especially the steak.

In general wine prices at the restaurant are rather high (for example, the Goldeneye that we enjoyed at Blacksalt on Wednesday for $65 was $90 here) but there is a "secrets of the sommelier" list which includes a number of very good values, such as this one which was only $45. To be fair, there are a significant number of decent bottles in the $50 range and the pricing seems to be inconsistent: some things high, some things quite reasonable.

Bourbon Steak, based on our two visits, is among the best executed restaurants in DC. The food is reminiscent of that at Blue Duck Tavern, or what Blue Duck used to be, but the room is more attractive, the service a bit more polished, and the food more evenly executed. We will be back for another special occasion.

Black Salt: Still good, still pricey

2010-02-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

My friend Bill and I headed to Black Salt on Wednesday for a long-postpooned catchup dinner. There was a snafu with the reservation...probably some screwup between me and OpenTable...but the helpful staff soon found us a table despite the crowds hanging around the bar.

We ended up having the tasting menu, which was five courses plus a perfect oyster and caviar as a starter. I cannot remember all of the courses...one was a salmon tartare with yellowtail sashimi, one was a sauteed block of mackerel or something similar, and the rest eludes me. It was all very tasty, though. The last course was a dessert presentation of chocolate pot de creme, chocolate cake, and ice cream. All very satisfying. Individual portions were small, as befits a tasting menu, but we did not leave hungry.

The tasting menu is $74 for 5 courses (which we had) and $89 for 7 courses, which would seem to be more of a bargain for people who want to eat that much, but this was a weekday and we are both trying to trim a few pounds. We drank a bottle of Goldeneye Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley which was terrific, dark, rich, and a bit on the heavy side...maybe not a classical pairing with fish but just what we wanted on a cold night.

Service was attentive (a bit too much so when they were trying to get our orders in) and reasonably professional although not overly warm. We also had to make our own call on the wine as I felt we were being steered to other things...glad we stuck to our guns.

With the wine and service, the bill came to well over $100 per person...nearly $150 after tip. Of course the cooking was excellent, we had an elaborate dinner, and fish is not a cheap meal. Nonetheless I could not escape my usual feeling when exiting Black Salt: good, but a lot of money for a meal in a very simple setting.

St Barts report

2010-02-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

We spent a very relaxing and pleasant 10 days in St Barts, following our usual pattern. While there, we ate in a number of places, many familiar and a couple new to us. Here's a capsule report:

Esprit de Saline: One of our favorites as always. Beautiful outdoor (but covered) setting. The nasty smell from the salt pond which greets you as you exit the car does not penetrate to the dining room. Delicious, relatively simple food. As usual on St Barts, not cheap.

Bonito: This is a new place that took over the space of the old Mandala on the hill overlooking Gustavia Harbor. Beautiful white and blue space with some tables having a great view. We liked it so much that we went back for Valentine's Day with a couple of new friends. On the first visit I had scallops, which were good but not memorable, and Michael had the slow-cooked "cochon de lait" which was so good that I ordered it the second visit (outstanding both times). The restaurant specializes in ceviche which we had as appetizers and enjoyed very much.

Wall House: Another old standby. We had a very disappointing visit last year and this year's was considerably better. Service was still slow, although not as slow as last year (that was intolerable). Because of its position in the harbor it does not get much breeze and was very warm. I'd say, good but not great. Not at the top of our list.

Santa Fe: We ate here the last night. Very informal and quite small...about 8 tables on a terrace with a view of the ocean during the day (and blackness at night). Maybe the best food in St Barts. Very pleasant and friendly service.

Do Brazil: We had a post-scuba lunch here. Beautiful setting and delicious drinks including perhaps the best daiquiri I've ever had. Very expensive...over 100 euros for 2 drinks, a shared seafood salad appetizer and two hamburgers. Burgers were overcooked and dry although the fries were good. Nice setting, but better for drinks than food, I think.

Bouchon: A tiny stand by one of the local strip shopping centers in Lorient. One day we got pre-diving sandwiches which were an amazing value...4 euros for a ham and cheese sandwich occupying almost an entire baguette, 6.50 for grilled chicken! One would have been plenty for the two of us...my parents ended up having lunch on the leftovers. Another day we went for a hamburger and pizza which were both very good although preparation was quite slow (I think our timing was bad). Maybe the best value in St Barts, although that's not saying much.

Wine: We paid a sentimental visit to La Cave. It has been taken over by the grandson of the founders, who is a very nice young man. We hope he succeeds. He is hampered by old inventory...most of the wine is, I think, well past its prime. We had a bottle of 04 Sancerre that was excellent and a bottle of NV Champagne from an unrecognized producer that was also very nice, if a bit austere. He is trying to update his inventory and I hope he succeeds as it would be a shame for this landmark to fail, although I sense he is struggling at the moment.

We had better luck at La Cave au Port Franc on the edge of town, where the charming owner (with very limited English) has a very nice and very well priced selection of wine, including enough Alsatian wines to keep us happy...we had a very dry Muscat as an aperitif with visitors and a bottle of Gewurz that Michael and I loved although it was not a hit with Mom and Dad.

Bonterra in Charlotte

2010-02-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Through a series of travel complications too long and boring to relate here, we found ourselves in Charlotte, NC for the evening of Friday, February 5th on our way to St Barts. My first thought, when I knew we would be spending the night in Charlotte, was to look for a decent barbecue joint, but the bloggers and chatters at Chowhound suggested that there was really no good barbecue to be had within a reasonable distance. (I had a decent experience, years ago, at the 3 Little Pigs in Asheville...not really close...but nothing here).

Anyhow, through a little research I stumbled on this place called Bonterra, which boasted of being Charlotte's finest restaurant (always a claim that fills me with suspicion) and with the best wine list (which, if the website was accurate, seemed like a real possibility). It was close to our modest airport-area hotel so I figured, how bad could it be?

Well, the answer is, not bad at all. We were somewhat exhausted from our trials in escaping the "snowstorm of the century" -- the second one this season -- and were in need of a good drink and some uncomplicated food, which is exactly what we found. I will say that our options did not test the kitchen in any way and in fact we skipped entrees entirely and focused on a series of appetizers, but we were quite happy with the results.

Bonterra is in an old deconsecrated church and has nice high ceilings and a fairly simple decor. On a cold rainy night it provided a pleasant although perhaps slightly austere atmosphere...of course Michael spent part of the evening pointing out how the decor should have been done differently but that is to be expected. The service was very pleasant and very professional although the waiter seemed overtaxed...the restaurant was not terribly busy but it is a large space and there appeared to be only two people working the floor so the waits for things were a bit longer than ideal.

Bonterra has an extensive and excellent selection of cheeses and allows you to pick your favorites on an a la carte basis. They are very reasonably priced at $3 per selection. We chose probably our all time favorite, Humboldt Fog, plus Crater Lake Blue from Oregon and Black Diamond cheddar from Canada...maybe not the most adventurous selections, but they were all generous sized and in excellent condition. And delicious. We also had some Rosette de Lyon salami and Serrano ham ($5 each, both very good although the salami was a bit bland), a tub of chicken liver mousse (also $3, excellent and an amazingly generous portion) and a tub of mixed olives. This latter, billed as a "spicy mix", was the only real disappointment of the meal...rather watery, and not spicy at all.

Following this selection, we had a couple of Southern-themed salads: the Azalea, with apples, bacon, and blue cheese, and the Magnolia with goat cheese and almonds). Both generously portioned and with first class ingredients. We also had an order of duck spring rolls, which I thought were OK but not memorable, and Michael didn't like even that much.

Compared to the very reasonable appetizers and salads, the entrees seemed a bit pricey at $25-30 and up, so we were happy to economize and make a meal out of the starters. The chicken liver mousse alone could have served 4 as an appetizer easily.

The wine list was, I must say, truly extraordinary. It would have been a good wine list in New York or San Francisco and was exceptional for a modestly sized city in the South. The vast majority of the selections are available by the glass and there were also several interesting tasting flights.

Michael opted for the "Napa's best chardonnay" flight which included Trefethen, Cakebread, Robert Keenan, and Silverado. The Trefethen was a bit light and not so flavorful, but the other three were excellent...we're familiar with the Silverado but the other two were a nice surprise. Meanwhile I had a Pinot Noir tasting including two Oregon (Adelsheim and King Estate) and two California (Grey Stack and Testarossa). To my surprise, I liked the Californians much more than the Oregonians. The flights were not cheap at $18 and $16 respectively but made for an interesting drinking session. We followed this up with a glass of Mollydooker Verdelho for Michael and a glass of Hendry Block 7 Zinfandel for me, which were both as good as we remembered.

The total for all of this was $120, half of which was for wine, so I must say we ate very well for $60 (and drank very well too, for that matter). Certainly a place I would not hesitate to go back, or recommend, if I find myself in Charlotte again.

Paris: L'As du Felafel

2010-01-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

Much has been written about the superb quality of this mostly takeout falafel joint in the Jewish quarter of Paris and I am telling you that it’s all true. The lines, the heft of the sandwiches, and the deliciousness.

We stopped by for the first time on Saturday afternoon, forgetting that of course a kosher restaurant would be closed on Saturday, and went back on Sunday about 2. Even at that time there were probably 25 people in line but it moves reasonably quickly and we weren’t in line more than five minutes or so. The staff is brusque but friendly in a Jewish-deli manner. The falafel sandwiches were delicious, a fresh pita bread stuffed with crispy fried falafel and topped with a delicious red cabbage slaw, tahini, and as much harissa as you care to ask for. It was so good that we went back on Monday for another visit….Michael had the schawarma this time which he raved about, while I stuck with the basic falafel. At 3:00 on a Monday, there was no line. We briefly considered going back for seconds but thought better of it…probably a bad decision.

Anyhow, it’s everything they say it is, and must be the best 5-euro lunch in Paris.

Paris: Les Bouquinistes

2010-01-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

For our last dinner in Paris, we were at a bit of a loss, having uncharacteristically not planned ahead. I had neglected to call our first choice, Chez Josephine, on arrival and since they are closed on weekends, I wasn’t able to call them until Monday afternoon – only to find that they were completely booked for that evening. Suspecting that perhaps our rejection was due to my request being made in English, I called back a couple of hours later and asked again in French, but with the same result.

In any case, we settled on Les Bouquinistes, an offshoot of the Guy Savoy empire and within walking distance from our hotel. It was a bit pricier than we really had in mind but no attractive alternatives presented themselves and we were open to a little bit of a splurge for our last night. Besides, they could take us at our preferred time of 9 pm.

After a stroll through St Germain, we arrived at the dining room just about on time. The décor – a modern idiom with shades of faux-distressed plasterwork -- seemed a bit dated but we were there for the food.

And we did find the food, in general, excellent. We both had the menu degustation, which seemed like a good value at 75 euros. We started with an amuse-bouche of lobster puree thickened with cream, then the fun began. The first course was a few coins of foie gras, just the right amount, rich and creamy with good coarse bread on the side. It was followed by a lobster and crab salad, a small oblong of sautéed sea bass with uncommonly crispy skin (Michael passed on the skin), a creamy chestnut soup with wild mushrooms, sauteed chicken breast, and a melted chocolate cake with a vanilla shooter and pistachio ice cream. None terribly innovative, all very delicious…with the one notable exception of a tasteless and mushy stalk of artichoke heart accompanying the crab salad, which had no obvious reason for being there.
With the meal we drank a 2007 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru from [ ] which was rich, unctuous, slightly sweet, and an excellent pairing with the food.

Service was friendly but somewhat off. The wine wasn’t immediately available (the captain had to go fetch it from the cellar down the street, he explained) but he was nice enough to pour each of us a glass of the same wine from a bottle standing on a nearby table (leftovers from another group? It was never made clear) while we waited. The first three or four courses came out very rapidly, then there was a long pause before the chicken course and an almost interminable wait for dessert, this despite the fact that the dining room was more than half empty at that stage. Our very young waiter seemed a little overmatched, as though perhaps some of the staff hadn’t shown up when expected or perhaps if every table came at once, which didn’t seem to be the case.

All in all a delicious experience, but not a particularly polished one. Of course one doesn’t expect 3 star service at one star prices but this suggested a lack of organization uncommon in Paris in our experience.

Paris: 404

2010-01-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

Very fun dinner at 404 on Saturday night. We were talked into the house “special cocktail” which turned out to be two of the most delicious mojitos we’ve ever had (and they ought to be for 11 euros each – that stung a little). We then had what amounted to chicken in wrapped in feta and fried (delicious) and Moroccan lentil salad (also delicious, but I thought a bit underspiced) as starters. For main courses, we both had tagines, Michael’s was chicken with preserved lemon and mine was lamb with prunes and raisins, both of which were awesomely tender and delicious. The restaurant is very atmospheric with stone walls, Moroccan lanterns, and music almost drowned out by the buzz of happy eaters.

One situation at the end marred the experience a little bit. One of the waiters…who spoke very little English, or claimed to…brought the bill and when confronted with a credit card, asked “how much should I make it for”. Well, this is not how it is supposed to work in France, where the tip is by law included in the price of the food. It seems uncommon for people to tip over and above the set amount…and if they do, it is by leaving a few euros in cash. So this rather blatant attempt to solicit a tip was rather offputting. What was worse is that Michael, a little confused, asked this server “isn’t the tip included in the bill” and was told “no”…which is clearly wrong. In fact so wrong that we mentioned it to the host on the way out and he kind of shrugged off our concern, saying “yes the tip is included but some people like to leave a bit more …it’s optional”.

Well, the meal wasn’t cheap at 118 euros including a bottle of pleasant but non-memorable Tunisian rose, but it was altogether enjoyable except for the shenanigans with the bill. However, the tip incident combined with the upsell on the expensive cocktails kind of leaves the impression that the restaurant has its hand in your pocket. On the other hand, as we joked on the way back, from what we’ve heard, that’s kind of how it is in Morocco.

Anyhow, a very atmospheric, attractive, and fun restaurant with very tasty food. Just keep your hand on your wallet while you’re there, and watch out for those cocktails!

Bofinger: Good food, terrible service

2010-01-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

We met up with our friends the celebrated artists Andrew Zega and Bernd Dams for dinner on Saturday night. They were nice enough to come by our part of town (the Marais) and to pick a restaurant, Bofinger, that was both atmospheric and within easy walking distance.

Well, with one thing (mostly champagne) and another we didn’t get out of the apartment until nearly 9:30, Andrew having explained that Bofinger was not taking reservations that evening by the time he called so we would have to take our chances. Fortunately the heavy rain of that afternoon had mostly stopped as we headed out and it was indeed only a five minute walk from our apartment.
We arrived to find a mob scene in the best French ski-lift tradition, with the “line” representing a mob in a roughly circular pattern around the host’s desk, spilling into the miniscule bar and out into the street. Being the best French speaker, Andrew was dispatched to see what he could do while Bernd went across the street to Le Petit Bofinger to see if things were any better (even worse, he reported). While we considered a “plan B”, we were told that we would probably get a table in 15-20 minutes, so it was not worth leaving and going somewhere else, which would take even longer. And we were all delighted to find our table ready just a few short minutes later, to the discomfiture of the many paired-off folks waiting in the bar.

The short report on Bofinger was good food, terrible service. Michael and I had the choucroute, a specialty of the house, and I can report that the sausages were excellent, even (or perhaps especially) the boudin noir, which even Michael enjoyed. There were at least four kinds of sausages, smoked pork loin, pork chop, smoked bacon (a bit fatty for me) and a mass of sauerkraut about the size of my head which even I could not make a serious dent it. For starters I had six impeccably fresh (and quite expensive) oysters and Michael had a nice salad. Andrew and Bernd had salads and a steak and steak tartare, respectively, which we did not taste.
Unfortunately, the wait staff decided, about halfway through the meal, to totally ignore us, to the point that we started pouring our own wine, and tried in vain to order dessert before giving up. I don’t know whether we annoyed someone or they got distracted with somebody more important, but I have rarely felt more ignored in a restaurant. Being with friends whom we didn’t want to embarrass, I was not tempted to make a scene, but it would have been the kind of situation where one was called for. And of course with the tip included, as it is in France, you can’t even make a point of your displeasure on the tip.

We had a perfectly serviceable bottle of Alsatian Riesling (somewhat less astringent than most) and a reasonable value from the mostly short and expensive list.
We had a lovely time catching up with our friends, and the company made the dinner memorable, but given our experience I cannot recommend Bofinger to anyone else. Perhaps not on a busy Saturday night…

Paris: Le Gaigne

2010-01-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

On Friday night we ate at Le Gaigne, following a rave review from Mark Bittman in the New York Times in 2009. Well, Mr. Bittman’s taste is usually good in cooking and no doubt he had a very nice meal there, and there was nothing really wrong with our meal. Probably the biggest problem is that the restaurant got a rave review in the New York Times and therefore the clientele consisted primarily of Americans, which is not usually a good sign and not what we are looking for a Paris restaurant. I know, as American tourists it is somewhat hypocritical to rail against the presence of other American tourists, but nobody said we were logical all of the time.

Now, I must say that the welcome at Le Gaigne was charming and accommodating. I called at 7 pm looking for a table for that evening (!) and was delighted to be told that they could indeed fit us in, but only if we came at 7:30. Well, here it was 7:00 already, we weren’t exactly in our party clothes and had only just opened a bottle of celebratory champagne, so that was going to be tough. I managed to wheedle Madame into letting us come at 8:00 (plenty late enough for our first night). She was nice enough to explain that she had a party coming at 9:30 and we could come whenever we wanted as long as we were out by 9:30, which seemed reasonable enough. As it happened we were able to enjoy the second half of the champagne as a post-dessert treat.

To my discredit, I slightly miscalculated the distance and despite rapid walking, we arrived a few minutes after 8; I was apologetic and Madame was most gracious about it. She did blanch, however, when we tried to order the five course tasting menu, but I promised that we would eat quickly and would be able to accommodate their 9:30 deadline.

Le Gaigne is a tiny restaurant, with only 20 seats. The décor was minimal (Michael felt it was negative décor, as in “they would have been better off doing nothing than doing what they did” but it wasn’t really objectionable to me). As noted above, when we arrived it was populated mostly by other Americans but I was relieved to see that as the evening wore on the ratio of French to Americans improved. The meal was a good value at, I think, 35 euros for the menu. Unfortunately the food was only pleasant, really not memorable. Indeed, as I sit here four days later, I cannot remember a single thing we ate, except for a dessert of sautéed mandarins atop vanilla ice cream which I thought was a perfect light ending to a nice meal.

And we did finish and vacate right at 9:30, making everyone happy.
We both felt that Le Gaigne was a perfectly pleasant and I was pleased with it as a non-taxing choice for our first night in Paris, when we lacked the energy for anything more exciting. Perhaps our compressed schedule put unreasonable demands on the kitchen, but someone going and expecting the meal to be the high point of their trip to Paris might be disappointed.

Paris: Chez Georges

2010-01-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

We landed in Paris at about 7:30 a.m. after a long, terribly uncomfortable, and mostly sleepless flight from New York, yet after taking the metro in from the airport, finding our small but rather charming rental apartment at the edge of the Marais, getting settled, and making the obligatory visit to a nearby patisserie for croissants and coffee, we felt energized and ready to spend the day wandering around Paris. The weather was cold and gray but that did not stop us from putting on our walking shoes and making tracks for some of our favorite haunts, including legendary kitchen store DeHillerin.

Michael suggested lunch at one of his old favorites, Chez Georges. He had had several memorable meals there in the past and had taken me there with great anticipation and enthusiasm on our first visit to Paris together in 2006. Unfortunately, that meal turned out to be flat and distinctly un-memorable, so it was with some concern that I agreed to the suggestion.

As it turned out, there was no reason for concern. We arrived a few minutes after 12 to find a completely empty dining room and actually took a turn around the block to see if anyone else turned up. Ten minutes later we walked in, were cordially seated at a small table in the back and joined a few other patrons…but by 12:30 the restaurant was packed. And this is French bistro-packed, where there is literally less than an inch of space between your table and the next one. The French figure that if there isn’t going to be walking room between the tables (and there’s nowhere near enough..the whole table has to be pulled away from the wall before the person on the wall side can get in or out), why bother to leave any space at all? The better to pack in a few extra tables.

