Gastronomie

Jack London Square Farmers Market

Sigh.

We're approaching the end of the Summer growing season, my favorite of them all. The squash, apples and pears that make other swoon are just a reminder of the farewell to the bounty that is tomato-berry-corn-stone-fruit season.

My joy on Sunday mornings comes from the four-minute walk to the Farmers Market at Jack London Square, where prices are reasonable, there is no attitude and the produce is plentiful. This past Sunday, I missed the market for Grape Picking, which was totally worth it.

But it does sadden me that this coming Sunday, the market will simply look different from the Summer market. Some of the vendors pack it in for the season. Other new faces arrive. And the colors... well, the colors are just not the same.

So, in tribute to the summer season of Jack London Square, I offer the following photographs, as taken by my madly-gifted love, C.

Grape picking with the G Family

Our friends CG and JS invited us this weekend to join CGs family in a grape pick in Sonoma.

Now, picking grapes is hard, honest labor. Yet, it's not at all the same as, say, picking cotton. First of all, the setting is gorgeous. Second, picking grapes for wine that you will someday have the opportunity to taste is one of those fairy tales that people in OTHER parts of the country only get to read about.

So we got out to this gorgeous vineyard about 3.5 miles outside of Sonoma town square, and got started. The vines here are all Bordeaux varietals - Cab Sauvingon, Cab Franc & Merlot - and we were out around 500lbs of the second growths. We made great headway in the morning, and after a nice break for lunch, wrapped up around 2:30.

Mr. & Mrs. G were hosting the "pickers" for dinner that evening, so we headed out to their absolutely beautiful home in Santa Rosa, where the 500lbs of grapes were destemmed & crushed (and, in case you wondered, yellowjackets love grapes!). Once C and I were showered and cleaned up a bit, Mr. G gave us a tour of his absolutely amazing family wine production. A few dozen gallons of the above grapes, along with Sauv Blanc, Viognier & even Gewurtzraminer. After the lesson in vinification (which, no joke, I aspire to be able to do someday, if only to cover my property tax costs), we headed back upstairs to relax for a bit.

Mrs. G fed us soooo well with a wonderful baked ziti, garlic eggplant (Mrs. G - I'd love that recipe if you're so obliged) & salad, plus a delicious lemon pie. Mr. G complemented these with his delicious Gewurtz to start, followed up by the 2002 Cab Franc and 2001 Cab Sauvignon.

Many, many thanks to Mr. & Mrs G and family for an absolutely wonderful day, and phenomenal company. Count us in next year for the grape pick weekend - we can't imagine a better way to spend the day!

My Dim Sum Fears

Ok. I live in the Bay Area. San Francisco is the single large Chinatown outside of Asia. And Oakland's Chinatown (which begins less than 5 blocks from my house) is the fourth largest.

So I need someone to explain to me my ridiculous fear of dim sum. Don't get me wrong. I love the stuff. I am just terribly intimidated by it, and can't bring myself to explore it without a guide. My poor husband still hasn't tried it because yours truly still doesn't know where to start.

Is there a "Dim Sum for Dummies" book I should know about???

Date night dinner - at home this week

We're heading off to New Orleans for 4 days in October, so we're saving our "Date night" funds for our meals there... so, we cancelled our reservations at House of Prime Rib (which, believe it or night, neither of us has ever been to) in lieu of dinner at home.

We picked up a beautiful, enormous prime rib steak from Pierotti Family (see the post about them) and headed home.

I started a bread salad by brushing a few slices of day-old bread with butter and toasting in the oven until good and dry. Then, the bread got cut up into croutons, and went into a nonstick pan with a bit of salt, pepper & garlic powder. toast again until lightly smoking, then pop into the oven to finish "drying". Meanwhile, I chopped up a gorgeous orange heirloom tomato (courtesy of my friend Kat) and a handful of brown mushrooms, finely diced a red onion, a garlic clove, cilantro & basil. Added a handful of cannelini beans and dressed with some really, really good balsamico, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and lemon pepper. Added the croutons and tossed, and popped into the fridge to rest a few minutes.

Next, I popped a spaghetti squash into the microwave for a little under 15 minutes. Pulled that out, split it open and scraped out the meat. Made a bit of beurre noisette (butter cooked until light brown and nutty) and drizzed that over the squash. Finished with a dusting of parmaggiano reggiano. This ended up being so ridiculously rich, we both could only eat a few bites. And honestly, I used maybe a tbsp of butter.

The rib steak was simple - season with some Maldon sea salt, fresh ground pepper (pink, white, green & tellicherry), and throw onto the Le Creuset Grillet pan.

The meal was divine - and the beans in the bread salad (which really were almost an afterthought) were phenomenal. We almost went to Soizic for a bit of dessert, but tomorrow is going to be a l-o-n-g day with the grape pick starting at 9am (!!).

Honestly, aside from the requisite cleanup, I really don't know why we go out to eat sometimes.

Rubicon San Francisco - strangely underappreciated

So, I've never quite been able to convince myself to spend the cash on Rubicon - it's a "vendor dinner" as I like to classify them, and in the same class as Aqua.

Regardless, a friend and I took advantage of the DAT program to test the waters.

In short, they sold me. And I'll be back.

First and foremost, the food was very, very good. 2 choices for appetizer, 3 for entree and 2 for dessert.

We tried both apps: a simple green salad with smoked salmon and satsuma orange was really flavorful - I don't particularly care for salmon (yeah, yeah, I know) but this was really well done, with a wonderful smoky flavor without the fatty-fishiness i take exception to.

My leek and lemongrass soup with fresh dungeness was, in a word, perfect. On its own, the broth was fresh, lightly creamy and refreshing. With the crab, a whole other level of complexity came into the mix - really incredible. Extra points for proper service - broth poured over the crab tableside.

Entrees were very good, but not exceptional. My boeuf bourgignonne was very much a comfort food. The cut of beef used was slightly tough, but definitely not to a fault. The jus, with carrots and pearl onions, and mint risotto were a lovely complement.

Phyllo-wrapped sea bass was, again, comfortable. A wonderful cold-weather dish - not particularly complex, but the textural differences did wonders.

Desserts were heavenly - chocolate torte (pretty much a chocolate lava cake times 10) and apple pain perdu with caramel were really, seriously exceptional. I am so stuffed and satiated that if I talk about them any more, I will keel right out of this chair.

The very best part? The service was exemplary, and what I would expect from this calibur of restaurant with no skimping.

Napkins folded, Riedel's supplied IMMEDIATELY when requested, an additional scoop of the to-die-for espresso ice cream supplied at no additional charge (this after our waitress spied me scooping the last dregs from the hazelnut tuile).

As a result, between two of us, we cleared a bottle of delightful Graham's (?) Viognier (me being a Viognier junkie and all), an interesting '97 Chianti from the Veneto region, plus a glass of 1870 Blandy's Verdelho Solera with dessert.

Fortunately, neither of us was driving.

I'll be back to Rubicon.

A Beef about Beer

I'm not a regular beer drinker.

But on occasion, I have been known to lust after an ice cold one. And on those occasions, I am quite picky about what I will and will not drink.

I would sooner eat dirt than drink, for example, Budweiser. Why? Why waste the calories and the taste buds on something so disturbingly bland?

For this reason (and many others) I love living in the Bay Area - there is no shortage of hand-crafted, micro-brewed beers of distinction.

Last night, in honor of G's real bday (his "observed" bday is tonight), a few of us gathered at the 21st Amendment for a few beers. 21-A has one of my favorite beers for summer, Watermelon Wheat. As the name implies, it's a weizen made with watermelon. Delightful*.

Well, of course, as it's late September, they were well out of the WW. I had instead their 563 Stout, which is a lovely dark, dark beer served on nitrogen, resulting in a deliciously creamy head. On first whiff, this stuff smells like a perfectly pulled shot of espresso. It's soooo good.

Stupidly, I took a sip of C's South Park Blonde after drinking some of my Stout, so couldn't even taste it. But he proclaimed it "very nice and crisp".

*They USED to have a Watermelon Ale which was a pale ale with watermelon. That one tasted like a watermelon jolly rancher. Mmmmmm.

Anzu @ The Hotel Nikko

Last night was the second time I've been to Anzu at the Nikko.

I have heard plenty about this place being mediocre at best, and I can only assume it's because people were sitting at the tables. Each time I've gone, my dining partners have been amenable to sitting at the bar, and oh what a joy.