We were taken over by a bossy but motherly waitress who clearly was not on her first day on the job. Michael ordered the signature frisee salad, which we had previously found inferior to the version at Petit Louis in Baltimore but which had perked up considerably since 2006, while I threw caution and my cholesterol count to the winds and ordered the goose rillettes as a starter. What arrived was a large crock…I mean large…maybe a pint of moist goodness. The idea, clearly, is not to eat the whole thing but to take as much as you want..the crock is then topped off and refreshed for the next patron. I did valiantly address the crock, putting away (with Michael’s help) perhaps a quarter of it, and was tempted to continue, but I knew there was a rich main course coming.

Michael had the “sole Georges”, a specialty of the house of course, which basically consisted of a generous piece of sole…probably a whole filet..swimming in a butter sauce in the best old French tradition. He raved about it. Michael likes sole more than I do, so I limited myself to a few bites, but I could see why he was so taken with it. I preferred my own entrée, scallops in a somewhat similar butter sauce, the scallops perfectly browned on each side and yet not in the least bit tough. My portion was similarly generous – probably a dozen good sized scallops…and yet I had no trouble finishing them off.

We tried to get a carafe of house white but Chez Georges’ wine list is heavily oriented toward reds and they don’t offer much in the way of whites. Our motherly waitress brought us a bottle of crispy and grassy Sancerre with instructions to drink as much as we wanted and she would charge us appropriately. Well, naturally there was very little --- which is to say, nothing – left in the bottle by the end of the meal!

We skipped dessert and coffee and yet the bill came to 120 euros, one of the more expensive lunches we’ve had lately and certainly in fairly modest surroundings. On the other hand the food was impeccable and incredibly delicious in a very old-fashioned French way that probably Julia Child would have loved, had she been there, so we treasured every moment and I was very glad that I had agreed to Michael’s wise suggestion.

Boston: Surprisingly good lunch at Kingfish Hall

2010-01-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

After some business meetings in Boston's financial district, I had some time to kill before my flight home, so I wandered up to the Faneuil Hall area to grab a little lunch. I briefly considered the Union Oyster House, previously a favorite spot for dinner with the parents on their occasional visits during my tenure here many moons ago, but I decided that I didn't want to be that much of a tourist. The theme-park atmosphere seems to have taken over and I am no longer as enamored of the flour-thickened variety of clam chowder as I used to be, now that I (occasionally) make my own. Durgin Park was also considered but rejected as being too depressing for a solo diner.

Most of the eateries in the area are either fake Irish bars (or real Irish bars, for all I know) or variations on the theme park tune. I did happen on a place called Kingfish Hall, an offshoot of the burgeoning Todd English empire, and decided to give it a try. Not without misgivings, mind you, as our last foray to one of Mr. English's eateries, the flagship Olives restaurant in DC, was very disappointing if not an actual disaster.

The room was OK looking but undistinguished, with canvas-backed chairs and faux-rattan fans overhead. I feared some cuisine along the line of Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory or some other monstrosity, but gee, it was only lunch, and I didn't have that much invested in it. I took a seat at the long, virtually deserted bar and decided to go for the full New England experience, ordering clam chowder and a lobster roll.

Well, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by both. Neither was the best I have ever had, but certainly respectable. The chowder was creamy and rich, with a reasonable amount of salt pork and potatoes in the bottom. I would have preferred more clams and the whole thing could have been improved by a richer fish base and a bit less cream. It was topped by a single perfect cherrystone clam, steamed, which was superb.

The lobster roll was also a pleasant surprise. Plenty of lobster in the proper top-split, buttered roll. The roll was a little too deep for the amount of lobster so I ended up leaving the bottom third, below the split, but that's a minor critique. It also had lettuce on the bottom which no Maine purist would tolerate, but at least there was no celery or other undesirable filler. It came with cole slaw that perfectly balanced the creamy and tangy (although the dressing was too watery) and some baked beans that had a nice bit of barbecued something mixed in, plus a generous portion of house-made potato chips seasoned with Old Bay that I ate more of than I should have.

The lobster roll was $21, which isn't bad when you consider the one at Red's Eats in Wiscasset is $17 and that's with no chips, no cole slaw, no beans, and no place to sit, and no service, and you stand in line to get it. It was not the best lobster roll I have had, but far from the worst either...even in Maine it could hold its head up with pride, if lobster rolls had heads that is.

San Francisco: Short takes from a long trip

2010-01-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Short Takes in San Francisco

Here are some comments from recent dining experiences in the City that for one reason or another did not, in my view, merit a full-scale writeup.

1. Gold Mountain: We actually ended up eating here twice, once on Christmas night (when there was almost nothing open after our long flight from the East Coast). We had hot and sour soup (not adventurous, I know, but Michael had a craving and it was a model of its kind), crispy shrimp, and some kind of pork. I would rate the food as a 9 out of 10 and the ambiance as a zero out of ten. Of course it didn’t help that it was near closing but by the time we ate (quickly) and left we were the only people in the place, surrounded by a sea of empty tables (the dining room must easily seat 100) and linoleum. We went back for dim sum on our way to the airport. Quality, excellent. Ambiance, somewhat better since the room was more than half full (and with very few Caucasians, always a good sign). Selection, rather disappointing. Some tasty shu mai and buns appeared fairly early but much of the rest was a parade of uninspiring chicken feet, congee, sautéed bok choy, and those odd Chinese sweetened bean paste items. On the other, if we had been a little more patient or adventurous we could have stuffed ourselves for a fraction of the Yank Sing price…as it was our snack, hardly skimpy, was less than $18.

2. Yank Sing: Our usual go-to place for dim sum and we joined our good friends John and Glenn for a traditional New Year’s morning celebration here at the “new” location in the Rincon center. As usual it was clean, refined (by dim sum standards) and delicious but you really pay a price for it…with a Bloody Mary each and a good but not overwhelming assortment of stuff, it cost nearly $50 per person, which is staggering by dim sum standards. And not all of it was great, the Peking duck in particular which combined a doughy pancake, runny hoisin sauce, and skimpy duck pieces. I am not sure Yank Sing is going to be our go-to place for dim sum much longer if this keeps up.

3. Bi-Rite Ice Cream: Just to finish off our decadent New Year’s morning (or to start the year off right, take your pick) we went straight from Yank Sing to this little place in the Dolores Park area. Delicious ice cream in very unusual flavors. I had a wonderful combination of chocolate, toasted coconut, and roasted banana. Michael had a salted caramel that he raved about (apparently a specialty of the house). It wasn’t crowded when we were there…around 1 p.m….but I can imagine that it would be mobbed on the average summer evening. In fact they seem to be expanding into the next door space.

4. Dynamo Donuts: Rusty and JP insisted on taking us there on our first morning together and we were very glad they did. A little hole in the wall in the Mission near a plethora of Mexican and other Latino eateries. Michael and I split four of the unusual flavors: chocolate rose (chocolate cake with rose-flavored icing), bacon maple walnut (raised donut with maple walnut icing and bacon sprinkles), strawberry filled, and Meyer lemon with a huckleberry glaze. We liked the last one although the flavor could have been more pronounced. The strawberry filled wasn’t a winner (Rusty and JP concurred)…not bad, but the filling was overly sweet and it just wasn’t exceptional. The first two were terrific. Well, they can’t all be good when you’re trying to do something new. I was very content when we left (although sorry I hadn’t ordered a sticky bun to go along with…next time).

5. Garibaldi Café: We met a new friend, Grant Gibson, who writes a very interesting blog of his own (see blogroll) at this pretty little place in Pacific Heights. It does strike me a bit as a ladies-who-lunch kind of place but there is nothing wrong with that…if the shoe fits and all that. All three of us started with a carrot-saffron soup which was quite tasty. Michael and Grant had the house signature salad which was quite an impressive looking mound with plenty of grilled chicken scattered around. I was craving a burger and the Garibaldi version was truly excellent, cooked just as I ordered and so juicy that I had to eat it leaning over the table to protect my sweater. The terrific brioche bun caught most of the juices, but not all. The burger came with a nest of frites that as we all know can range from excellent to ho-hum. These were excellent, crispy and hot and totally addictive. They disappeared before I knew what had happened to them. Based on this one, rather undemanding, meal, I would be eager to see what else Garibaldi had to offer.

6. Sunflower Café: This is a little Vietnamese place within (strenuously hilly) walking distance of our hosts’ apartment. We popped in there on Sunday night for a casual dinner and had terrific food. JP, Michael, and I shared an appetizer sampler platter which included some grilled shrimp (nice, not exceptional) but the highlight was a make-your-own roll setup including 8 (!) rice paper wrappers, a large stack of impeccable romaine leaves, some shredded and seasoned carrot (not enough) and some crispy beefy chunks on a large bed of eminently edible rice noodles. The three of us had a ball making our rolls and adding some of the tasty fish-based sauce…the combination was delicious and quite filling. For entrees Rusty, who was avoided meat, had some sautéed eggplant which was among the best I’ve had. JP ordered grilled lemongrass chicken and was quite taken aback when it came in the same format as the appetizer…rice paper rolls, romaine, and all. It also seemed to be sautéed (and in small chunks) and not grilled. Tasty to be sure, but rather a repeat performance of the appetizer. Michael and I did better with a “shaking beef” and curried shrimp dishes both of which were both large and very tasty. More food than the four of us could eat. Great neightborhood place.

7. Goat Hill Pizza: Rusty, JP, and I wandered over there Monday night with two other friends of theirs. It is on the opposite corner from Sunflower…in fact that intersection is kind of restaurant central for the Potrero Hill neighborhood with three of the four corners being popular restaurants (the fourth corner has an Asian-themed bar with an attached restaurant seemingly in dormancy). Monday nights turns out to be “all you can eat night” at Goat Hill (a phrase that always sets my heart aflutter). Naturally it was mobbed so we had to repair to the aforementioned Asian-themed bar for a liquid libation while awaiting a table. The format is kind of frat-partyesque. Waiters emerge periodically from the kitchen with a pie of one kind of another and announce the selection (Hawaiian, pesto, onion and mushroom, or whatever) as they approach your table. If you want a slice, you take one. Otherwise, you wait for the next option. No judgement on those of us (no names mentioned) who may have had two or three pieces at a time piled on their plates simultaneously. Great format, great fun. Honestly, I didn’t think the pizza was compelling, the crust being a bit tough and thin for my taste, but the whole experience was a blast. Being with fun people helped of course, but it seemed like everybody there was having a great time. Really, how could you not?

8. Tartine. We were on our own for our first full day in San Francisco, Rusty and JP not having yet come back into town, so we drove over to Tartine, a famous bakery/breakfast café in the Mission District. I think Michael had heard of it but either hadn’t been there in years, or never, and I’m always up for a visit to a bakery any time. We got a bit of a late start and parking was a nightmare. Fortunately Michael dropped me off so I could get in line, since the line just to get in the door was easily 20 minutes when we arrived (and got longer). Tartine does not distinguish between those eating in and taking out. You shuffle around the perimeter of the room choosing items from the glass cases in front of you. If you want to eat in, you then grab a seat from among the scattered tables (despite the crowds, we did not have trouble finding seating). For some reason Tartine’s website advertises full breakfasts (e.g. cooked entrees) so we – Michael in particular – were quite taken aback to find when we got there that with few exceptions, it is baked goods only. (Not a problem for me, but I hate to see him disappointed). Well, having stood in line for 20 minutes, we were going to eat what they had. I started with a pain au chocolat, the standard against which all breakfast pastries ought to be measured, and Michael ordered a bowl of muesli. Further down the cafeteria line, we both ordered a piece of a tasty-looking quiche but I had a last minute change of heart and switched to a kind of open-faced croque monsieur. The verdict: Croissant was B quality…good size, using bittersweet chocolate (a nice touch), reasonably flaky, but nothing exceptional about it. Muesli was very Swiss in character, a bit sour in taste as though sour cream was mixed in with the yogurt, not a big hit with Michael. The quiche was delicious, very rich and eggy, and the croque monsieur was terrific, a kind of open-faced grilled ham sandwich and very generous with the ham by the way. All in all, Tartine was a nice neighborhood place with tasty food but we both agreed, certainly nothing that either of us felt warranted a 20 minute (or more) wait in line. It’s just not that special.

Out the Door for Breakfast

2010-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

On our last day in San Francisco, we got out the door uncharacteristically early, no doubt to the vast relief of our hosts, and had a busy schedule before heading to the airport for the long trip home.

Since we are big fans of the food at Slanted Door, although not the ambiance, we were eager to see what Charles Phan, the owner, had cooked up in this more casual, less touristy venue. We had a delicious, very non-traditional breakfast there.

We started with a steamed chicken and steamed pork bun, which we shared. I thought the chicken bun was a little bland and a bit more doughy than ideal, although Michael disagreed. We both felt the pork bun was delicious, with the meatier and juicier filling being just right for the slightly sweet wrapping. I do prefer the baked buns to the steamed ones, I think, but I wouldn’t turn down one of these at any time. We also had a coconut pull-apart bun (one each) which was along the same model but delicious in a sweet rather than savory way. On first bite it was tasty but not exceptional, with a slightly sweet dough complemented by toasted coconut on the top, but further exploration yielded a treasure of sweet coconut paste in the center which was just the right amount. Delicious!

For main courses, Michael had the slow cooked eggs, the most expensive item on the menu by a significant margin ($13) which was paired with slow-cooked brisket and crispy potatoes. I am not sure what was slow cooked about the egg…barely cooked seemed to be a better description, along the lines of a very runny poached egg. It was a tad underdone for Michael’s taste (mine too, really, although I only got a small bite of it) but the beef was delicious.

I decided to go in a non-traditional way and had beef pho soup. The first spoon yielded some of the richest and most savory broth I have ever had. It was stuffed with thin white noodles and a modest amount of very tender beef, both fully cooked brisket with fat attached (even the fat was good, meltingly tender although normally I would have cut it off) and a couple of slices of very thin, almost raw, tenderloin which cooked in the hot broth. It was also served with traditional pho accompaniments of basil leaves, bean sprouts, lime, and sriracha sauce but I passed on all but the last two. What a delicious and filling dish!

With the meal we passed on juices but did have a large French-pressed pot of coffee which seemed rather weak and which wasn’t a good pairing with the pho in any case, although I think Michael liked it.

The room was empty when we walked in although eventually we were joined by two other couples. Service, being unstressed, was pleasant and professional. The room is very cold…literally…with the door open on a chilly San Francisco morning and me sitting on an uncushioned metal bench, it was quite definitely nippy. Like the Slanted Door there seems to be absolutely no consideration of acoustics as every surface is hard so I can imagine there being quite a racket when the room is full.

Great breakfast; I will be thinking about that pho on the cold winter mornings that are sure to be coming up in Washington.

RN 74: Outstanding San Francisco Newcomer

2009-12-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

We had not even spent a full day in San Francisco yet and already had had a delightful meal at Moss (see separate writeup) and now were meeting our good friends John and Glenn for a much-anticipated dinner at RN 74, one of the hottest places on the San Francisco dining scene.

We dropped by their apartment for a warm-up glass of champagne or two, never a bad idea, before heading over to the restaurant, which is located in one of the new glass monoliths that is dominating San Francisco’s South of Market district. We learned, to our delight, that John is a close friend of Raj __, the proprietor of RN 74, dating back to the days when they were both on the staff of one of Michael Mina’s first restaurants. John has now moved on to a different profession and Raj has advanced through the ranks and is now wine director for all of Mina’s 17 (!) restaurants. RN 74 is his baby, with Mina generously allowing him to choose the concept and the details more or less as he sees fit.

Raj met us at the door and generously treated us to a cocktail each…Michael taught the bartender his signature “Canton Negroni” which was not as good as the master’s but pretty darn good, while John had something made with absinthe which was quite interesting as well.

Eventually we were ushered to a round banquette in a prime corner of the room. The dining room is handsome and intended to evoke a modernist interpretation of a French train station. Tables appeared to be well spaced and the room had a nice buzz without being overly loud.

We had a wonderful time there. The name RN (for route nationale) 74 is a nod to the main highway through France’s Burgundy district and naturally the wine list is heavy on all sorts of wine treasures. With the wine director himself choosing for us, I was able for once to disregard the list and concentrate on the food.

And we ate very well indeed. Michael and Glenn had a hamachi appetizer, which was sushi-like in concept and flawless in execution. Michael felt it was one of the one of the best fish dishes he has ever had. John had a dish of clams and pork which must have been great since it all disappeared rapidly. I chose a dish of squash-filled agnolotti which was rich and satisfying. We also had a generous order of tempura mushrooms which the four of us shared. And what could be bad about that?

For main courses, Michael had, predictably, roast chicken, and John had a pork loin dish. Glenn and I chose the steak, which was one of the best I have ever had. John’s pork loin, which he generously shared, was also outstanding. Michael’s chicken was good, from what I tasted, but not as exciting (but then, it was roast chicken…what do you expect).

With the meal, Raj provided a glass of Albrecht Cremant D’Alsace rose as an aperitif, followed by a wonderful Chardonnay that he makes himself from vines grown in the central coastal area of California. Not surprisingly, it is very much in the French style with just a hint of oak and no malolactic fermentation, so quite clean and crisp. With the main course, we were served a fine Pommard which complemented all of the meat dishes beautifully without being as assertive as a New World red can sometimes be.

All in all a very fine experience, not cheap of course but then fine cooking in a stylish setting with delicious wine rarely is (pity, isn’t it).

San Francisco: Moss

2009-12-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

We met up with our friend Jon for lunch in San Francisco. Jon is a local, an excellent cook and an avid follower of the SF restaurant scene. Moss is located in the new Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately with school out, the museum was mobbed. We could not even get close to it for parking and it took me a full 30 minutes after I dropped Michael off to find a space. He reported that there was a 45 minute wait just to get into the museum (there is no separate entrance for the restaurant). Fortunately they have figured this out and there is an express line for people with restaurant reservations.

Moss, the more formal of the eating places in the museum, is on the lower level and other than a living wall of plants, still rather sparse, the decor is unexciting to say the least. But this was all about the company.

That notwithstanding, the food was generally excellent. We started with a shared pile of vegetable fritto misto, pita with hummus and a green salad. I had a Moroccan lamb burger (terrific), Michael had the grilled yellowtail (good) and Jon had the day's special catch which was grilled halibut. Unfortunately the latter was severely overcooked, so much so that Jon (rightly) sent it back. A new plate appeared which was nearly raw in the middle but which was eaten, and enjoyed, anyhow. I had a couple of bites and thought it was delicious...if we eat tuna and salmon very rare, why not halibut? And, to the restaurant's credit, they comped the halibut, which was generous but really not necessary. Just fixing the error would have been enough.

We were in a festive mood and so started with a bottle of Roederer Estate Rose, one of our favorite American sparklers. Well, one bottle is never enough so we did end up supplementing this with individual glasses of the same to round out our meal.

It was hardly a cheap or fast lunch...had the halibut not been comped, the total would have added up to just about $200, although that did include $85 worth of champagne. The service was excellent and professional. The complications of being in the museum did not help matters although if one went on a school day I am sure things would be much easier.

Napa Valley Report

2009-12-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

We were up in Napa on our traditional year-end visit to family and friends and had the chance to sample a number of dining establishments, fine and otherwise, in the area. Summary reports on these experiences follow, in roughly chronological order.

1. Rutherford Grill: We stopped there for lunch while doing errands in the upper part of the valley. Good as always. We both had the Thai noodle salad (me with steak, Michael with chicken) which was generous, filling, and quite spicy. A glass of wine each. Note that although we arrived rather late for lunch (1:30 or so) it was quite crowded with a 30 minute wait for a table...fortunately we managed to snag a couple of seats at the bar after a short wait which worked out perfectly. As always, a convivial place for delicious, unfussy food in the valley.

2. Cook: We had dinner with Michael's cousin Kirsten who has lived in Napa most of her life and now lives around the corner from this relatively new place in St Helena. Very plain interior and a limited menu with a choice of four apps, 3 salads, 3 or 4 pastas, and four mains. We were in sharing mode and the three of us split fried calamari, a coppa plate, followed by some risotto and short ribs. All delicious. We started with a bottle of prosecco and switched to individual wine...as you can imagine from a restaurant right in the heart of wine country the selection was outstanding although most of the labels were quite unfamiliar. The pours on the wine were very generous including a "top-up" (which basically amounted to another glass) as we sat chatting after dinner. The food is not cheap (mains in the mid-20 range) and the decor is minimal but the quality coming out of the tiny kitchen couldn't be faulted. A small and crowded place (we sat at the bar again) filled with locals, mostly. Very Italian in its focus on a small number of ingredient-driven dishes.

3. BarBer Q in Napa. We had been hoping to get to Ubuntu in Napa but it was not in the cards for this trip so our friends, with whom we were staying and who live around the corner, opted for this small place unfelicitously located in the most crowded strip shopping center in Napa (with the local Trader Joes a few doors away). Not much on atmosphere but the food was good. Once again we sat at the bar mostly to avoid the long wait for a table. Michael and I split the "taste of the Q" special which for $36 included a couple of half racks of ribs, some chicken, pulled pork, sausage, and coleslaw. All was good to very good (Michael especially liked the chicken), nothing was memorable. Good value for money as portions were reasonably generous. I thought the pulled pork was a bit underseasoned and a little dry but maybe that's the local style. Our friends had the fried chicken, a Sunday night special, which I tasted and found excellent. Michael nursed a glass of Roederer Estate Brut through dinner and the three of us had a very interesting "Bride" from Black Bart vineyards which was a mix of Marsanne, Viognier, and Chardonay ($39). The earthiness of the Marsanne dominated and was a good mix for the rather rich food (Michael did get a glass in at the end). The bill for this was $140 before tax which seemed expensive for the casual nature of the place and the food but then there were four of us and we did spend $50 on booze, so maybe not so bad in retrospect.

4. Lunch at the Oxbow: The Oxbow is an attractive food market/restaurant court newly built in downtown Napa. We were there partly to pick up an assortment of spices for Michael's mom but took the opportunity to stop for a snack. There is a branch of the Hog Island Oyster Co so I stopped in for a quick dozen, being unable to convince any of my 3 companions to join me. Well, it wasn't quick but they were certainly good. The local Tomales Bay and Kumamotos and Olympias were among the best I've had. There were actually 5 types on my mixed plate and the other two weren't so much to my taste, being less briny and sweet. The dozen was also expensive at $30, I thought, with no accompaniments except lemon and a very good mignonnette sauce. I then walked over to join my friends at the local outpost of Taylor's refresher for a very good burger and B-quality sweet potato fries. Michael had an ahi burger which was equally delicious. Long wait at the Taylor's both there and at the Ferry Building in San Francisco...the food is good but, frankly, not that good.

5. Celadon: For our last dinner in Napa, we took our friends out to this relatively "fancy" (for the valley) place in a newer mixed use development in Napa. Nice big room, high ceilings with the sense of a loft. It was a rainy and cold night and for some reason the restaurant has gone with hanging plastic strips in lieu of a front door, which is neither attractive nor effective as the occasional cold draft buffeted our table from time to time. We had decided to go more or less at the last minute but they were able to fit us in at 8:15, which suited us fine. We had a couple of small plates to start, the steamed buns with pork belly (a kind of pork belly slider) and Maine crab cake, both of which were excellent. For mains, we had a sampler. In order of increasing success, Michael had a daily special pasta with crab which was misnamed (sold as papperdelle, but actually more like tagliatelle) which lacked any distinct flavor. My Moroccan spiced lamb shank looked like a huge portion but was mostly bone. Flavorful, not as tender as it could have been but with tasty couscous on the side. Gerry had a special skirt steak which I thought was very good, perfectly medium rare, but with a little bit of a funky taste typical of dry aged beef which he wasn't expecting. Keith's heritage pork T bone was one of the tastiest pieces of meat I've had in a long time. With a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay ($59), dinner came to $220 before tip. Good but not memorable.

Fremont Diner in Sonoma: Best Breakfast Ever?

2009-12-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

I know I lumped all of our other meals in Napa in a single post but this was so exceptional it deserves a post of its own.

On a misty and cool morning in Napa, we had no pressing agenda and drove with our friends Gerry and Keith over to the Fremont Diner just over the Napa/Sonoma county line. Our hearts were immediately won over by the greeting from the two restaurant dogs, both Australian shepherds and extremely friendly. We were missing our own Aussie mix and were glad to give the two pups some much-appreciated tummy rubs.

Michael ordered ricotta pancakes and scrambled eggs with sausage. Somehow there was a mixup and I thought he was ordering for both of us (apparently not, but fortunately he was willing to share). Both were marvelous, the eggs had a deep rich taste that you only get from really fresh organic eggs, the sausage was chunky and spicy, and the pancakes were thin, light, and delicious. Keith had french toast which was a very generous portion of four thick slices. Both they and the pancakes came with a small pitcher of real maple syrup, none of this b.s. about charging extra for real syrup or substituting the nasty corn syrup based stuff. Gerry had a dish of beans with an egg on top. It wouldn't have been my choice but the beans were well cooked if a tad underseasoned for my taste.

This is the kind of breakfast you dream of, everything perfectly sourced, perfectly fresh, perfectly cooked. My only regret was that they had run out of biscuits so I couldn't have the biscuits and gravy. But here's a little story that tells how nice they are there. We arrive, I ask about biscuits and are told they'll be out in 20 minutes, so we order something else. Well, by the time we finish it's been 20 minutes so I go up and hopefully ask if the biscuits are done yet. The chef tells me he's very sorry, but he's having a little trouble with the oven and they won't be odne for another 10 minutes. I say no worries, thanks anyhow and we head out. I get distracted by playing with the dogs and it's a few minutes before we actually head for the car and the chef runs up to me and gives me a biscuit in a paper bag with a little container of jam...no charge! It was a very delicious biscuit in the true southern tradition, flaky and moist with a bit of sweetness.

I will be dreaming about that breakfast for months to come, I am sure.

Rasika on Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T17:20:00.000-08:00

Michael and I headed to Rasika after a hectic day of pre-departure activities for our traditional night-before-vacation meal. We always look forward to a great meal at Rasika and happily this year was no exception.

The streets of Washington were empty as we drove up…we found a parking spot right around the corner – but inside the restaurant was as warm and bustling as on any other night. We were greeted cordially and shown to a small table in the back corner of the main room.

In a somewhat adventurous spirit, we decided to try some new things this time rather than relying on our old standbys, although of course it was not possible to skip the awesome crispy spinach. We supplemented this with some sort of cauliflower appetizer and also the crab cakes (it is hard for me to give details as the only real complaint I have about Rasika is that the menus – both food and drink – are printed in impossibly small type for those of us entering our second half century, and not just we semi-elderly if my younger dining companions can be believed.

The cauliflower was outstanding. This is the second great cauliflower dish I have had recently, both at Indian restaurants, and I must say it is making me rethink my lifelong loathing of cauliflower. This particular dish was in a very spicy brownish/reddish sauce or coating, sprinkled with small sliced green chilies (one of which I made the mistake, rather absent-mindedly, of eating.) The texture was almost that of a shrimp tempura or tender chicken, but with a hint of underlying sweetness (like shrimp) that set off the spicyness.

Michael also loved the crabcakes. I thought they were good also, but being a son of the Chesapeake, my palate has been trained that the less you do to crabcakes, the better. This meat was also flakier and less chunky than blue crab, I suspect maybe Jonah or rock crab…not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they say. Well, for non-traditional crabcakes they were very, very good.

For main courses Michael had the lamb gucci korma and I had the duck. The duck was superb, small slices fanned out on a plate with a rich sauce and accompanied by delicious orange flavored rice (that Michael, uncharacteristically, requested repeat tastes of) and caramelized orange peel. The lamb was also delicious, in a very subtle light tan creamy sauce and falling apart in tender chunks that tasted of the essence of lamb, with a few morels strewn in the sauce for good measure.

As sides I also ordered a smoked eggplant dish that was sensational, a rich brown mound that was kind of the consistency and pretty much the appearance of a pile of refried beans, but very complex and subtly spicy. I keep ordering these exotic dishes hoping that they will change Michael’s attitude toward eggplant (similar to mine about cauliflower). I think I am making progress…he did go for a second helping of what turned out to be a very generous portion…but progress is slow. We also had some cucumber raita...well, I did, for some reason couldn’t get Michael interested in it, but it did nicely cutting the spice of the duck and eggplant.

With dinner we drank a very pleasant New Zealand chardonnay from the Martinborough region, one of the less pricey choices ($52) from Rasika’s extensive and rather expensive list. Delightful, on the crisp side like a decent white Burgundy and went very well with the food.

Michael was in the mood for something sweet afterwards. He thought he was ordering a chocolate samosa, probably for my benefit, but ended up with an apple jaleh which is a kind of caramelized apple beignet with cardamom ice cream. Tasty, but not something that I’ll have dreams about later.

As usual dinner at Rasika was no bargain, a tab of $165 before tip, but we did order generously: 3 apps, 2 mains, 2 side dishes, and dessert. And the quality of the cooking was, as always, superb. Service was, as always, polite and professional.

San Francisco: Maverick

2009-12-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

By a stroke of luck, I happened to be in San Francisco on business and was there to celebrate our friend JP's birthday with him and his partner Rusty. After a warm-up glass or two of wine, we headed out to Maverick, a favorite of theirs in the Mission district near their home.

Maverick is a very small and atmospheric place with a nice, neighborhood, hip vibe. We were seated at a comfortable table and quickly began looking over the menu. I had had a particularly long day with no lunch so I was anxious to get some food on the table!

Rusty and JP recommended the fried chicken so that is what I had...in fact we all had the fried chicken, which might not have given a very broad picture of the menu, but at least it cut down on sharing. Being hungry, I started with clams casino....kind of a throwback to the 60s, or 70s maybe...anyhow something I haven't ordered in I don't know how long. The clams were OK, not overwhelming. Four smallish clams with some bacon and breadcrumbs. Maybe I expected more, maybe too much. Anyhow, no need to order this again for another 20 years. Rusty had a salad which looked perfectly pleasant but unremarkable.

Fortunately, the chicken was delicious, with a seasoning that was maybe a tad thicker and a hair less crisp than perfection (and by perfection I'm thinking of Mrs Rowe's Restaurant in Staunton, Virginia) but plenty good nonetheless..the seriousness of the breading was made passable, even desirable, because it was deliciously seasoned. Kind of like a crispy cream gravy wrapped around the chicken, which was two generous pieces bedded down on collard greens. We had a small side dish of mac and cheese with it which I think JP liked more than me. It certainly wasn't bad (hard to make mac and cheese that is actually bad) but I thought it could have been hotter and cheesier.

With the chicken, we started with a bottle of "champagne" (actually a bottle of method champenoise rose from Alsacee), quite delicious, and switched to a Lang & Hall cabernet franc at the urging of the enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and helpful sommelier. He was right, it was a good "food wine" with a very nice mix of fruit and acidity that was not overwhelmed by the bitterness of the collard greens. Wine prices in general seemed fair for the still wines and a bit high for the sparklers ($40 for Gruet? I mean, really, I like Gruet, but $40 for a bottle that's $13 retail seems a little much).

All in all a very festive evening and a place that perhaps Michael and I will visit together when we are back in the Bay Area for the holidays.

Masala Art: Nice local Indian

2009-12-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

Michael and I dropped into Masala, only a few blocks from home, in the middle of a day of errands to check it out for lunch. What we found was very pleasing.

Michael is, rightfully, suspicious of Indian restaurants with buffets as these often are a dumping ground otherwise uninspired cooking. But at $9.50, we figured we had little to lose.

The space is clean and attractive although the layout is a bit awkward, perhaps due to the need to reserve enough space in the back for the buffet tables. We were initially shown to a table near the buffet (which is in a relatively dark and spare section of the restaurant) but when we hesitated were cheerfully ushed to another table closer to the front.

In fact, we were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of what we ate. Perhaps one positive is that the restaurant did not try to create 20 different dishes, all badly. What we had was, in addition to the usual rice, a ground-lamb-and-lentil dish (tasty), a curried chicken (delicate…not nearly as spicy as I would have wished, but otherwise good), a lentil dal (no complaints), something with cauliflower and peas (normally I hate cauliflower, but I went back for seconds on this one), and a very rich spinach dish…I suspect much ghee included. In addition there was a table with ingredients for a salad and toppings for the various dishes, a bowl of raita, and some Indian rice pudding (kheer) for dessert. Fresh naan was delivered to the table (and replenished).

I would say the food tended toward the delicate rather than robust, but it was all delicious and of course you can’t beat the price. We intend to revisit the restaurant in the evening and see what the menu has to offer, as a buffet doesn’t really show off the ability of the kitchen.

Another very useful place within walking distance of our house…things are looking up!

Vidalia for Lunch

2009-12-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

With a couple of valued clients, I recently visited Vidalia, a place where I have always enjoyed the food but not always the ambiance so much. In fact the last I was there for dinner with our good dining buddies David & Ra'ed, for dinner on a Saturday night, when the food was delicious but the place was so empty and quiet that it was frankly, a bit depressing and very much detracted from our enjoyment. Not the restaurant's fault, really, I'm sure they would have preferred lots more people there, but not ours either.

I'm sorry to say that lunch, which previously I had noticed was a more popular meal, was more of the same story. We had a really delicious although not "fancy" lunch. My guests both had Reuben sandwiches which they seemed to enjoy heartily. I took advantage of a $24 three course special, which had a few options. I chose the pozole, not a traditional pozole but a small portion of a kind of deconstructed dish with hearty and savory broth accompanied by some plump hominy kernels (hence the pozole, I guess) and some bacony, piggy pieces. Really a nice starter. I then followed up with a Cuban sandwich (I must admit I am a sucker for Cuban sandwiches) which was huge, greasy, rich, filling, and altogether satisfying. Compared to a classical Cuban sandwich it was a little light on the pickles (which I think provide an important foil for the richness) and used roasted pork belly instead of ham just for a little more decadence. It was almost more than I could eat (well, I was with clients so I was trying to be polite). And to top everything off there was a choice of pecan pie or lemon chess pie. Fortunately my clients were willing to help out with the pie, which was excellent, not as treacly-sweet as pecan pie can be....if they hadn't they'd probably have had to cart me out in a wheelbarrow. What a wonderful value for $24.

Service was typically professional. Well, it was easy, I think there were only four other tables occupied in the room. Worked for us because we were discussing private business, but it can't be good for the restaurant. I'm afraid if this trend continues Vidalia is not long for this world, which would be a shame because the food there is really delicious and I think it deserves a wider following.

Acacia Bistro: Nice Place in our neighborhood

2009-12-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

Our good friend JP had returned to town from the wilds of San Francisco, where I hear it’s very hard to get a decent meal, so to celebrate we wandered down the hill to the newly-opened Acacia Bistro. We had been eyeing this place for about a month, intending to stop in, and heartened by the appearance of a decent place to eat within walking distance. The posted menu and wine list looked good and we were anxious to give it a try. In fact, we had given it a try a couple of weeks prior, with our friends Jeremy and Jen, but it turns out to be closed on Sundays, so we ended up at Buck’s Camping (about which see separate entry).

Anyhow, let’s get the bad stuff out of the way up front. The Washington Post writeup suggested that the owners, having changed concepts in mid-stream, had kind of run out of decorating money, and it shows, sort of. There are a lot of positives about the nice, clean looking, high ceilinged space. The big negative are the large plate glass windows overlooking a less than scenic corner of Connecticut Avenue – the space used to be a Schlottsky’s Deli and it still has a bit of that feel. Some kind of window treatment would do wonders.

The other negatives are that the tables are too small and the placemats are terrible. Well, that may seem like a minor thing to complain about but they tend to bunch up under the plates. We ended up rolling them up and sticking them on the spare chair. The tables, as I said, are too small for a place that specializes in small plates. What I find is with small plates, you end up with a lot of them and there was way too much balancing and shuffling going on.

The upside is that the food is very good and reasonably priced. There is a large portion of the menu devoted to flatbreads (basically, pizza). I didn’t think this was the most successful part of the meal as the pizza was a bit doughy and perhaps just a little underbaked. But the other dishes were terrific. I don’t remember all of them, but Turkish meatballs stands out [more] There is also a very interesting, well organized, and remarkably reasonably priced wine list. Of the perhaps 30 or selections, the vast majority were in the $30-35 range which is extremely fair these days. We started with a bottle of central California chardonnay –Santa Teresa Valley if I remember right – which was crisp and clean in the French style. JP and I moved on to a red from the Douro region which was very pleasant, earthy and gutsy in kind of a Spanish style without the dustiness and austerity that Spanish reds often exhibit.

The bill was very reasonable, just over $100 if I remember right and this was with two bottles of wine! Service was good if perhaps just a little over-solicitous…perhaps the waiter didn’t have enough to do.

Acacia also has what appears to be very generous happy hour specials (happy hour is from 430 to 8!) for people sitting at the bar, and I will have to check those out one day.

This is not the fanciest restaurant in the world, or the most perfect, but it is just the kind of friendly, interesting, reasonably priced, honest place that we all wish we had in our neighborhood. Now we do. Let's hope it makes it.

Buck's Camping

2009-11-15T06:55:00.000-08:00

With our friends Jeremy and Jennifer, we tried to visit the new bistro Acacia, conveniently down the street from our house, only to find to our dismay that it was closed on Sundays. We'll have to try another time and will give you a full report. Meanwhile, we decided against the old standbys in Cleveland Park and went up to Buck's, which Jeremy and Jen had been wanting to try. We hadn't been to Buck's in about 18 months...our last visit was memorable for a wonderful white gazpacho and generally enjoyable, so I'm not sure exactly why we haven't been back since, but we were happy with the idea.

The room was about half full when we entered a bit after 7, although most of that was occupied by an enormous birthday party. We were seated promptly and courteously. Service following was quite prompt and attentive, if not exactly warm. The menu is very short...five or six "snacks", a couple of steaks, fish tacos, and Sunday night specials which this Sunday night were turkey and white bean chili (with or without salad) and ribs. Not a lot for a vegetarian (Jennifer) but as usual she managed with a salad and some toasted almonds for a snack.

I opted for the ribs and Michael and Jeremy went for the turkey chili. We finally managed to select a wine from a very interesting and unusual, fairly priced list...we went for a Vouvray which was a good choice, nicely minerally without being mouth-dryingly acid.

Afterward Michael reported that the chili ($16 with salad) was "ok" but not exciting. The portion, attractively served in a metal camping-style bowl, seemed a bit skimpy. My ribs ($21 with potato salad) was a half rack. They were beautifully cooked and very tender. The sauce was a bit overly tangy for my taste and could have been commercial. The portion, like with the chili, left me wanting more, and I don't mean that in a good way. The salad consisted of a large portion of very fresh and tasty mixed greens, very (as in barely) dressed with some sort of lemon dressing. The quality of the greens was flawless.

Oddly, there was no mention of dessert on the menu nor were we asked whether we wanted coffee or anything else. The main courses were delivered, eaten, and removed and we then sat until we asked for the check. Given the small size of the portions, dessert would have been welcome.

All in all, not a meal that is likely to make us enthusiastic about a return visit any time soon. The food was tasty but not exceptional and the prices were fair. But portions were small and service largely unsmiling. I have heard the chef/owner, Carole Greenwood, has a reputation for being a little eccentric and this seemed to be consistent with that.