The sushi chef here is amazing. However, he is quite skeptical of non-Japanese who sit at his bar - probably one too many california rolls ordered, is my guess. Anyway, the first time I went here, I was a bit tipsy, and practicing the few words of Japanese I know (Domo Arigato, Hajimemashite, Irrasshaimase, Konichiwa, Konbanwa, Itadakimase, Oishi).

Kazuhito-san took mercy on me, and I told him to bring out whatever he thought was best. He started with pretty innocuous stuff, but once I started asking for ankimo and uni, he realized I was serious. So the good stuff started coming.

Anyway, last night, it seemed he vaguely remembered me, but obviously not clearly. Our group first started to sit at a table until SL and I said we wanted to go to the bar. Fortunately, there were 4 seats available, and no reservations, so we headed over.

We sat down and started chatting him up a bit. He came over with a little bowl of amazing spinach salad that was pungent and spicy and savory all at once. Fabulous. I told him I'd prefer no tamago and no sake (salmon), but would eat anything else.

First we got 3 pieces of white fishes - hamachi, amberjack & (I think) suzuki (rockfish). All delicate and amazing in that the fattiest-looking (hamachi) was actually the lightest in flavor. Kazuhito-san's rice is perfect. Really. It's a revelation, and after eating here, one reaches the distinct understanding that sushi is not just about the fish.

Next up we received ankimo, one of my favorite things in the world. This is monkfish liver, and really the foie gras of the sea. Mmm. Kazuhito-san cures his own into a lovely, delicate pate - REAL pate, not that nasty-pressed-into-a-tube-so-it's-pasty stuff. It had a distinctly smoky flavor, but chef said that it was steamed. I've only ever had ankimo this good one other place - Hama Ko - and even that was totally different preparation. We got this with a few slices of bread, but I was just eating it plain. I finished off SP's portion because he was clearly weirded out by eating fish liver.

Next dish we got was 4 pieces of fish. I got 2 hirame (halibut), both from a different fish and 2 maguro (one Toro). The hirame, as usual, was stellar, and it's always interesting to taste and feel the difference between the same cut from two different fishes.

Everyone else got the same tuna I did, but they got salmon instead of halibut - one Alaskan and one Atlantic. They proclaimed them "awesome", but i didn't get to try.

Next we got these amazing wonton-like things - a soft wrapper that tasted intensely of sesame filled with a bit of rice and some delectable scallop. Mmmm.

Finally, we told Kazuhito-san to stop serving the guys since it was all going to waste, and SL and I got an order of eel - one each unagi (Freshwater) and anago (Saltwater). I'd never had anago before, but I really did prefer it to the unagi. If I knew the quality of the restaurant, i'd gladly forgo unagi for anago anyday.

At this point, SL and I were stuffed, too, so I told the chef that I wanted one ume (pickled plum) handroll and I'd be done. What I got was another revelation - perfect ume rolled in lovely nori with a bit of shiso and... SHARK FIN!!

Holy cow.

Holy cow.

SL took a bite and couldn't believe it. I almost ordered another one since we ended up sharing the first one but... well... poor form and all that.

Anyway, Kazuhito-san gave me a piece of oshinko (pickled radish) and SL nearly jumped out of her seat - turns out, she orders the stuff from her local place to take home and snack on! So, she got a piece of her own this time. :-). Then we got a beautiful pickled carrot each, and had to call "mercy". We were stuffed to the gills.

With two large Asahis, 4 large sakes (at least) and our meals, the total came to either $230 or $280 (I tried to peer over SPs shoulder without much success). Either way, that's an astonishing value for what we got.

I am now seriously craving the ume makimono... almost hourly. I wonder if he would just make me a few of those to go... hmmm?

Soizic Bistro

Soizic Bistro is our neighborhood "nice" restaurant - it's 3 blocks away at 3rd & Broadway and owned by the husband & wife team who used to own Cafe Pastorale in Berkeley. Apparently, they got sick of being one of the hip, "must go" restaurants in Berkeley, and so they shut down and reopened a couple of years later as Soizic in Jack London Square.

First time we ate there was on our real estate agent's dime - she got us a gift certificate there when we closed on the loft. It was great then, and it's still great 6 months later. But we are spoilt - the proprieter remembers us, and always takes care of us.

Tonight, we had tickets to see Ms. Jane Monheit at Yoshi's. However, Yoshi's is overpriced, underwhelming sushi, so C set us up w/a reservation at Soizic.