Nantucket: Straight Wharf

2009-09-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

AFter a long and tiring day of exploring the island, including a bike ride of well over 20 miles, we were ready for another delicious dinner. I had made, well in advance, a reservation at Straight Wharf restaurant which is one of the oldest fine restaurants in Nantucket. Having never eaten there in my early, somewhat impecunious visits, I was worried that maybe it was resting on its laurels or reputation, but I needn't have worried as we had a fine dinner there.

While relatively unprepossessing from the outside, the restaurant has a great setting overlooking a back corner of the harbor and the inside is warm and welcoming, with much dark wood in evidence set off by large windows. There was a large crowd at the entrance seeking admittance but we were welcoming and whisked promptly off to a choice table on a semi-enclosed deck overlooking the water (our choice).

Dinner was delicious. I started with a special of bonito while Michael had watermelon-based gazpacho. If I remember right, the bonito was raw and it was sweet and fresh like the best sushi. Even Michael, not one for much raw fish, savored it. For my main course, I could not pass up the dayboat scallops that Nantucket is known for, which were perfectly matched with corn, chanterelles and bacon just muted enough not to overwhelm the scallops. Michael had the wood-grilled chicken which if memory serves, he said was the best chicken he had ever had. For dessert we shared a pain perdu which I suspect Michael chose mostly because it came with peanut butter ice cream. Of course there was no chocolate involved which made it automatically second-rate in my opinion, but if you discount that it was terrific.

Straight Wharf is an expensive restaurant and the wines are very expensive. I don't remember what we drank...it was something from the cheaper end of the menu, still stingingly expensive and not memorable. I do concede, however, the logistical issues of getting wine onto the island must add some amount of complication and expense.

Nantucket: Town

2009-09-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

It had been a long day of traveling. We had left Bar Harbor, not without regret, at 8:30 in the morning on another beautiful sunny day, after another tasty breakfast at Cafe This Way (where we sat again at the Wonder Woman table...maybe it's reserved for gay people?). It was hard to guess how long the drive to Hyannis would take given the need to drive through the middle of Boston and fight Cape traffic. During the drive the clouds thickened and a drizzle started and it rained more or less consistently from Portsmouth south. But in the event, traffic was not too bad and even allowing for a brief shopping stop in Freeport, and a unplanned and worrisome detour through a very obscure part of Hyannis, caused by my ill-conceived decision (contrary to Michael's advice) to follow the GPS rather than the clearly posted signs...despite all of this, I say, we found ourselves parked and at the ferry terminal in time to catch the 3:15 ferry to Nantucket, which was well ahead of what I had dared to hope for.

We got on the ferry just as the skies really opened up and the downpour began. Fortunately an hour later when we arrived in Nantucket, it had diminished to just an occasional drizzle. Even with a considerable amount of luggage left in the car in Hyannis, we still struggled to transport our four pieces of luggage and two bicycles to the inn near the harbor, but after a few tense moments (and two stops to ask directions) we finally made it.

After settling into the inn, fending off the helpful but overly chatty receptionist, and cramming our assorted gear into our pleasant but compact room, we set off on an exploration of town. I had deliberately, and uncharacteristically, failed to make dinner reservations for that night because I wasn't sure exactly when we would arrive or how tired we would be. We had a delightful walk around town...Michael was as entranced as I had hoped he would be...but we had trouble settling on a place to eat. Well, what to do? What we normally do, which is go have a drink while we contemplated the situation.

We found ourselves just east of Main Street and fell into a stylish and attractive looking place called Town. The bar, and bartender, were welcoming and we settled ourselves happily on a stool for closer examination.

Being hot and thirsty, I started with a quick beer, followed by a ginger martini, which served as our initially, and ultimately costly, introduction to a ginger liqueur called Domaine de Canton. Michael was tempted by, I think, an Asian pear mojito but quickly switched to the ginger martini for the second round.

We were having such a good time that we decided to stay for dinner; a great deal of this was due to the friendly and welcoming presence of bartender Graeme Fleming, a Scot who came to Nantucket 19 years ago and never left. The menu at Town is heavily Indian-inspired. Well, mostly. We started with a couple of tiny "truffled sliders" which were just as good as they sounded...outstanding in fact. I could have made a meal of them, but it would have taken about a dozen. Following most of Graeme's recommendations, I started with an appetizer portion of Weeping Tiger Shrimp (with coconut milk and chilies) and followed with a lamb vindaloo...very tasty, but not nearly as spicy as a true Indian vindaloo, which was probably just as well under the circumstances. Think well seasoned lamb stew and you have the picture. Michael had a nice green mango salad to start and a dish combining soba noodles, broth, and braised short ribs. All delicious. With it Michael had a Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, no surprise, while I had what I think was a Blue Pirate Pinot Noir (after rejecting a Hangtown as too thin...or maybe it was the reverse...my notes are very sketchy as Graeme was extremely generous about keeping our wine glasses topped up plus treating us to a bit of a taste of Domaine de Canton as a digestif).

All in all, a wonderful evening and a great introduction to the delights of Nantucket.

Maritime Cafe, Stonington, Maine

2009-09-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day we decided to drive down to Blue Hill for a bit of sightseeing and antiquing. We found Blue Hill OK but most of the shops were closed (although we did spend some time in an interesting art gallery) and most of the eating options were also unavailable...those that were open didn't look too interesting. Not being in a hurry, and wanting to show Michael more of the coast, we decided to drive down to Stonington. Well, it is a longer drive than I thought (about an hour from Blue Hill) but an interesting and attractive one.

The town was beautiful and we parked right in front of a little cottage offering the best lobster rolls in Maine. Well, naturally we had to check that out and were disappointed to learn that they had actually run out of lobster meat! So we went reconnoitering, which doesn't take too long in Stonington. We considered the Fisherman's Friend, which seems to be the popular choice judging from the number of pickup trucks parked in front, but Michael found a small cafe on the other end of the short main street and we wandered down for a look.

Let's cut to the chase. It was one of the most memorable impromptu lunches we have ever had. We had a table on the end of a wooden deck jutting over Stonington Harbor, overlooking the busy commercial pier where lobstermen were coming in to unload the day's catch. Meanwhile schooners and yachts could be seen traversing Deer Island Thoroughfare and, in the distance, Merchant Row, which made me wish I had access to any sort of a sailboat.

We split an order of crabcakes as a starter. At the risk of being excommunicated as a native Marylander, they may have been the best crabcakes ever, full of sweet and flaky Maine crabmeat. We also had corn and crab chowder which was equally delicious. We then each had a lobster roll which was perfect in its unadorned simple perfection. Perfectly toasted and buttered bun with no distractions. My only regret is that I did not order the "jumbo" roll for another $4.

With our lunch we had a couple of local draft beers which were perfect. Just a perfect lunch. If you're near Stonington, don't miss it...and order the jumbo lobster roll.

Docksider for Lunch

2009-09-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

On our first full day in Acadia, Michael and I started on a longish bike ride over the carriage trails. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather really, and we felt very privileged to be there. After riding through much of the park, we emerged near Jordan Pond House and decided to pop down to Northeast Harbor to see what was going on. (I was having some bike trouble and hoped to find a bike shop open). We looked into, and rejected the Colonel's Restaurant for reasons nonspecific but shared by both of us, and ultimately fell into the Docksider on Sea Street. This is a place I had eaten in several times while on boat trips...it is the closest restaurant to the NE Harbor marina...but of course the last such time was now well over 10 years ago. While it did seem to run a significant "touristy" risk, given the few options, we decided to take a chance.

Well, we were glad we did. We both had soup and a sandwich...clam chowder and haddock sandwich for Michael, fish chowder and crab roll for me. Soup was delicious, unthickened so therefore more milky than you would find in Boston, but full of flavor and generous with ingredients. The crab roll was outstanding, the usual bun stuffed full of sweet flaky Maine crab to which I was rapidly becoming addicted. With it I had a local beer and Michael had a local ("Old Soaker") root beer which he was wild about. Even I liked it, and I can't stand root beer. Service was prompt and friendly and the cost was reasonable.

After a brief stop to get my bike fixed, we were back on the trails, well fed and happy.

Havana: Not Quite What We Remembered

2009-09-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

After an easy drive from Freeport to Bar Harbor, we checked in to our rental house, got settled, and did a little wandering through the crowds of Bar Harbor and food shopping at the unexciting but utilitarian supermarket. However, after our long 3 days of driving we felt like going out and celebrating our arrival in Acadia and so naturally our thoughts turned to Havana, certainly the most stylish place in Bar Harbor. We secured an 8:00 reservation and turned up a bit early to find several other parties also waiting in the crowded little bar.

Well, that was no problem, we never mind a pre-prandial cocktail (never mind the bottle of champagne we had consumed an hour before to celebrate our arrival). The wait did go on a bit longer than usual and seating was at a premium..in fact we and a few others were forced to stand rather uncomfortably in the small space, but I suppose that's the price of arriving on Labor Day weekend. The bartender, a real character with a long white beard, finally had time for us and mixed up a couple of caipirinhas which to our taste were rather uncomfortably sharp. Soon after, we were escorted (with appropriate apologies) to our table.

My notes on the meal seem to be incomplete but I do remember ordering seared scallops as an appetizer and duck leg confit with lentils as a main course. Michael's main course was a seafood stew. The scallops were fine. The confit was also good, but seemed a bit skimpy...it was, indeed, a duck leg (but only a leg) on a modest-sized bed of lentils with no other sausage or accompaniments. Michael's seafood stew was tasty, but we agreed it was a bit one-dimensional in flavor and also quite skimpy on the broth.

Somehow the idea of more wine just didn't get us excited so we opted for a couple of cocktails to go with dinner...some sort of Caribbean-themed martini which I remember as being rather tangy. Perhaps the same bartender had a bit of a heavy hand with the lime juice for both sets of cocktails.

In any case, we left Havana feeling a bit disappointed in the meal compared to our experience in 2005. On the bright side, we did manage to secure a spot at their farm dinner for two nights later, which turned out to be a highlight of our trip.

Fore Street

2009-09-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Our much needed vacation started with a drive to Freeport, Maine and a few productive hours in the outlet shops before we headed back to Portland for our much awaited dinner at Fore Street, perhaps our favorite restaurant in the US (or certainly in the top 5). Calling two weeks in advance, we could only get a reservation at 6 pm and that was before the recent NY Times and Bon Appetit articles heralding Portland as a great restaurant city.

In any case, 6:00 or not, we walked in to the restaurant with great anticipation and were greeted as usual very cordially and shown quickly to a fine table near the back overlooking the room and with a view of the harbor as well. Our personable and very professional server brought us menus and we set out to peruse...as usual we had a very difficult time limiting ourselves to just one appetizer and main per person, so in this case we didn't.

To begin with Michael chose a simple salad of lettuce with pears and blue cheese, while I could not, as usual, resist the seared foie gras. In this case however it was delivered with two more or less equally sized little lobes of foie (about the size of your little finger, or mine anyhow) which made it ideal for sharing. Just a perfect couple of mouthfuls of rich goodness, while the salad was a light and fresh opener..not anything you couldn't make yourself at home given access to the right ingredients, but perfectly executed nonetheless.

As a shared third appetizer, we had the roasted tomato tart with goat cheese, which was wonderful...roasted tomatoes have such a rich and fulfilling flavor and seem very consistently satisfying, especially in this year of disappointing tomatoes.

To accompany the early courses, our server enthusiastically approved of my choice of a Trimbach Reserve Pinot Gris 2004, commenting that it was one of her favorite food wines. Michael could tell by my face after the first taste that it was not quite what I expected...it was in fact a bit more austere and less rich than I had expected or that we have experienced with many other Alsatian Pinots Gris. More like an Oregonian one, in fact, or maybe the Oregon ones are a better imitation of Trimbach.

In any case, the wine grew on us and it was indeed a very good foil for the food, not terribly assertive in its own right but a very low-key and complementary addition to the meal.

Having now taken off the initial hunger pangs, we eagerly awaited the arrival of our main courses. Michael had ordered the roast chicken, as he seems often to do, while I had opted for a special consisting of a roast leg of pork combined with shredded pork shoulder. Both were excellent, not terribly complex but very good. I compared the pork favorably to the similar version we had had at Sorellina in Boston over the summer...as Michael said this was "very porky" but he meant that in a good way...it was full of taste and flavor without being excessively gamy or assertive. It just tasted the way it should, which I suppose is a good summation of the food at Fore Street.

Dessert was magnificent. Michael had a selection of sorbets while I had a kind of chocolate terrine that was simply outstanding...one of the richest, most chocolate-suffused desserts I have ever had. If it were possible to experience chocolate overload (which of course is not possible) this dish would have triggered it.

We left the restaurant very satisfied and very happy to be starting our holiday in Maine. As always, we did not feel that the food was the most innovative or most interesting that we have ever had, but the combination of impeccable ingredients, careful and unfussy preparation, professional service, and a warm, welcoming, and lively atmosphere made us recall why we try to eat at Fore Street whenever we pass through Portland.

Lobster Rolls at Harraseeket

2009-09-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

It gives you an idea of our yen for lobster rolls when I say that upon entering Maine, we drove straight to Harraseeket Lobster for lunch without stopping anywhere else, not even to unpack the car. Well, we were also driven by time...it was well after one and we were mindful of our looming 6 pm dinner reservation at Fore Street.

Well, the lobster rolls did not disappoint, although by the end of our trip in Maine, having consumed some superior ones, we would not make a detour back to South Freeport. They were tasty, and the mix of meat and mayo was good. The strip of lettuce underneath did not add much to the equation, and compared to rolls further down east, these might be considered a little skimpy (and a little expensive). But I suppose that must be expected in the tourist mecca of Freeport. As usual the whoopie pie was sublime and addictive...the kind of thing that you tell yourself you will only have a bite of, and are then surprised to find it is all gone.

If Freeport is as far as you are going in Maine, I certainly would not hesitate to stop here. But if it is for you, as it was for us, only a brief detour on the way much further east, I would probably hold out for something a little further off the beaten path and a little better value. More to follow on this.

Black's Bar: Nice but expensive -- and SLOW

2009-08-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

After a long drive back from the beach, we arrived home well after 7 and in no mood to cook anything. Our car discussion focused around something "exotic" but since we had no appetite for a long drive, even as far as downtown, that ruled out things like Rasika even if we could have gotten a reservation. I pushed Indique as an alternative, or possibly the bar at Palena (not exactly exotic) but somehow we ended up at Black's Bar in Bethesda.

My initial worries about whether we could get a table were unfounded...the place was almost totally empty. There must be something going on...was there a food poisoning episode or something we were unaware of? In any case, we plunked ourselves down in the bar (slightly more atmospheric than the deserted dining room) and waited to order. And waited, and waited. For a deserted restaurant, service sure was slow. The waiter was friendly, and competent when he showed up, but that took a lot longer than it should have. Given that we were sitting in plain view.

Ordering was a bit complicated by the fact that the appetizer/salad half of the menu was missing from both our menus (and not just ours...we saw this happen to at least one other person) so the menu appeared quite limited. After some considerable delay, Michael finally managed to get a bottle of wine ordered...he splurged, somewhat, on a bottle of Silverado Chardonnay which was certainly pleasant, if a bit on the austere side, but hardly worth $54, I didn't think.

Anyhow, we finally got the menu situation straightened out, ordered, and got food. I have to say that once it finally got there, the food was excellent. Michael had an arugula salad and I, on his recommendation, had the fried artichoke salad. He followed up with the salmon (naturally) and I had the seafood stew, which was really quite good...full of shellfish and with a delicious spicy tomato-based broth that stood up very well on its own. And very filling.

The tab for all of this pleasure was $120 plus tip. I really can't complain about the quality and good food is rarely cheap, especially not fish. However, I usually leave the Black restaurants...whether the Bar & Kitchen or Blacksalt...feeling like the evening was expensive for what it was. I suppose I wish we could run in there and grab an informal meal and get out for less than $100, which I suppose we COULD if we didn't keep drinking $50 bottles of wine.

Stars Bistro...No Stars

2009-07-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

With Rusty & JP, often referenced in this blog, we dined, if that's the right word, at Stars Bistro on P Street. The main advantage of Stars is that it is a short walk from Rusty & JP's place. That may indeed, based on our visit, be its only advantage.

In any case we had much to catch up on with the boys and were delighted to see them...potential job changes all around the table, them moving, us staying put, and so forth so the food was somewhat incidental. Fortunately.

Let me just say for starters that it is located in the Residence Inn. Need I say more?

We started with a mix of Mediterranean style appetizers...I had baba ghanoush, having been warned away from the tabouli ("too much parsley") by the charming and friendly, but somewhat clueless waiter. The boys had hummus, Michael had a salad. Well, the apps were edible, although not as good as what you get in plastic tubs from Whole Foods. The pita bread that came with it was stale. Not a good sign.

For dinner we all had hamburgers except for JP who ate some sort of other salad. I followed the time-tested "hamburger rule" which says that if you think the food is going to be bad, order a hamburger, they can't screw it up that much. Well, it worked, in that they didn't screw it up much, but it was no more than edible. With it the boys and I had a $30 bottle of Australian Shiraz (some sort of critter wine) marked down to $15, which price we found hard to resist. JP's comment after the first taste: "well, we didn't overpay". Michael had a couple of glasses of some nondescript white.

The bill came to about $22 a person, which these days is kind of shockingly cheap, but then again it wasn't very good. Other than proximity, or desperation, I can't imagine a good reason to visit this place again.

Boston: O Ya

2009-07-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Having spent a very enjoyable day wandering around Boston, we convened with our foodie friends David & Ra'ed for a late (9 pm) dinner at O Ya, perhaps the most acclaimed new restaurant in Boston. We stopped off for a preprandial appetite sharpener at No. 9 Park, just a block from our hotel, where we enjoyed delicious cocktails and a few nuts with the gregarious and hospitable bartender. (He was extremely accommodating when Ra'ed's glass of pinot gris proved to be corked..for the first time in my experience, the color of the wine was OK but there was a distinct odor and flavor of cork. It appears to have been a bad batch). Indeed, we were enjoying ourselves so much it was hard to tear ourselves away but we finally managed to.

It was a short, but not terribly scenic, walk through the deserted Boston financial district until we finally found O Ya at the edge of downtown. Ra'ed's iPhone served us well in step by step navigation.

Once inside, we were promptly seated at four corner stools at the bar. The restaurant is very small...only about 10 tables plus about another dozen seats or so at the bar. Properly positioned, we had a direct view of the chefs who, sushi-bar style, put together most of the menu.

Well, once again I had neglected to bring my reading glasses and my only real complaint was that the small type on the menu (necessary to cover the large number of possible options) and rather dim lighting made choosing difficult. Too difficult, frankly, so I opted for the omakase menu in which David (always a fan of tasting menus) was happy to join me. Michael and Ra'ed, being either more finicky or less sight-impaired, decided to pick their own courses.

What a meal we had! Easily the most memorable since we last ate at Alinea, and maybe before. The tasting menu was a LONG procession of courses, not quite as overwhelming as Alinea, and certainly not as "out there" in the tastes and techniques. Just delicious, wonderful food, probably 14 or 15 small tastes, each more delicious than the rest. I won't bother to try to single out any of them individually; in fact I really can't remember the specifics (although what I can only describe as a potato chip laced with truffle oil did wow all four of us). Just an extraordinary meal. With dinner we started with a bottle of Trimbach Pinot Gris ($46) which went so well with the wide variety of food that we stuck with it. Michael and Ra'ed, who were at the far end and perhaps not paying close attention, or maybe in a food stupor, were amazed that no matter how much they drank, the bottle never seemed to run out. (I kept reordering...we went through 3 bottles, not bad considering how little Ra'ed drinks. Of course we were there for close to 3 hours).

The cost of this extravaganza: $415 including tax and tip. Expensive, yes, but I would do it again any time we happen to be in Boston. It was one of the best high-end food experiences we have ever had, and if any $400 dinner can be said to be a bargain, this one was.

Boston: Sorellina

2009-07-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

At long last I was dragging Michael to Boston, a new place for him and a return to old and happy haunts for me. While we were joining friends on Saturday night, we were on our own for Friday. Where to go? After much research and visits to local Boston blogs and boards, I settled on Sorellina near the Hancock building.

It turned out to be an excellent choice. The restaurant was not full when we arrived a little early for our 7:30 reservation, but soon all the seats were taken. It is a large room, well broken up, expensively decorated, and with an excellent lighting level. Too often places are either so bright as to ruin any sort of relaxing or romantic mood, or so dark that you're fumbling with a flashlight to see your food, never mind read the menu.

The meal did get off to a slightly rocky start. We ordered gimlets as an appetizer, celebrating, if that's the right word, Michael's abrupt disassociation with his employer of five years. The server -- extremely knowledgeable and professional -- asked us if we wanted fresh lime juice or Rose's in the gimlet. Nice of her to ask. Naturally we chose fresh. However, when the gimlets came they were exceptionally...tart. I didn't mind that much but Michael felt it was undrinkable (and for him, that's saying something!). Fortunately the server noticed our distress and quickly brought us new drinks, cheerfully and without hesitation, for which we were very grateful. Frankly, the new ones were not up to the level of Blacksalt, which is kind of our gold standard for gimlets, but we did manage to finish them (big surprise) and move on to a nice bottle of Mark Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris.

Dinner was terrific. Sorellina is certainly Italian themed in the best sense of simple and delicious cooking, not overly fussy. At our server's recommendation, I started with the grilled octopus while Michael had the "verdure" -- a salad of spinach, artichokes, and pancetta. The salad was excellent and the octopus, with a bed of squid ink couscous, sublime...Michael had 2 bites which given his inner ambivalence about octopus, really is saying something.

We then had half pasta portions...fettucine with wild mushrooms for me, red beet ravioli for him. Both were sublime. I was a little startled at my first taste of the ravioli, having misread the menu in the dark as "red beef ravioli". Gotta start carrying those reading glasses.

For main courses Michael had roasted chicken and I had the double pork chop. Both were good, but the chicken was better, the pork being just a bit too plain for my taste. And maybe just a tad overcooked...it was pink as requested, but not quite as juicy as I might have wished.

Nonetheless, it was a lovely dinner and a memorable evening. Not cheap..somewhat over $200 before tip...but certainly a very happy choice.

Dino: Great Wine List

2009-06-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

With our friends Rusty and JP, late of our New Mexico adventure, we convened at Dino in Cleveland Park for a late Friday evening supper. Despite its proximity to Bardeo, one of our usual hangouts, we had never eaten at Dino, which has a reputation for an awesome wine list.

We got off to a slightly awkward start as there was no record of our OpenTable dinner reservation (which could have been my fault). However, the restaurant was not full and we were quickly and cheerfully shown to a table...we chose one in the quieter upstairs area.

JP and Rusty arrived rather damp from a tremendous thunderstorm that had caught them walking to Metro, and had to fortify themselves in the bar before facing the arduous set of steps up to our second floor table. Rusty had grabbed a glass of rose on the way up, most likely the Dal Maso Tai Rosso from the Veneto, which we all agreed (I helped myself to a taste) was pretty unexciting...not a great start. Meanwhile, JP, in need of more fortification, had tried a "spa" cocktail which mixed Hendricks gin, cucumber flavor, and lime juice among other things. It was tasty on first sip but we also agreed that the cucumber and lime were not such a good mix, the lime being a bit too acrid.

Things improved after that. Michael and I each ordered a rose tasting flight, which seemed expensive at $15 but it turned out to be three pretty hefty portions of wine. The only one I can remember is the first, a Littorai Pinot Noir Gris from Anderson Valley, which was off dry and delicious. The other two were also extremely tasty and increasingly hefty (in fact the third one seemed a lot more like a red than a rose to me)...so much so that when Rusty and JP had polished off their rather unfortunate first drink choices they joined us in the tasting sampler.

Since we were in no rush we ordered some appetizers for the table...a plate of burrata, a cured meat (salumi) plate, and an unusual black cabbage bruschetta which was, basically, upside down (the bread was on the top). All were tasty and quickly consumed. My impression was that the portions were not overly generous but when you have four hungry men picking at an appetizer, it's not going to last for long.

After the appetizers, we each had a half portion of pasta...Michael and I had boar tagliatelle and Rusty and JP had something else, all delicious (enough that I wished I had ordered a full portion) but not particularly memorable.

Service was very professional and attentive (and provided by an extremely attractive waiter, who caught the attention of more than one person at the table).

Having dessert waiting at the house, we finished our wine and departed, with a group of satisfied boys and plans to return soon.

Cafe St-Ex

2009-06-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I dropped by my friend Bill's house to visit with him, his mother (visiting from Boston) and his toddling daughter Eileen. After some pleasantries, we ventured around the corner to Cafe St-Ex, one of my favorite little places in DC.

We were seated promptly at an outside table, which proved to be a mixed blessing as it was early (6:30) and still quite warm. We all anxiously awaited the moment when the sun dropped behind a nearby apartment building.

The restaurant quickly filled up. We were there to catch up and keeping Eileen reasonably close to the table (she has recently become proficient at walking and is happily exercising this new power) took precedence over food and drink. Nonetheless, we had a very pleasant meal.

We started with a shared appetizer of "chicken confit sliders" which was perhaps the least successful dish I have ever had at this restaurant. There is probably a reason why I have never seen chicken confit anywhere else as I think it is just too insubstantial to stand up to whatever treatment it received. What we got was two small buns smeared with a chickeny paste which was more or less the exact consistency of tuna salad. Not bad, but not good, and distinctly odd.

Main courses were more successful. Bill and mother Jean had the burgers which were as good as always. I briefly pined for one but was very happy with my choice, a fried green tomato BLT which was both delicious and relatively light, given the heat, and accompanied by tasty sweet potato fries. (The regular fries that came with the burgers were also excellent).

With dinner, and before, I had a couple of Unibroue Maudite beers. I mourn the disappearance of Delirium Tremens from the draft beer menu here and hope the management will restore it (it is still on the bottled beer menu, at a staggering $24 per 750 ml bottle). However the Maudite was an excellent substitute, a bit darker than DT but with the same quality and overall taste. Bill had some sort of nondescript lager and Jean had a G&T, neither worthy of special note.

Cafe St Ex remains one of those great local places that makes me wish I still lived closer.

Santa Fe: Cafe Pasqual's

2009-05-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

Back in Santa Fe with our friends Rusty and JP, we had been foiled (by the 40 minute wait) in our attempt to have breakfast at Pasqual's, ending up at the French Pastry Cafe for the second day in a row. That evening's dinner was planned for La Choza, so you can imagine our horror when we found that La Choza was not open on Sundays! (I suppose we should have checked, but it did not occur to us until we drove up). Tomasita's, our second choice, was similarly closed, so we decided to take a flyer on Pasqual's.

To our great good fortune, there was only about a 10 minute wait and we were ushered to a table overlooking the room. Then the feast began.

JP and I split appetizers of pupusas and tacos barbacoa, while Michael enjoyed grilled asparagus wrapped in Parmesan and Rusty had a simple romaine salad. For the main courses, both Rusty and Michael opted for the "sampler platter": chile relleno, chicken mole enchilada, and taco do carnitas, to which Rusty added the optional barbacoa skewer. JP went for the straight chicken mole enchiladas while I had the pork and green chile carnitas.

Without attempting to describe every dish, let me just say that all of them were fantastic. The mole was deep, rich, and spicy. The pupusas (a new experience for all of us) were fascinating. I don't think I even got a taste of the chile relleno, Michael gobbled it up before I could grab a taste. Everything had wonderful flavor and was simply amazing. With all of that we washed it down with beers to start and a very pleasant bottle of rose to follow...we were all impressed that asked to recommend a rose from the three on the interesting list, our friendly and professional waiter recommended the least expensive one.

Toward the end of the meal, Michael and I agreed that we had found our new favorite restaurant in Santa Fe...hardly an undiscovered gem, to be sure, but a wonderful and festive meal. It was not cheap (about $220 for the 4 of us with one round of drinks and a bottle of wine) but in terms of the quality of flavors and enjoyment of the experience, it was certainly the most memorable meal we have had.

More Santa Fe Dining

2009-05-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Rather than giving a full entry to each, in the interest of time I thought I would summarize some of our recent dining experiences in Santa Fe.

As always, the French Pastry Cafe was useful, friendly, and efficient. I had a cherry tart the first day that wasn't the best (a little dry and flaky). The cafe au lait was terrific. The chocolate croissants were the largest we have ever seen, and are good, not just big. The chorizo egg and cheese crepe is an excellent hangover treatment. We ended up here 3 of our 4 mornings.

Bobcat Bite. The burger is all it's cracked up to be, one of the best anywhere. The wait was not too long and the staff is remarkably friendly. We had a nice view of hummingbirds out the back window. Not too much to say for the decor, but the burgers were great.

Coyote Cantina. We ate here the first night; it was pleasant, friendly, and welcoming. The menu was interesting but the food fell a little bit flat, we thought. Not bad, just not memorable. Lively crowd and decent service. The charge for chips and guacamole seemed a little much.

Tune-up Cafe. Great breakfast/brunch our last day. Huevos rancheros were good, but left me a little hungry. The breakfast burritos could not be improved on. Friendly, funky atmosphere.

Aqua Santa. We had a very nice meal here which somehow, for us, did not reach the heights of our original meal. The room was crowded and hot (it was a pleasant, not overly warm evening outside) and the meal took a long time. Service was excellent. The food was good but not nearly as memorable as our meal at Cafe Pasqual the following evening. Much more romantic and elegant setting, though.

Bumblebees. As good as ever. Some odd anomalies there...the interior of a fast food joint, but cloth napkins. Serve yourself chip bar is a treat, but much of the salsa seemed a bit pallid (nothing really spicy). Tacos were good...the shrimp still is the best of the sampler platter. Next time I will skip the others and go straight for the shrimp. The mango soda was a little over the top for our taste.

Sadly, the tamale bar at the Whole Foods is no more. The guacamole bar is a poor substitute. It's still the best Whole Foods I've ever been in, however. We put together a meal for Rusty and JP (they were arriving late) which was terrific, and bountiful, but expensive...those items from the buffet really add up at $9 a pound.

Rasika: A lesson for other restaurants

2009-02-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

We went to Rasika on Friday, February 13th as part of our traditional pre-trip night out. Our reservation was for 6:30...I arrived just a couple of minutes early and Michael was less than 5 minutes late. I checked in with the very courteous host when I arrived and was offered the chance to sit at the table, but declined since I knew Michael was just a few minutes away (looking for parking, as a matter of fact).

By the time Michael arrived, the offered table was no longer available. The host solicitiously asked if we had a time problem, like a movie or theater curtain, and was assured that we did not. We waited peacefully for a few minutes and the host returned, visibly embarrassed, to say that he thought it might be 15 minutes or so until our table was ready. Perhaps we would like to have a seat at the bar (there was a small table open) and have a drink on the house while we waited? Well, indeed we would. And we were most appreciative also.

We each ordered a blood orange margarita, which was delicious, and the waiter also brought a complementary small plate of papadums with some of Rasika's delightful dipping sauces. We were in no particular hurry and it seemed like only a few more minutes (in reality, it was close to 7) before the host returned, still apologetic, and said he had a table for us.

On the way over to the table, the host apologized yet again and said the restaurant wanted to buy us an appetizer in exchange for the inconvenience. We said that this really wasn't necessary, that the drink was enough, but he insisted. So we ordered an tandoori chicken appetizer from the friendly and professional server. It arrived very promptly along with an unasked for but extremely welcome serving of the crispy fried spinach which is one of Rasika's signatures! We felt, frankly, a little overwhelmed by the largess.

Having consumed the appetizers and finished our drinks, we joked about being satisfied and leaving with a free evening. But of course we each had a glass of wine and an appetizer (Michael's lamb rogan josh was as excellent as ever, while my fish curry seemed a bit too refined -- i.e. bland -- but I suppose the chef didn't want to overwhelm the delicate fish, and the texture was excellent).

Having just paid for two glasses of wine and two entrees, plus a generous tip, we left having had a very economical evening. We made sure to stop on the way out to thank the host again for his generosity. His actions took what might have been a minor annoyance and left us with extremely positive feelings toward Rasika and reminded us why it may be our favorite restaurant in DC.

Vegetate: Just like the name says

2009-01-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

We visited this restaurant near the convention center with our friends Jeremy and Jennifer to celebrate Jennifer's new job in the administration. She is a vegetarian and is always on the lookout for decent vegetarian places, which I suspect from my limited experience is a pretty tough search. Anyhow, Vegetate is in a neighborhood which one might say is, um...unpretentious? not yet suffering from gentrification? a throwback to yesteryear? Well, maybe all of the above, but the good news was that we found a parking place right in front (even better, there is a big picture window so I could keep an eye on the car, which I found vaguely reassuring even though the neighborhood isn't that bad, really. I think.)

The restaurant is very spare and minimal, kind of in the mindset of minimalist vegetarianism I suppose, but nicely lit and quite welcoming. There is a smallish dining room on the first floor and apparently some other seating on the second floor which we didn't see.

We were greeted and seated promptly as the room was not crowded. We quickly ordered wine from the short but interesting and very reasonably priced list, then turned to scanning the menu. I am sure Jennifer was relieved not to have to look at the tail end of the menu for the chef's vegetable plate or some other afterthought and instead to be able to choose from the entire menu. We were too. The menu was quite interesting and well split up.

At our table, various people ordered the vegetate burgers, risotto croquettes, a green salad, edamame, sesame crusted tofu, and a Spanish omelette...at least I remember all of those things. There might have been more. The burgers were surprisingly tasty if a little lacking in condiments (isn't ketchup a vegetable?) and the croquettes were quite good. I ordered the tofu as a "large plate" and it was quite a generous portion..I ended up giving a third of it to Jeremy, who can really pack it away, and a good chunk to Michael and still had plenty for myself. Michael was a little un-thrilled with his Spanish omelette since as he said, "I could make this at home" but I suppose there's only so much you can do with such a thing.

I was actually quite satisfied and uncharacteristically didn't order dessert, but Jeremy and Michael ordered the apple crisp which personally I felt was long on crisp and a bit short on apple (it was also vegan, which is an awfully high hurdle for any kind of baked goods and one for which this particular dish fell a little short).

The tab, with two glasses of white for Michael and a bottle of pleasant but undistinguished red for the rest of us (some sort of Chilean Malbec, as I recall) came to a bit under $90 per couple before tip which qualifies as a cheap night out in my book. Service, I must say, was a bit erratic as our waitperson tried to take an order for wine about four times in the first five minutes we were sitting; evidently becoming bored with our indecision, she retaliated by disappearing from some time after that until we had to flag down reinforcements. She then made appearances at irregular intervals thereafter before apparently being replaced by an understudy.

I can't say that the food or ambiance at Vegetate were great, but they were certainly pleasant. Vegetarian cooking, like kosher cooking, puts a fairly stiff handicap in front of the average chef and seems only fair to grade on some sort of a curve; with that in mind I will say that it was a very enjoyable evening and were I for some reason looking for a vegetarian dinner, this would certainly be worth a repeat visit. I will also say that post-dinner, I did feel quite satisfied and yet very comfortable so maybe there's something to this vegetarian stuff after all.

Founding Farmers: Great, Except for the Food

2009-01-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

I met my friend Bill for lunch downtown and he suggested that we try Founding Farmers, which is right around the corner from his office at the World Bank, instead of one of our usual 19th Street standbys. Having taken a look at the menu on line, I happily agreed.

On a snowy and cold day in DC, the dining room did not appear full at 12:45 when we walked in. Nonetheless, the courteous hostess said there would be a 25 minute wait for a table (perhaps the open tables were reserved?). But we were welcome to sit at the bar, and so we did.

There were lots of positive things we found about FF. The menu is very well constructed, with lots of appealing options mostly oriented toward comfort-type foods (meatloaf, chicken pot pie, entree salads, and so forth). The prices are very fair for a downtown restaurant and the portions are generous, to say the least. Unfortunately the food was not very exciting.

Bill and I split a "flatbread" with prosciutto and figs and mascarpone. The portion was generous -- three good sized slices. When I think of flatbread I expect a kind of thin crusted pizza. This was, however, literally a kind of flat bread. Not that flat. It sort of resembled a piece of country wheat bread with stuff on top, more like what you might expect from bruschetta. The topping was of good quality but the mascarpone was smeared on the top like butter and made the whole thing rather greasy. In general I would say the dish lacked seasoning.

While I was intrigued by some of the comfort food options on a cold snowy day, and Bill initially was leaning toward a salad, we ultimately opted for burgers...I had the simple cheeseburger and Bill had a "Frisco" burger with a variety of toppings including avocado. Mine was a very generous portion for $10, almost more than I could eat (and that's saying something!). The meat was allegedly hand ground but frankly I could not tell the difference. I had ordered it medium rare and I thought it was a tad underdone but frankly medium rare is a matter of opinion and this was certainly within the range of tolerance.

The big disappointment is that this big, attractive burger just didn't taste like much. It tasted like a big pile of unseasoned meat. The fries that came with it were limp and also not particularly flavorful (which of course did not stop me from eating most of them in the interest of research). It would appear that the kitchen's supply of salt had been exhausted...perhaps they had used it all to clear up the sidewalks in front of the restaurant and there was none left for the food. Or maybe there are salt and pepper shakers on the tables and we missed out by sitting at the bar.

With the burgers we each had a beer (Stone IPA, quite tasty, although they were out of my first choice, Bell's Two Hearted Ale). The food and beer came to just under $40 which I thought was an amazing bargain for a generous lunch in the heart of downtown. I just wish the food had been tastier. I will try it again, though, in the hope that perhaps I just chose badly, since I would love for a place like this with an attractive setting and very fair prices to succeed.

Brasserie Beck: Revisiting an Old Favorite

2009-01-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Our friends Matt and Brendan were visiting from San Francisco and we decided to show them a bit of DC liveliness. So we headed over to Beck's after a stop for a pick-me-up at Halo.

The evening started with a good omen as we found a parking space right around the corner...a good thing as it was a freezing cold night and the Californians were not dressed for the occasion despite borrowing a good portion of our winter clothing. We strolled in and claimed our table.

As usual, the atmosphere was lively and festive despite the late hour (we could only get a 9:00 reservation). There was some awkwardness as we juggled food, wine, and beer menus. As usual at Beck's since beer is really the focus, we all decided to have beer and yet it takes forever to go through the hundreds of beers available. Why don't they make more than one menu available per table? As it turned out the first of us took about 5 minutes to pick a beer, which is not surprising, and then there was an awkward situation with the waiter...does he bring the first person his beer and then come back for the next order? Does he wait until everybody's ready? By the time the list got to me I just picked something I knew since I really didn't have time to go through the whole list without feeling impossibly rushed. Note to restaurant: one list for each person, please.

The food, as usual, was delicious. Well, mostly. We shared a pot of mussels and fries which were as good as always. We also shared a duck sausage appetizer which was terrific. I was pleased to see Michael eating the mussels since after a very unfortunate encounter at BlackSalt he has been off mussels for about a year and hopefully this will help him get back in the mussel-eating saddle.

For mains, Michael and Brendan had the "choucroute en croute" which they both seemed to love. The one taste I got was very enjoyable although I didn't actually notice any sauerkraut inside...with his usual solicitousness Michael probably just gave me a piece of sausage rather than the kraut. Matt had a crispy skate wing which he also devoured. I had the lamb shank which was perfectly tender but, I thought, woefully underseasoned. What is it with salt these days in restaurants? I know we're all trying to cut down on salt but not at the expense of taste? I enjoyed the lamb but it was just missing something.

Since we had plenty of dessert at home, and it had been a long day, we passed on dessert. The bill for 2 apps, 4 mains, and 6 beers among the four of us came to $240. I was reminded that I like Beck's but I always feel, when the bill comes, that it's a bit expensive for what it is. $12 beers will do that to you. I guess that's why we don't end up going here more often than we do.