We had two cups of white corn soup to start. Usually, corn soups are "chowder-y" - this wasn't. It was rather light, but undyingly flavorful, and sweet. Next we shared the duck confit salad. I love this. The confit is really good and the house-cured cabbage & bacon it comes with are great. Served atop arugula, spinach & endive, this salad makes a fantastic lunch or light dinner, all on its own. Mmmm.

I had the lamb filets, which I think are my favorite dish here. Three perfect little lamb tenderloin filets in a madeira sauce with wonderful potato gratin & the most delectable roasted shiitake mushrooms ever. A mache salad also comes with - mache is one of those overlooked greens, but my, it's good.

C had the ribeye tonight, which was a lovely cut of meat. Served with nice roasted veg (I stole his brussels sprouts & cauliflower), the same gratin I had, and a stilton-based sauce. Again, all were really very delightful, especially at a price of $23.95!!

After dinner, we had a 1/3 of a bottle of wine left (Gigondas, 2001 Domaine Piaugien, $34) and we still wanted dessert, but needed to get to Yoshi's to get decent seats for the show. We asked our waiter if they would hold the rest of the bottle for us, and we'd be back before closing for dessert. He was SO willing to oblige, and got a lovely tip in return.

After the show (which was awesome, btw), we returned to Soizic and they quickly poured us the rest of our wine. As we contemplated dessert, we were brought two complimentary glasses of one of the tawny ports on the menu - I can only assume it was the Dow's and was very lovely. C & I were each ready to order a glass of port with our desserts, and the comp was such a gracious touch.

I had the chocolate torte and, as usual, had to ask for a side of ice cream. This time, it was a white pepper, house made. Oh. My. God. White pepper ice cream is something that MUST be experienced. I've had jalapeno ice cream, and this is far more subtle (the burn builds up) and far more flavorful. Full of butterfat, the sweet and fat make the burn enjoyable, rather than just "painful. Delicious. The torte was nothing to sneeze at either.

C had the ginger custard which was ripe with the flavor of ginger, but not my cup of tea. The fruit crisp of the night was peach and berry and, as it passed our table, I had a moment of regret at not having ordered it - it looked and smelled wonderful.

We also got a tip from our waiter that the pastry chef, in the winter, does a guinness stout ice cream which is served with carrot cake. I will be calling weekly until they have it - that's not something to be missed.

Soizic Bistro is highly recommended next time you're in the Oakland area.

La Scene restaurant - yum!

Last night, I got a call from a friend whose group had ended up with one extra ticket to Black Rider. Did I want to join them? of course!

They had dinner reservations at La Scene, which is on Geary @ Taylor. I'd never been there before, so sure, I was game.

They have a lovely 3-course prix fixe option - $24.95 or $29.95 depending on your choices.

I started with the beet salad with shaved pears, mesclun and goat cheese. This was a really, really wonderful salad. Nicely acidic dressing with perfectly roasted beets and a delicious goat cheese. I believe the pears were asian, and a nice counterpoint to the other flavors in the salad.

4 out of our group of 5 ordered the diver scallops for our entree, and honestly, they were AMAZING. so perfectly carmelized with a delicious, delicious sauce of chive fumee. Came with lovely mashed potatoes, a sprinkling of crisp bacon and the most amazing haricot verts. The one person who didn't order these got the halibut, and pronounced it "perfectly cooked and seasoned".

The other choices including a pasta dish, duck confit and braised lamb shank. Had I been with folks I knew better, and knew I'd be able to share with, I probably would have had the duck. Next time, definitely.

There was a choice of desserts, two of which were pear based (I think they must have gotten a great price on pears this week!), one of which was a sorbet plate, and a chocolate bread pudding, which I ordered. The bread pudding itself was really wonderful - not too eggy but still very moist, great bittersweet chocolate flavor, a bit of crisp crust. The pear crisp was also nice, but I'm not a fan of pears. The sorbets were very good, but I don't believe they were house made.

They have a small but acceptable wine list. We ordered a bottle of some CA Sangoivese - but I regret to say I can't remember the name. It was very nice, and I believe around $30-36.

I really can't wait to take my hubby here - it's a very beautiful room with exceptional service and wonderful food.

Located in the Hotel Warwick, by the way.

La Scene Restaurant - click here