Blacksalt for Lunch

2009-01-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

I had a nice loaner car from my local car dealer as the station wagon was once again in the shop (sigh) so since Michael loves cars as well I proposed that I pick him up for lunch so he could have fun driving the car himself. He readily agreed and the question was where to go from Georgetown that was far enough but not too far and where we could get in and out in a reasonable period of time. Blacksalt fit the bill on all counts so off we went.

It was very quiet in the restaurant on a Thursday afternoon and in fact there was only one other person at the bar. Blacksalt was running a special on some of their wines with bottles at half price. We had a bottle of some French rose (I cannot remember the exact name, and for some reason browsing through Blacksalt's menus on line causes Firefox to crash: beware). However, it was very pleasant and for half price of $13.50, was cheaper than two glasses (normally we would never order a bottle of wine during a workday but I can't resist a bargain. In our defense we didn't finish the bottle. Naturally I forgot to take the leftovers home...oh well, a little extra tip for the excellent bartender). In general Blacksalt's wine list is well chosen and very fairly priced by the bottle...the prices by the glass are, as usual, a little less friendly.

For lunch we had an app of fried oysters (which I hoped Michael would share with me, but I could only convince him to eat one). Large, perfectly cooked, very delicious. Probably not totally healthy. We each had a fish sandwich...mine was tuna with a provencal garnish, very moist and tasty. The tuna was minimally cooked. The oil-based garnish made the whole thing a little messy but impossible to put down...in a couple of ways, it was so good and also I suspected if I put it down I would never be able to pick it up again. Michael's sandwich was based on some sort of white fish (see caution about a flaw in their on line menu) and was also delicious based on the one bite I got.

The bill for this was about $70 which is rather extravagant for lunch, but we deserve a little extravagance every once in a while. The quality of the food was, unlike Rod Blagojevich, unimpeachable. The setting was not nearly as glamorous as at night, we both agreed, as the bar and casual seating area looks a bit forlorn in the light of day especially when it is not full. But it was a very enjoyable splurge and I am glad we went.

Charleston

2009-01-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

For my father's birthday, we had a small family gathering (6 people) at Charleston in Baltimore, one of our old favorite places. The restaurant had just reopened after its holiday hiatus so there were a few empty tables, unusually (or maybe it is the recession) but it was still mostly full.

As always, we had a great meal. I had a wonderful snail tartlet, heavy on the demi-glace, followed by seared tuna, duck breast, beef tenderloin, and a chocolate treat for dessert. Michael had shrimp and grits with andouille sausage first (a signature of the house), followed by a green salad, the tuna, the beef, and a lemon tart for dessert. The other four members of our party made do with one course less.

Charleston's menu is an extremely flexible and user friendly one which starts at three courses (plus dessert, which is always included) for $74 and adds $12 for each extra course. You can pick and choose between hot and cold appetizers, fish, poultry, and game. There are usually three or four choices in each category all of which generally sound terrific and they can be had in any order. For example my cousin Amy on my right started with a hot appetizer, then had a salad, then another hot appetizer before going on to dessert.

All of the food was delicious as is always the case...Cindy Wolf, the chef, won the regional James Beard award a few years back and the restaurant is generally acknowledged to be the best in Baltimore.

With the first courses we had a Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg de Turckheim Pinot Gris ($84) which I liked very much. It was much less sweet than the PG we had had in California and I thought it was a more balanced partner for most of the food. Michael did not love it, he told me afterward, and found something off about it. With the main courses most of us (except Michael) switched to a 1999 Domaine les Aphillantes Cotes du Rhone ($69) which was delicious and unusual. My parents had discovered this on a previous visit and been most attracted to it...unfortunately I think we drank the last bottle, or close to it. Generally the wine list at Charleston is quite extensive (about 600 bottles) and fairly expensive but with quite a few decent selections in the moderate range for those who are trying to hold down the cost.

My parents, being regulars, had asked for their usual table and their usual service. Service was impeccably professional and extremely friendly. I have never been able to develop the status of a "regular" at any restaurant more exalted than the local Chinese place so have missed out on some of those benefits but it is certainly a bonus to be a friend of the house. Among other things we were all treated to a glass of a delicious, somewhat sweet sparkling wine for dessert (I think it was the Moscati d'Asti on the list but am not sure).

Michael and I rode home in a happy food daze. We agreed afterward that we could have managed quite happily with one fewer course (especially considering the delicious bread -- especially those corn bread sticks that arrive regularly). But with all of the wonderful choices on the menu it was just too hard to limit ourselves.

Charleston once again upheld its view, in our opinion, as the go-to restaurant for a celebratory meal in the Baltimore-Washington area. Certainly there are restaurants in DC -- Citronelle comes to mind -- that have cooking on the same level, but few can put together an attractive setting, great food, an interesting menu, and service that combines professionalism with personality, all at a fairly reasonable cost. AT $86 for the food cost of what we ate, it is one of the great high-end food bargains we have had recently.

Town Hall: Memory Lane

2009-01-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

Finding ourselves rather unexpectedly on our own on New Year's night, we decided to make the rounds of both new and old familiar San Francisco places. First order of business of course was cocktails and we dropped in at the Clock Bar of the St Francis, just a block from our hotel, for a drink. Michael had a pomegranate martini sort of drink and I had my first Sidecar, which I'd been intrigued with for a while. The glamorous retro setting seemed like the right time to try one. Both drinks were tasty without being knockouts. The bar was very pretty but was unfortunately populated by less than elegant hotel guests...it was the kind of place that was worth getting dressed up for but I suppose they can't enforce that in a hotel. So we left and went on to Bourbon and Branch, which was much different -- see Michael's separate write-up on that.

In between visits to Bourbon and Branch, we went to Town Hall which was one of Michael's favorite restaurants when he was a local. The room has a kind of rustic country sophistication which reminded me of Zuni Cafe although the location of the bathrooms -- near the entrance and up 3 short flights of stairs -- left something to be desired (having just come from 2 bars, this was of more than usual importance.)

The food at Town Hall was, for the most part, delicious. I started with 3 oysters of different types, one of which was delicious and the other two of which were a bit earthy for me. Not spoiled, just not tasting of the ocean the way I prefer them. Michael then had a butter lettuce salad with a very light blue cheese dressing, while I ordered biscuits with ham. I was rewarded with 3 small biscuits accompanied by some delicious country ham and jam. Naturally I didn't get to eat all 3 as Michael stared at them longingly until I forked one over. His salad was also very good, with nice lettuce and a very well balanced and proportioned dressing.

For entrees, Michael had the tasso-encrusted pork chop while I had the shrimp etouffee. As is obvious there is a pretty heavy Southern component to the cooking there. Both of the entrees were really good. I detected a slight taste of undercooked flour in the shrimp, maybe rushing the roux a little, but not enough to detract from the dish. No complaints about the pork.

We shared a piece of German chocolate cheesecake which we both thought was OK, but it was a little more sour than I was expecting and not quite as good..the topping also was a bit sparse which may have been the problem as some additional sweetness in the topping would have played well against the tanginess of the cake.

Since we were in the middle of an extended cocktail sampling session we uncharacteristically didn't order a bottle of wine; Michael had a glass of a pleasant but unmemorable Chardonnay and I had a glass of a similar Syrah. The list of wines by the glass was not very exciting for a San Francisco restaurant but the bottle prices seemed reasonably fair.

Bourbon and Branch- Revisiting the Speakeasy

2009-01-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

It was the night of New Years Day and our last night in San Francisco. Feeling truly adventurous, David and I headed out for the streets in search of the bar, Bourbon and Branch after reading about it in the New York Times. Our love for a good libation and for nostalgia made our choice an obvious one.

The night was cold and the thickness of the San Francisco fog blurred the lines of the buildings and streets which added an air of mystery to the adventure that we were embarking upon. At the corner of Jones and O Farrell there is an unmarked, discreet door made of oak and with a traditional peep hole at eye level. We knew that we were in the right place when we saw a small group of people huddled outside the door. The door opened every couple of minutes allowing the people in front of us to enter in groups. After a few minutes we were greeted at the door by a pretty, and very friendly young lady who promptly asked us for our password. (To obtain the password of the night you must visit the Bourbon and Branch web site).

As we passed through the door I immediately felt as if we were stepping back in time. Soft overhead lighting and numerous candles left the room in a dark and moody glow. The walls were covered in a dark, damask patterned, raspberry flocked wallpaper and the fluted pilasters were painted black. The lack of windows made one feel as if you were insulated from the hectic, modern world outside where you could truly appreciate the mood of the space with little intrusion. Period music of the twenties and thirties played softly as we sat down at the bar and my mind was immediately swept away with images of the past. People smoking cigarettes would have completed the scene.

We had the bar to ourselves while everyone else was tucked away in discreet little booths behind us and in the back. Others had slipped away through a blind door disguised as liquor cabinet to a secret room beyond.

Our bartender was appropriately dressed in a long sleeve dress shirt with a period sleeve garter. While surveying the extensive libations menu it felt as if we were reading a history book dedicated to cocktails- what a dream come true! Branch water was a term that was first used in the 1800's referring to a small stream of pure and clean water called a "branch". To order a "Bourbon and Branch" is a nostalgic term for ordering a bourbon and water. The speakeasy is most popularly connected with the prohibition era in America from 1920 to 1933 but the term actually predates prohibition by thirty years. Legend has it that an old Irish lady bartender from Pittsburgh, PA sold her liquor without a license and therefore asked her patrons to "spake-aisy".

Bourbon and Branch requests that their patrons follow tradition and speak easy upon entering and exiting the bar.

For our first round I decided on a vanilla mimosa topped with a thin layer of egg whites and s few decorative drops of bitters. The champagne was delicately hinted with the scent of vanilla and the egg whites added a luxurious richness to the drink. It will be hard to go back to the traditional mimosa with orange juice, which I now realize is can be too sweet.Although the name escapes us, David ordered a gin mixed with a splash of champagne. Who would have known that the combination could be so delicious. The herbal qualities of the gin shined through and were complimented by the champagne.

Four our next round I ordered a "Pisco Sour" and David ordered a traditional Manhattan. You could compare the pisco sour to a Caipirina and the Manhattan defined the concoction.

It was hard to pull ourselves away from the bar but we had 7:30 dinner reservations at Town Hall so off we went but we decided to go back for a nightcap afterwards.

Despite our true enjoyment of our dinner I think we were both secretly longing to get back to Bourbon and Branch and to continue our adventure to the past. So without further ado after dinner we set off in a taxi.

For our nightcaps I had a Manhattan and for our second round we both had a marmalade whiskey sour, which elevated the art of libations to a whole new level. Our bartender was a true artisan and I thanked him for keeping such a beautiful and tasty tradition alive.

Neither of us wanted to leave but reality and a morning flight back to DC pulled us out of the twenties and straight back into the reality of the hectic world just outside the door.

Yank Sing

2009-01-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

Having had an extremely tame New Year's Eve, we trundled down the foggy, cold streets of SF hoping to find a place open on New Year's Day that was not in a hotel. First checked out the Union Square sales but finding that nothing was open until 11:00 at least, we renewed our efforts to find sustenance. After our experience at Y Ben the previous morning, Michael was reluctant to seek out another dim sum palace -- not me, as I could eat dim sum every day. But he quickly agreed that the rather more genteel confines of Yank Sing were different enough to give it a try.

So we wandered down to Rincon Center; fortunately it was just around 10:30 and a bit too early for the crowds to arrive (it goes without saying that they were open..nice that the Chinese celebrate New Year's on a different day than we do). We quickly got a table...not a good table, kind of crammed next to a pillar and in a main traffic lane, but we were sitting and eating. Since it was, after all, New Year's, I ordered a couple of glasses of champagne.

The dim sum was delicious. Yank Sing is by dim sum standards very upscale and clean and that is reflected in the prices (the location also contributes to this I'm sure). The most outstanding thing we had were soup dumplings...in fact we had a repeat order. We also had great shiu mai. The Peking duck was not so good, kind of chintzy on the duck, the hoisin sauce was watery and the buns rather doughy. I can't remember everything we had. I do know that we ran out of appetite and there were still things we wanted to try...green beans, pot stickers, pork buns, and the like.

By the time we left the big room was packed although there were still seats available out in the enclosed courtyard. The experience clearly was not as authentic as at other places both in the food and the clientele. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with tablecloths, clean bathrooms and pleasant professional service and you don't get something for nothing. The bill was about $75 not counting the champagne, tax and tip. I suspect the Peking duck ran this up a bit and it was not worth it, but the rest of the food was excellent. Was it 5 times better than Y Ben? Not in my book, but those who put a higher value on creature comforts might disagree.

Ad Hoc: Family Style

2008-12-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

As part of our family get together in the Napa Valley, Michael's cousin Kirsten arranged for the 8 of us to have dinner together at Ad Hoc, a new venture by Thomas Keller in Yountville (just down the street from the French Laundry).

We had a wonderful dinner there. Of course a lot of it was the company and probably the 6 bottles of wine take some credit also.

Ad Hoc is a very unusual restaurant which serves only one four course meal nightly. Kind of like going to a friend's house and eating what they decided to make. For that reason, there isn't a whole lot of point in an exhaustive review of the menu since it changes every day. We had tempura fried vegetables, lamb with potatoes au gratin, a green salad, and a dessert that escapes me now (must have been the wine). All of the dishes were very well prepared; the lamb in particular was outstanding.

The restaurant is bright and comfortable and, not surprisingly, pretty informal in the California wine country manner. Service was excellent, friendly and attentive. Of course the servers' job is made easier by the fact that everything is prepared and served family style so they don't have to take orders and only bring one (in our case two) platters of each dish.

The stated price of dinner is $49 per person which seems quite reasonable for a four course meal of such high quality. On the other hand, somehow it had expanded to $75 per person by the time we left, not counting an additional tip. I'm not sure where the extra $ came from, since we brought our own wine -- either corkage was steep or there were some add-ons there. Still not outrageous but realistically one is looking at $200 per couple with wine for a place where you don't get to choose what you eat, so check the menu carefully (it's posted every day at 2 pm) before you go.

French Laundry: Pilgrimage to Yountville

2008-12-27T15:45:00.000-08:00

After literally years of trying, on and off, to score a reservation here, we finally managed it with the help of some family connections who are close to the Napa restaurant scene. We did only manage to get lunch reservations, not dinner but there are some advantages in doing the big meal in the middle of the day, I think.

Anyhow, it was a grey, chilly day in Napa as we drove up to the restaurant. It is quite unpretentious and casual, at least from the outside. No valet parking...just find a space across the street. It's not even obvious where the front door is. Once we found it, we were greeted with courtesy if not excessive warmth and shown to a table in a small side room off the main dining room. This must have been the "gay room" since there were two other tables there, another deuce and a four top, both occupied by gay men. Presumably there were some "family" members in the main dining room as well.

The room was pleasant but not exactly what we might have pictured. On a dark, rather gloomy day the atmosphere was dark and a bit subdued. Michael noted that the chairs were rather dated and also, I noticed, rather scuffed up -- not exactly what one might expect from a place touted as the best restaurant in America. However, the chairs were comfortable enough and we quickly settled in and started reading the menu.

There are two fixed-price menus at FL, both $240. One is vegetarian and one is not. We were each tempted by the vegetarian menu (and if we ever go back, I would lean that way) but ultimately decided on the main menu to get the full experience. This consisted of nine course of which four were choices (of 2) and the other five were fixed. We decided to split our choices to have the widest number of possible tastes.

A couple of interesting but not memorable amuse bouches appeared...I think one was sort of a southern ham biscuit which was, frankly, a little dry, but my memory may be blurred by what came afterward.

Before getting down to serious eating, we of course needed to turn our attention to the wine list. The French Laundry has a serious list, as you can imagine, about 100 pages worth. It is also seriously expensive. By that I don't mean just that they have expensive wine (which, of course, they do) but that most of the wine is expensive, and that even relatively modest bottles are more expensive than they are at other restaurants. As an example, a bottle of Kongsgaard Chardonnay that we ordered at Snake River Grill in Jackson Hole for $125 (a very good price, by the way -- retail is $75) was $230 at FL. OK, maybe SRG isn't a great comparison being much less formal and in a small town. But the Dirler Grand Cru Kessler Pinot Gris that we had at FL for $150 (and outstanding, by the way) is on the list at Charleston in Baltimore, a pretty good restaurant in its own right, for $90.

It is not totally clear to me why expensive restaurants generally have expensive lists. It suggests that even at $240 a head they're not making enough money and that the wine subsidizes the food. Or maybe it's just because there is so much demand for tables that they can charge whatever they want for the wine. In any case I find it just a tad offputting.

Nonetheless, we were there for the experience and I was determined not to think too hard about the bottom line. We decided that we would start with half a bottle of champagne and ordered one recommended by the charming and helpful sommelier. I don't remember the name (and the posted wine list is not up to date so I can't recreate it). I do remember that it was a blanc de noirs and intended to be creamy and rich. Both Michael and I found it to be off. It actually tasted oxidized to me with the sort of spoiled flavors that we have found, surprisingly often, in "corked" wines. Michael and I both expressed our concern and as I usually do, I asked the sommelier to taste it himself. To his credit, he refused, saying that our opinion was the only one that mattered. He disappeared with the offending bottle and in due course reappeared with another one, a Taittinger I think, that he thought would be more to our liking. It was.

Meanwhile, the parade of food had begun. I don't have the energy, and I doubt any readers of this post have the interest, to engage in an exhaustive blow by blow description of each ingredient in each of nine courses. So I hope all will understand that I am condensing and abbreviating.

The first course was a cauliflower panna cotta which was far and away the best cauliflower I have ever had. That is not saying much since I can't stand cauliflower but this was really fantastic with just a hint of cauliflower flavor. The oyster glaze and caviar garnish didn't hurt a bit.

The second course was more problematic. I had the "foie gras en terrine" with a $30 upcharge, which ticked Michael off. He is militant on the subject of upcharges and one could argue that a $240 menu should allow for that. On the other hand it doesn't reach to the absurd levels of a meal last year at Komi in DC when practically every dish had an upcharge. Anyhow, the foie gras was delicious (and when is it not?. Michael opted for a beet salad and was very disappointed when it appeared with what appeared to be one small beet sliced into three or four pieces. Admittedly, it was an excellent beet, but not a big one. His first impression was that this was the kind of "cuisine" that non-foodies make fun of. As Michael said, "would it have killed them to put a second beet on the plate?"

Next Michael had a fillet of Japanese suzuki, which I always thought was a brand of motorcycle but turns out to be a kind of sea bass. He loved it. I had tartare of bluefin tuna which was unlike any tuna I have ever eaten, much more intense in its flavor. It made me think about why you hear about those bluefin tunas going for $10,000 in Japan. It was simply much more robust and flavorful than any sushi I have ever had, even in Japan.

Next we both had a butter poached lobster tail. I thought this fell a little flat. Sure, it was delicious. Lobster is always delicious. Especially with bacon on the side. It just seemed unexceptional. I ate a lot of lobster living in New England and sailing in Maine and I am of the "it doesn't need anything but itself school" so I wasn't looking for a lot to be done to it. But I would have thought that one of the world's great chefs could have done more with this. I am remembering the lobster with morels at Auberge de l'Ill.

Following the lobster, we were presented with a beautiful rabbit dish...a chunk of loin, a tiny little rack of chops, and some miscellaneous bits. More on that in a moment. I sensed a bit of potential trouble here as Michael is not a fan of rabbit on psychological (not moral) grounds. However, he dug in like a man. We both loved the sirloin and I was pleased to see him knawing on the miniature chops (around the size of your thumb) with relish. As part of the garnish of this dish (including baby turnips, a bit of roasted lettuce, and a prune), there was a pinkish object around the size and shape of a lima bean. I quietly put this in my mouth before Michael noticed it and chewing confirmed that it was a rabbit kidney. As far as I know I have not eaten a kidney before so I don't have anything to compare it to. This was quite pink (like medium rare liver) and around the same consistency. Michael figured out what it was and not surprisingly passed it up, so I ate his as well, wanting to give the kidney thing a fair shot. It was...OK. It did not make me want to rush out and eat any more.

The next course was a choice but since the saddle of lamb was made for two, and Michael wanted it, that was what we both had. (The other choice was beef). I remember the lamb being very tasty but I don't remember that much else about it. I had a glass of Martinelli Zinfandel with the lamb which was so good that even Michael took a couple of swigs from it.

Following the lamb, there was a modest (one selection) cheese course of a Tomme de l'Ariege which was very nice. An intermezzo of a buttermilk sherbet followed. It was, depending on your view, either fascinatingly subtle or essentially bland. I actually found it a bit of both. At first taste (it was not a tiny portion) it seemed to taste basically of milk, but on subsequent bites the very haunting taste of buttermilk came through in a very refreshing way.

Finally we arrived at dessert. The gents to our right were about 2 courses ahead of us so I knew what to expect. First was the listed dessert. I had chocolate, naturally...a "Jivara-caramel roulade". I had no idea what Jivara was and later found out it is a special Valrhona label. It was great. Michael had a cream yogurt bavarois with huckleberries. OK if you don't like chocolate, but I wasn't going to trade. This was followed by a delicious selection of mignardises and truffles.

The meal was beautifully timed and the service was extremely professional, very friendly and accommodating and balancing perfectly between stuffy and overly familiar. It turned out to be just the right amount of food as we left being very satisfied but not bloated. (We did not have any trouble eating dinner that night). The whole meal took 3 1/2 hours so it is pretty much of an all day experience.

The major downside, of course, was the cost. Except for the upcharge for the foie gras, the menu cost included all of the incidentals (bottled water, coffee -- which we didn't have -- and tip) so it is not quite as much as it seems. Still, with the wine, the total bill came to about $830.

I have to say that my conclusion is that it was not worth it. Obviously that is a very personal view and does not reflect anything about the care and professionalism of the restaurant and its staff. Maybe it is more of a reflection of the times that we find ourselves in and the state of the economy that I somehow feel uneasy about spending that much money on a single meal. This was the third over-$700 meal in four months for us (the other two being Alinea and Citronelle) and something in me says "enough". At least for a while.

But I think also my conclusion is not just about the absolute level of the cost but the value. Certainly the food was delicious and enjoyable. The service was flawless. The surroundings were pleasant (although I did not like the small side room we were in). But, with the exception of a couple of dishes -- the cauliflower panna cotta, the tuna, and the rabbit sirloin -- the taste of the dishes has not stuck with me. In contrast, with the best meal we have ever had -- dinner at Auberge de l'Ill -- I can still remember the look and taste of each of the five courses. I can also still remember the excitement and wonder of our first meal at Alinea even though I can't, of course, remember all 24 courses.

I guess in car terms I would characterize FL as kind of like a Lexus. Perfectly put together, refined, reliable, flawless...all of those adjectives fit. Exciting, not so much.

The French Laundry was a great and memorable experience and I am very glad that we had the chance to go. I will, perhaps, go again some day in better economic times, but for now, I am not in a hurry to return.

Cure Bar & Bistro: A Pleasant Surprise

2008-12-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Back in DC, we were on our way downtown to see a movie at E Street Cinema on Saturday night (a big night out for us). Passing up the usual suspects like Rasika and Jaleo in the service of this blog, I remembered hearing some favorable reports on a place called Cure, and made a reservation. We checked out the menu on line: smoked meats, cheese, small plates...what could be bad? Sounded like a perfect place to graze lightly before a movie.

Since it was snowing lightly and we didn't want to worry about parking, we hopped on Metro, which was a bit more involved than we had guessed what with track work and all...given the delays, it probably would have been faster to drive around downtown looking for a parking space! But we eventually emerged from Metro Center and found our way to the restaurant.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way right up front. Cure is in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt. Not only that, but it looks like it is in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt. The place is divided into three areas on three levels...first a conventional looking bar area with couches and other casual seating, then an area down a flight of steps with small bar-like tables, and finally an area down yet more steps with more conventional dining-sized tables. It was this last area to which we were ushered -- I inferred from a comment by the hostess that this area was reserved for folks that were there to dine, as opposed to just drinking and grazing.

Unfortunately, this is the least attractive part of the facility and you definitely feel like you are sitting in a hotel lobby, complete with an escalator going by about 5 feet away, the rather garish lighting scheme (fine for a lobby, not so good for dining) and all that. While there is no doubt something the Hyatt could do to make this area somewhat less lobby-like, they have not done it yet, so for the time being I would suggest asking to be seated in one of the other two areas.

Happily, although Cure gets a "D" for ambiance, it gets an "A" for food. And wine. We each ordered a quartino of wine from the very intelligent and reasonably priced list...Michael had the St Supery Sauvignon Blanc that he favors and I had a South African Cabernet that I had not encountered before -- like trying new restaurants, I always like to try new wines when it doesn't involve a major commitment. Along with that, we started off with a couple of cheeses - a Bonne Bouche and a "constant bliss" cow's milk cheese (if only constant bliss could just be ordered off a menu). Both were creamy and delicious, especially the Bonne Bouche. The portions were small but at $4 each, what do you expect. They were served with some sort of jam, which frankly didn't do much for us, excellent bread, and roasted nuts.

Just after the cheese arrived, our extremely professional server, Ken (more about this later) brought over another basket of bread, along with some unsalted butter and a small plate containing no less than four different salts...two white ones that I didn't pay much attention to (Michael reported that one of them was "extremely salty", which I suppose is to be expected), a pink Hawaiian salt, and a brown smoked salt from Maine. We looked at each other with surprise, as this restaurant was turning out to be a lot more serious than we had expected. Four kinds of salt? Loving all sorts of smoked stuff, I fell in love with the smoked salt and even Michael, who does not usually love smoked foods, found it delicious.

Since we were on a bit of a deadline to make our movie, we had ordered a number of other dishes which soon started arriving. The first to arrive was a duck leg confit style on a bed of arugula. It was one of the best duck dishes we have had in a long time. In fact it landed in front of Michael (the table was, at this point, getting rather crowded) and I thought I was going to have to armwrestle him for it as he was very reluctant to give it up. It was a generous portion. The duck was succulent and tasty and the lightly dressed arugula provided a nice foil for the richness.

We also had a plate of mixed smoked meats (prosciutto, Jamon-style ham, regular ham, and smoked garlic sausage) which was an extremely generous portion for $12. Probably as hefty as the charcuterie plate at Central which if I remember right is about twice the price. All of the hams were extremely tasty. We also, at Ken's recommendation, had the Maryland Blue Crab pie. It was, as Michael pointed out, more of a gratin than a pie...a rather shallow little skillet full of crab nuggets with corn and under a cracker crust. It is hard to make a bad dish containing blue crab and this was a good one. It was so rich that the modest size of the dish, compared to some of the other offerings, turned out to be just right.

In the interest of making our movie, and staying awake through it, we called it quits at that point. Since the room was only half full, we had the chance to chat a little bit with Ken, who has come over from another restaurant in town and appears to be in charge of Cure. He has put together the wine list and as noted earlier, has done an extremely good job of getting some interesting names that you don't see every day (along with some more familiar ones for those who aren't feeling adventurous). He clearly takes pride in what has been accomplished at Cure and he has every right to do so. It was one of the nicest surprises we have encountered on the Washington dining scene for quite some time. Our bill, at about $100 before tax and tip, was very reasonable given the amount of food we had -- and a screaming bargain given the quality of the offerings.

The next time we're headed downtown, we will definitely make a beeline for Cure...but next time we'll try to sit in the bar!

The French Pastry Shop-Santa Fe 11-27-2008

2008-12-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

We had arrived in Santa Fe the rather late the night before after a long flight and an hours drive from Albuquerque so we would have to put aside our appetites until the next morning.

The early Thanksgiving morning greeted us with gray, and rain filled clouds and a clean, cold crispness in the air. None of which deterred from walking into town to seek out our first food adventure in Santa Fe. Seeing that it was Thanksgiving Day we knew that our choices would be limited but we were optimistic that we would find something that would satisfy us.

We headed down to the plaza, which was an easy ten-minute walk from our little casita. For weeks our excitement grew for experiencing true southwestern food in Santa Fe and French food was one of the last things we had planned on eating while we were there. Well being the French foodies that we are I must admit our joy when we stumbled upon the “French Pastry Shop” near the heart of Santa Fe’s historic plaza. The plaza was a virtual ghost town since it was a holiday so we were thrilled to find that it was open.

Like many places it Santa Fe the interiors had a quirky, rustic patina, which added to its charm. But hey we were there to satisfy our never failing craving for French pastries and not for the ambience. Fortunately it was not too crowded and we quickly sat ourselves down to a small table. The restaurant was a comfortable mix of locals (always a good sign) and some obvious tourists like us. They are open for breakfast and lunch.
A very friendly and perky young lady immediately greeted us and we promptly order café au lait. There was a dizzying selection of traditional pastries to choose from and on top of that a variety of sweet crepes.

I decided to have a cheese Danish, which was not the most traditional of French pastries and David ordered his favorite pain au chocolat. Our pastries were accompanied by our café au lait’s, which were oddly served in coffee mugs. Not my favorite way to drink my au lait but after one sip of the perfect frothy milk and the strong coffee I happily put aside my preference for a traditional bowl.

Breakfast for me always poses a particular dilemma. Do I want savory or sweet? Sometimes I crave both so we decided to also have a chorizo and egg crepe. What a perfect way to satisfy our cravings for southwestern food with a French influence. There was no fussiness to the crepe; it was simply served by itself with no garnishes, which was fine by me. The pancake was perfectly cooked, slightly crisped on the outside and a soft slightly dough like quality inside. The chorizo was everything I like it for. It was mildly spicy, the color of dark paprika, and a little oil, which is so good. I barely detected the eggs but the cheese, undoubtedly Swiss added a nice flavor and held it all together.

If you find yourself in Santa Fe craving something French and something casual make sure you head straight down to the French Pastry Shop for breakfast. It’s friendly service and delicious food will certainly please. If I were a local you would surely find me there many mornings of the week enjoying my au lait and pastry. Besides there are always the remains of the day for Southwestern food!

Aqua Santa

2008-11-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

After an afternoon spent at 10,000 Waves being massaged, hot-tubbed, and generally pampered, and after polishing off a good part of a bottle of Gruet Brut, it was amazing that we managed to get out of the house for dinner at all. As it was we were a bit late for our 7:00 reservation, as it was a somewhat longer walk than I had guessed. However, we were greeted with extreme courtesy and quickly shown to a table (no corner this time) in the small dining room. The restaurant was lovely and simple. Michael's only complaints about the decor were that the "front table" with flowers, wine, and so forth was a bit overly fussy for such a laid back restaurant, and that the floral-patterned plates were more suited to grandma's dining room than a cutting edge restaurant.

We were very well taken care of by Trista, a young lady from near my old 'hood (we had met on the telephone when I made our reservation, but we didn't actually make the connection until paying the check). After ordering a bottle of Alsatian gewurz, our old favorite, we settled in to peruse the menu.

Both of our appetizers were unusual and delicious. I had the oysters in a peppery crust, while Michael had the baby artichokes with burrata which are a signature of the restaurant.

For entrees Michael had the halibut, which is a regular choice of his and which was particularly good in this instance. I had the delicious slow-cooked lamb. For dessert we shared a buttermilk panna cotta, which Michael loved. I found it a little bland, but I don't think that's any fault of the chef. I think panna cotta is just bland compared to, say, molten chocolate cake. What I call bland, other people (e.g. Michael) calls subtle. Well, nobody ever accused me of being subtle.

The restaurant was about half empty when we arrived but filled up by 8. It was homey and gave the feeling of a party without being overly loud...just the kind of atmosphere you'd want when out for a nice dinner. Despite the rush of people and the small kitchen staff the pacing of the dinner was just perfect as we had time to savor our choices and rest a bit between courses without the wait ever becoming excessive.

All of the staff at the restaurant were extremely friendly and professional. On a slightly bizarre note, Michael felt that the chef might have been giving him a little extra attention and at one point reported that the chef blew him a kiss! (My back was turned). Well, Michael is the sort of boy who often has strange men blowing him kisses, so I suppose nothing was out of the ordinary. It's when he starts blowing kisses back that I begin to worry.

I think if we were in Santa Fe for just a few days we might look to get our chile fix in concentrated doses. Aqua Santa is not the place for that as it offers lovely, sophisticated, but relatively straightforward American food with a French influence. I am sure that if we were in Santa Fe for an extended time, it would be our "go-to" restaurant for special nights out when we needed a break from New Mexican style cooking.

Bumblebee's Baja Grill

2008-11-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

We dropped in at Bumblebee's in our limited time between our spectacular hike to the top of Atalaya Peak and our 2:30 spa appointments at 10,000 waves. We were hungry from our active morning but didn't want to fill up too much before the spa. Bumblebee's sounded like just the ticket.

The restaurant looks somewhat like a rather upscale chain -- maybe like California Tortilla or Baja Fresh -- other than the hanging bumblebee pinatas, but the food is nothing like those places, I'm happy to say. Confronted with a wide variety of choices, we naturally each opted for the taco sampler platter and took our seats. Michael was quickly enchanted by the serve-yourself chip dispenser at the back of the restaurant along with a variety of salsas to choose from.

The tacos appeared in short order just as the last of the chips disappeared. It was a generous and interesting assortment including beef, chicken, fish, and shrimp. We both felt that the beef and chicken, while tasty, were not as distinctive as the fish (mahi-mahi, I think) and shrimp, both of which had some sort of delicious sauce. Actually, I thought the fish itself was a little bit dry although the sauce made up for it. No complaints at all about the shrimp.

We liked Bumblebee's so much that we went back the next day, before getting back on the road to head to Albuquerque and the airport for our flight home. This time, we both had the shrimp. Delicious.

La Choza

2008-11-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

After an exhilarating afternoon of hiking in Frijoles Canyon, we returned to our little casita in Santa Fe and enjoyed a twilight by the outdoor fireplace accompanied by a bottle of Gruet Chardonnay (the chardonnay, we decided, was pleasant but not as good as the sparkling wine. It did go down very easily, though). By 7 our appetites had caught up with us and since this was our "casual" evening in Santa Fe, we decided to head for some authentic and low-key New Mexican fare at La Choza.

It was a short drive and parking was easy. There were quite a few other patrons waiting so we put our names in and I headed over to the bar to pick up a couple of pints of Santa Fe Pale Ale (quite tasty). We sat for about 15 minutes in the unadorned waiting area before our name was called and we were shown to a modest table in this bustling barn of a restaurant.

Michael ordered a cup of green chile stew to see if it was an improvement over the one at Tesuque Village Market. Answer: yes, although there was certainly nothing wrong with either one. I made do with chips and some delicious salsa, dark red and complex-tasting with all of the goodness of real New Mexican chiles. We both commented that it would be impossible to go back to generic, overly sweet salsa out of the bottle after having the real thing in Santa Fe.

For our main courses, Michael had the chiles rellenos about which he is still raving two weeks later. Meanwhile I opted for the carne adovado burrito which is reported to be a specialty of the house, topped with red chile sauce. It built on the theme of the salsa and added a meaty filling to the complex, spicy, and rich flavors. Just delicious.

Service was a little confused, but the prices were extremely reasonable -- under $10 for most entrees. The kind of meal you remember weeks later with your mouth watering and the kind of place you head back for time and again when opportunity presents itself.

Tune-up Cafe

2008-11-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

Having walked off our breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's hours ago, and before heading out of town for a nature hike, we decided a little alimentary fortification was a good idea. And what could be better than that iconic New Mexican dish, hitherto unknown to us, but the green chile cheeseburger. Since we didn't want to head 10 miles in the wrong direction to Bobcat Cafe, usually reported as the prime purveyor of this delicacy, we decided to make a quick trip over to a restaurant oddly known as "Dave's not here". Our usually reliable guidebook told us to be sure we had good directions before heading over to Dave's, and our usually reliable GPS said no problem. And indeed, within about 10 minutes we were pulling up in front of 1115 Hickox Street. But Dave's not here was, well, not here. In its place there was something that looked like a restaurant, sort of (hard to be sure). Well, we walked up to the door and there were people eating food inside, which was good enough for us.

Tune-up is the successor to Dave's and by all reports an improvement. We can only report that the burgers are excellent (although, unaccountably, we had green chile but no cheese...mental block at ordering time) and so are the fries. Atmosphere is unpretentious in the extreme. Interesting looking baked goods at the cash register. Friendly staff. Definitely worth a return visit although we didn't make it back, on this trip.

Cafe Pasqual's

2008-11-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

Having been warned that the lines at Cafe Pasqual's could be excessive (and since we both hate to wait in line), we arose in the darkness to wend our way through the streets to snag an early table. Well, perhaps that's a bit dramatic. We got up around 6:30 (not so hard, since we were still kind of on East Coast time) and by the time we'd made the 10 minute walk to Pasqual's, it was about 7:15. Fortunately the crowds had decided to sleep in and we were immediately ushered to a table in the half full little dining room.

Pasqual's has the kind of menu where it is very difficult to choose because there are so many interesting possibilities. It is also the kind of place where an unsure hand in the kitchen could lead to disaster because of the wide variety of dishes attempted. But for breakfast we stuck to rather standard fare. Michael had the huevos motulenos which was recommended by our friendly waiter. I must say the description was rather offputting as I am quite sure that I have never seen bananas and green peas in the same dish before. Not to mention the usual New Mexico choice of red or green chile sauce. However, somehow it all worked (personally, I think the peas were superfluous but they certainly weren't bothersome).

Meanwhile, having cast a thoughtful eye on the corned beef hash, always a favorite of mine, I decided to go for something a bit less common and tried the smoked trout hash. It was really good, not a hash at all but more like eggs over hash browns with pieces of smoked trout scattered on top. I am not sure where the trout came from although it was quite reminiscent of the trout you get from Ducktrap Farm, firm and heavily smoked. Whatever the source, it was quite delicious. I even got Michael to try a bite despite his long antipathy toward smoked food in general and smoked fish in particular. He liked it so much he even had a second piece, which I considered a great triumph. I will work on cultivating this new taste at home. First smoked trout, perhaps ultimately I can convert him to smoked salmon (although I'm not optimistic -- too many bad memories, I'm afraid).

As is generally reported, Pasqual's is a bright and cheery place with eclectic and rather busy decor, a welcoming atmosphere, and delicious food. It's not cheap -- breakfast entrees are mostly in the $11-13 range -- but that's not out of line given the quality. Probably the tourist-friendly location has a bit to do with this as well. It is a perfect breakfast place and I can see us becoming regulars if we were to spend more time in Santa Fe.

The Compound

2008-11-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

Having spent our first day exploring Santa Fe (much of it in the car...it was raining) we looked forward with much anticipation to Thanksgiving dinner at the Compound, which has been reported to be one of Santa Fe's finest restaurants. The rain had finally stopped as dark fell and we had a pleasant, albeit chilly, walk past the many art galleries of Canyon Road until we reached the Compound's, well, compound. The restaurant is set well back from the street and clearly not designed to accommodate foot traffic, as the only access is over a large and (on this day) rather muddy driveway area (fortunately I'd brought a flashlight). Hardly the restaurant's fault, though, as it is not within walking distance of most of the tourist accommodations or residential housing and I imagine that 99% of the diners arrive by car.

We were greeted warmly and professionally and settled into a comfortable corner...we seem to have particular luck at snagging corner tables. The restaurant was bright and attractive in the usual Santa Fe style with white walls and wood trim. The ceiling of the room we were in had a rather unusual fabric overlay. There was also a kind of open vent near our table that allowed cold air to blow on me. Most people would probably find this objectionable but I actually found it refreshing. From time to time the vent would belch warm air as the heating system kicked on. Michael thought the decor, flowers, and bar were terribly dated and I am sure he was right but because we had skipped lunch, I was more focused on dinner!

The waiter arrived promptly and we focused initially on the wine list, naturally. We had had champagne back at the house to start off the holiday celebration so were relaxed about our choice. I must say that the Compound has one of the most expensive wine lists I have encountered, outside of the most haute big city establishments, so the list was a bit daunting. There were few bottles under $50 and most in the $100-200 range, with markups that appeared to be 3-4x retail. Perhaps retail prices are higher in New Mexico. We debated an Alsatian white, our usual value fallback, but the sommelier pushed us toward a Saintsbury Chardonnay ($70) which turned out to be a good choice, a little crisper and less creamy than we usually look for in a Chardonnay but with good acidity and an excellent match with food.

I started with the oysters on the half shell while Michael had the "made to order" squash soup. The oysters were terrific...plump and fresh with a creamy topping that enhanced their brininess. Oysters in the desert? Why not? Allegedly there was some caviar in the topping but it was not much in evidence, but honestly it was not missed. Unfortunately, Michael's soup was a huge disappointment. The "made to order" part apparently refers to the fact that they bring out the bowl and then pour the soup in from a little pitcher, which is a nice presentation (and saves the waiter carrying in a loaded bowl of soup) but hardly unusual. The soup basically tasted of chicken stock, not very good stock at that, and almost nothing of squash. It was far inferior to the soup Michael had made at home a week before.

For dinner we both had the turkey with roasted vegetables (it was Thanksgiving, after all). It was excellent, and a very generous portion. The Brussels sprouts were particularly delicious...I love them anyhow, but even Michael ate them with enjoyment. Perhaps the secret is to quarter them before cooking. The cranberry relish, served in a small ramekin, was a bit miserly but in general we were very well satisfied with our entrees. Along with them, Michael had lusted after, and ordered, a side dish of goat cheese and orzo which was pleasant, but rather one-dimensional, and a bit pricey at $10 for a modest portion.

We didn't really need dessert but the holiday menu was prix-fixe so naturally we didn't pass it up. Michael's apple butter dumplings were rather unexciting. I defied all expectations and passed up the chocolate torte for the maple bourbon pecan pie. It was also OK as pecan pie (I searched in vain for either maple or bourbon). The chocolate sauce and ice cream on the side were better than the pie itself.

The prix fixe menu was $70 and with side dish, wine, tax, and tip, the bill came to nearly $300. While our meal was certainly good, it was not outstanding. Neither dessert was great and Michael's appetizer was positively bad. We didn't think that the restaurant represented good value for the money and it was an ominous introduction to dining in Santa Fe. We were somewhat constrained by the limited number of places open on Thanksgiving, but if we find ourselves in Santa Fe again on the holidays, or any other time for that matter, we'll make another choice.

Late dinner at BlackSalt

2008-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

After the movies on Saturday night, all of the restaurants in Bethesda were jammed -- all of the decent ones, anyhow. So after making a few calls, we decided to head over to BlackSalt, one of our old favorites, where we were fairly confident of getting a seat at the bar. (Truth be told, we did stop in at Et Voila on the way, but they were packed as well).

We popped in to BlackSalt and were lucky to score a couple of seats -- 15 minutes later the place was packed with people standing and waiting for bar seats. BlackSalt (BS) has been one of our favorites for years but our visits there have dropped off dramatically during the past year. To be honest, Michael was quite unwell after a dinner there involving mussels. While it is impossible, and maybe quite unfair, to make a link directly, it was a bit discouraging. Our last visit, about two months ago, was strictly for dessert (their chocolate peanut butter pie is superb).

Anyhow, we settled ourselves in, exchanged greetings with the friendly and efficient barmaids, and (since it was after 9:00 and we were hungry) got right down to business. First order of business was a half bottle of Adelsheim Pinot Gris, always reliable and attractively priced at $18 (cheaper than 2 glasses). BS has a very extensive wine list and there are certainly some bargains there if you know where to look.

We started with 3 appetizers between the two of us: grilled artichokes, frisee salad, and fried clams. The artichokes, which I picked for the novelty factor, were unusual and very tasty -- a small artichoke halved and pan-grilled with a nice vinaigrette accompaniment. The frisee salad was very pleasant as well. I love the clams there which come with a very intensely curry flavored mayonnaise that I liked more than Michael. In my view the clams are one of the best things on the menu.

For main courses, Michael had the skate wing -- a first for him and again I was proud of him for stepping outside his comfort zone. The skate was excellent, nicely crisped on the outside and just cooked on the inside. Of course skate doesn't have a huge amount of flavor on its own but the accompanying roasted mushrooms and broccoli were a very nice complement. I had the arctic char which originally arrived from the kitchen seriously undercooked...basically raw except for the outer half inch. I like my tuna crudo and I also like sushi but this was a bit too much of a good thing, so it was sent back for a little extra time. A nice touch was that the kitchen sent out a little butternut squash soup in an amuse size to keep me occupied while waiting for the fish to reappear, which it soon did. It had a marvelous vinegary sauce with braised vegetables which Michael and I both sopped up with extra bread after the fish was gone.

We were pleased to reacquaint ourselves with BlackSalt and to know that it continues to be a reliable source for delicious fish a little bit out of the mainstream. It is also a nice, bustling place which gives a sense of a night out on the town.

Et Voila- One of our new favorites

2008-11-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

Thursday was sunny and warm, not necessarily the perfect weather for tucking into a hearty Belgian meal, but a sunny warm day is always a good excuse for heading out in search of a good meal. We had, in fact, originally planned to visit Et voila on the Sunday before election day but had decided to put it off, being …what’s the word…worn out by a little much pre-election entertaining. Sunday, being sunny but not at all warm, was more suitable to what we imagined was rib-sticking fare but our constitutions were just not up to it and fortunately the obliging folks at Et Voila were happy to let our reservation slide for a few days.

Still in the glow of post-election euphoria, the continued troubles of the stock market notwithstanding, we arrived at Et Voila in a mood of happy anticipation after a short ride from our house. Parking on that stretch of MacArthur Boulevard is sometimes a bit difficult, as we know from years of patronizing BlackSalt, but eventually we shoehorned the station wagon into a space a block or so past the restaurant and strolled down the street.

We were immediately pleased by the visual welcome we got upon entering the restaurant. The owners have done a wonderful job with a space that is, let’s face it, rather long and narrow. Try to imagine putting a restaurant inside a moderately sized airplane and you’ll get the idea. The immediate entry contains a bar which sort of doubles as a vestibule and congregating area and is not really big enough to serve any of those functions fully, but we were quickly and graciously welcomed and led to a table about halfway down the tube…uh, room. The room has been done in very warm shades of orange and black (I know, it sounds a bit like a Halloween theme but it actually is very friendly in a kind of harvest theme kind of way) with interesting fixtures and enough partial dividers to break up the long narrow space without making the room feel closed off or cramped.

Without further ado, we settled down to one of our favorite activities…reading the menu. While reading, which can be thirsty work, we had some good Belgian beer to get the evening started. Michael had a Delirium Tremens, one of my favorites which happily now seems to be available in a number of locations around town – here’s thanks to whoever the distributor happens to be. Wanting to branch out a bit, I tried a Gouden Carolus which was quite accurately described on the beer menu as combining the complexity of a brown ale with the lightness of a blonde.

Suitably refreshed, we felt able to tackle the rigors of the menu. I was immediately drawn to the croustillants of boudin noir. While I haven’t had boudin, or its English relative, blood sausage, since my last artery-clogging English breakfast, I figured the treatment of surrounding it with pastry and frying might moderate the earthiness…and how could a deep fried pastry anything be bad? Michael was drawn to the frisee salad ordered by the ladies at the next table, since we have been in search (unsuccessfully, I’m sorry to say) of the perfect frisee salad since Petit Louis in Baltimore sadly changed its formula (a dark day for every salad eater). However, he eventually decided on the day’s special soup – a chestnut soup with foie gras. Well, I think Michael would eat a bedroom slipper if it had foie gras on it so that was a very quick decision.

While we were waiting for the appetizers to appear, we downed a basket and a half of terrific bread. So good, in fact, that we tried to find out the name of the supplier from the charming and solicitous maitre d’. Predictably, he kept that information close to the vest, advising us that it was a small local bakery that only supplied a handful of restaurants. Smart of him. Otherwise I’m sure the bakery would be overrun with foodies demanding some of the perfect French country loaves – the bread was that good.

The appetizers arrived at just the perfect time (i.e., before we could finish the second basket of bread). The croustillant was quite a bit different than I had pictured it…for some reason I had had a mental picture of sausage sliced across and served in patties. Instead, the four croustillants were shaped like small cigars, or perhaps lumpia. They were extraordinarily good, crispy on the outside and with an earthy center of boudin that was quite satisfying without being overpowering. They were served on a bed of nicely dressed greens whose vinaigrette served as the perfect foil for the richness of the sausage. Michael enjoyed the croustillants as well and since he is sometimes a little squeamish about some of the more exotic meat products (let’s be honest, I’m no Tony Bourdain either) I was proud of him for downing one with obvious enjoyment.

We debated ordering a bottle of wine from Et Voila’s interesting and fairly priced list, but the strong beers had gone to our heads a little bit (like many Belgian beers, they are about 8% alcohol) and since it was a school night, we ended up just splitting a third bottle of beer between the two of us. It arrived just about the time of our main courses.

Deciding to go for the whole Belgian experience, I had ordered mussels in a cream sauce (which our waiter had given us to believe was his preference over the also-available provencale variety). To be honest, I was looking forward to checking out the frites that came with it as much as the mussels themselves. And I was not disappointed. The frites were excellent – hot, crisp, and salty. Of course the last few had begun to wilt a little bit by the time we got down to the bottom of the generous pile, but that is after all the nature of frites – yet another reason to eat them right away. The mussels were some of the best, if not the absolute best, I have had in a long time. They were unusually fat, mild, and delicious. The cream sauce was perhaps a little less flavorful than it could have been and not quite as garlicky as I expected, but frankly the mussels were so good on their own that they really didn’t need much of a sauce – which was wonderful soaked up with the last piece of bread that I had squirreled away.

Meanwhile Michael had ordered a salmon dish as he so often does, and this one was a real winner – a beautiful and generous piece of salmon perfectly cooked and perched on top of a bed of mashed potatoes. He was extremely happy with his choice. The one taste I managed to wrest from his grasp was, indeed, close to perfect. Salmon usually leaves me pretty unexcited, and I was happy with my mussels although I was sorry I couldn’t get Michael to taste even one. After an unhappy experience at BlackSalt a few months ago, he has not been able to get over the mental mussel hurdle.

As an extra side dish, we had ordered something called chicons au gratin, which was described as endive wrapped in ham and baked in béchamel sauce. Hard to pass up that description. Since it appeared both as an appetizer and as a side dish, we figured it must be a specialty of the house and special it was. The endive was fully cooked through and tender without being mushy and the ham and sauce added a delightful richness. I had a little trouble reaching it through all of the mussel paraphernalia scattered around my side of the table and I am not sure that I quite got my share of it as Michael seemed to be gobbling it up whenever I looked over.

You’d think after all of that richness we would be too full for dessert but we rarely pass up dessert, particularly not when the rest of the meal has gone so well.

In a Belgian restaurant, what do you order? Well, if you’re me, you order chocolate, no matter what kind of restaurant it is, but since we were sharing, we decided on the…Belgian waffle of course. It appeared, and was devoured, with due ceremony. The waffle was thoroughly tasty, perfectly cooked with a light topping of fresh berries and a nice pile of whipped cream on the top. It was, I have to say, a little less distinctive than some of the other food we ate that night but it was a very pleasant and not overpowering way to finish a wonderful meal. We have heard rave reviews about the chocolate mousse and I will definitely be saving room for that on our next visit.

All in all, we can find very little negative to say – and a long list of positives – about Et Voila. Delicious food, wonderfully professional service, an attractive setting, and reasonable prices means we will be making many return visits!

Election night at Marvin

2008-11-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

What better place to be in the center of all the election night excitement then at Marvin, which is located in the heart of the U Street corridor on 14th street in DC. The pulse of the city was intense that night with the the hopes of Obama being elected. And the comfort of Belgian/ Southern style food was just what we were in the mood for.

The facade of Marvin was very unassuming and I found the style of the restaurant to be a refreshing change to the other eateries in the area. We were quickly escorted to our table and sat down towards the back of the restaurant. As I took in the surroundings I immediately realized how loud the room was. So much so that it could ruin a night for a new couple looking for a romantic dinner for two. Trust me, David and I love our romantic dinners but we were there to research and to experience the excitement in the air that night so we did not mind the noise.

After looking over the wine list we were thrilled to see that they were serving one of our favorite Alsatian wines. Domaines Schlumberger "Le Fleur" Gewurztraminer so without further ado we promptly ordered. Our server seemed perplexed and inexperienced with wine, which was not a good sign. Five minutes later he returned with the unfortunate news that they were all out of the Schlumberger so my next choice was a pleasant sounding French Bourgogne Blanc.

In the meantime we ordered the frisee salad and the shrimp and grits for an appetizer. As we waited for the wine our appetizers arrived. Let me get this out right away. The shrimp and grits were heavenly! The smooth, cheesy, creaminess of the grits had the consistency of perfect polenta and the shrimp were perfectly cooked and seasoned. I selfishly did not want to share with David and was tempted to order another. We also shared the frisee salad, which was lightly dressed as it should with perfect small cubes of bacon. Sadly the most important thing that was missing was the poached egg, which in my humble opinion is an absolute must for frisee salad.

Our frustration grew as we waited for our alternate wine. Finally after finishing our first course our server arrived with a substitute Pouilly Fuisse', since they were also out of the Bourgogne Blanc. I appreciated the fact that it was supposed to be a finer wine, and that he gave it to us for the same price as the less expensive one that we ordered. I was dubious because I have not had many Pouilly Fuisse's that were worth remembering. To me they can come across as flat and austere as many other French whites that we have had. It's simply not my style.

For our main course I ordered the burger served on a brioche bun with bacon. David had the chicken and waffles, which regretfully I did not order as well. The burger was well a burger. It's hard to screw them up. And with all of the other things on the menu I wish I had been more adventurous. I lived in Oakland California for many years before moving to DC so I am very familiar with Chicken and waffles. I was transported straight to the south with their version. The chicken was perfectly crisp on the outside and joyously succulent on the inside. Although the waffle set a new standard it was almost overwhelmed by the heavenly chicken on top. And what a treat it was to have chicken and waffles with real maple syrup. I think it was a first for me.

All in all we enjoyed our experience at Marvin but the waiters seemed a little overwhelmed and a little inexperienced, which can easily take away from a dining experience depending on where you are. The great comfort and sincerity of the food and the casual atmosphere has definitely left me intrigued and I feel the urge building to return. I just need to remember my hearing aids and patience as we leave the house.

Steak 'n' Egg Kitchen

2008-10-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Well, this might not be the first place you'd think of as the subject for a food blog, but we can't resist a good breakfast. Of course when we started over there on Sunday morning we were not at all sure that in fact, the Steak 'n' Egg Kitchen (SnEK) was the place to get one. On the other hand, it did have a few advantages going in. First, open 24 hours. Second, outside seating (becoming less useful this time of year, but still a bonus). Third, and most importantly, an easy walk from our house.

We had a short wait for a table but the friendly staff made us feel welcome. We chose to eat outside because of the beautiful day. There are about 12 stools inside in a classic diner setup, but the bulk of the seating is outside. We suspect that things might get awfully crowded once it gets too cold to eat outside.

The physical setup is, shall we say, unpretentious in the extreme. Long plastic tables (most folks have to share) and chairs, a pile of condiments in the center of the table, and paper-wrapped knives and forks. No placemats -- this place is not for the extremely fastidious.

No matter. The food was excellent. Let's get the bad news out of the way first. The grapefruit juice was canned, or reconstituted, or something...anyhow, artificial tasting. And the "maple" syrup was a choice of various supermarket brands that had never gotten close to an actual maple tree.

Michael had a turkey and cheese omelette that was both large and tasty. The hash browns were uniformly shredded and appropriately crispy, if a little bland (not an uncommon failing). The toast was good diner toast with plenty of butter. Michael, being very enthusiastic about his breakfasts, also ordered a waffle which was deliciously crisp and came with an overabundance of butter (if there is such a thing). Too bad about the syrup. David ordered a "Tennessee scramble" which was a delicious omelette-type concoction with ham, bacon, and sausage included, with a little cheese for good measure. Same hash browns. However, instead of the toast, it came with two biscuits and some good country gravy, perfectly creamy and peppery. The biscuits were flaky and soaked up the gravy perfectly (we suspect they might be a little dry on their own but were perfect with the gravy).

The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. All of the tables were packed, many with what appeared to be AU students out with their parents. The food took a little while to appear by diner standards but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine while we waited.

All in all, a great find in our neighborhood and I'm sure we'll be paying many return visits.

Dinner at Oyamel

2008-10-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

We stopped in for dinner at Oyamel downtown after David's trip to NY, where he ate nothing memorable. The verdict on Oyamel: mixed. Some of the dishes were intriguing and delicious, but too many were bland. The delicious choices included the taco with pork (but not a beef one billed as a special) -- both were exceedingly tiny by the way. The mole poblano sauce on the chicken was exceptional. The red snapper ceviche was great. The sopas under a pile of shredded pork were outstanding -- crisp and tasty. Too bad the pork itself was extremely bland. We had different opinions on the fruit "gazpacho" -- Michael thought it was light and delicious, David thought it resembled the fruit buffet at a chain hotel, with a little chili dusting added (which was, admittedly, quite nice). With a dish this simple, the ingredients have to be absolutely first rate and perfectly ripe and these, we agreed, were not. We also split on the seared scallops. David, who loves scallops, thought they were excellent although the sauce was hard to detect. Michael, who doesn't, though they were undercooked. Most of the rest of the stuff we had was not memorable -- we guess the ratio was 60% delicious to 40% disappointing, which is a bit lower than we'd like. We had one margarita each -- delicious, but expensive at $9.50 in a deceptive small glass (one of those highball glasses with the extra-fat bottom to make the glass look bigger than it is...shame on you, Oyamel). The total bill was very reasonable at about $85 before tip. We agreed that it would be more fun with a larger group because of the small plates concept. However, most of the plates were too small to share among more than two people.

Lunch at the Majestic

2008-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

The fall day was a perfectly clear, and beautiful with the trees just beginning to turn color. Our appetites and the lure of adventure beckoned us outside so we hopped on our bikes and rode down to Old Town Alexandria from our home in DC. After exploring the heart of old town we longed for a good lunch so we headed up to the Majestic, which is a very nostalgically styled restaurant. Somewhat like a diner but a little more sophisticated.

We were immediately intrigued by the Caesar salad, which was made at our table by a very young and timid waiter, who made one of the most memorable Caesars we could recall. It was mixed in a large wooden bowl with all of your typical ingredients for dressing. Anchovy paste, oil, garlic, aioli, salt and pepper. Then it was topped with some really fresh and tasty anchovies. I would have been happy stopping there but they were serving pulled pork sandwiches, and bratwurst sandwiches. Well, of course we could not pass them up.

The pulled pork was served wrapped in waxed paper just like an old fashioned grilled cheese sandwich. The succulent juices from the pulled pork had already soaked the waxed paper and I could tell that many napkins would be required. What made the sandwich so unique was not only the hint of cinnamon and molasses in the pork but the fact that it was also layered with cole slaw. The bread had been grilled so it was slightly crispy and held together all of the moisture in the meat and the juices of the slaw. Upon David's first bite his eyes instantly crossed. Always a good sign when were eating. I had ordered the bratwurst sandwich. It was quite good but the ciabatta style bread was well, too bready and it overpowered the delicious brat inside. The sausage was not as juicy as I would like. What I remember more was the warm potato salad that came with my sandwich. It was the most unpotato salad I can recall ever having. Steamed slices of red potato with a hint of mustard, oil and herbs. It was truly fantastic.

We would highly recomend the Majestic in Old Town for its friendly staff, and one of the best pulled pork sandwiches you will ever have.

Til our next food adventure,

Michael and David