Teppan and Cupcakes

These are the lovely cupcakes that Sibby's Cupcakery made for me this weekend - for my daughter's 10th birthday.  The theme was the color blue, and I think they looked lovely!  The ones in the middle were especially yummy - the special flavor for June - lemon meringue.  In a vanilla cake with a dab of lemon curd in the middle.  I wish they were on the regular flavor rotation!

We had them after an epic meal at Benihana.  Now, why is it that kids love Benihana so much?!

Secret Sea Cove Dinner

Last year, a girlfriend and I had discussed going to one of the Outstanding in the Field farm dinners.  But we were a little late and most of the ones we were interested in were already sold out.  So when the tickets were released for this year, we were determined to get our top choice.  So were a lot of other people.  So much so that the website went down upon ticket release!

A week later, with an upgraded server infrastructure on the back end, everything worked fine and we got our tickets to the Secret Sea Cove dinner with guest chef Mourad Lahlou, Iron Chef winner and chef at Aziza in San Francisco (recipient of one Michelin star).  Apparently, we were lucky - the event sold out in 7 minutes.

We were not given directions nor the location of the event until about a week prior, and it involved finding a small road about 7 miles south of Half Moon Bay.  As you can see from the photo above, the site was truly magnificent!

We arrived around 3 pm and were handed glasses of rose (or in my case, a lovely cool water).  They were passing appetizers of moroccan flatbread with dill yogurt and roe (yum), crispy fried chickpeas with harissa (very yum) and pickled sardines on toast (meh).

Around 4 pm, the founder of Outstanding in the Field, Jim Denevan, spoke about the farm to table connection.  Or in our case, the ocean to table connection, with Hans Haveman as our speaker - he sourced all the fish and has been fishing off the Northern CA coast all his life.

Then there was a mad rush for seats at the big long table - we were outrun and were finally seated almost all the way at the far end.  Where the waves got dangerously close to us as the tide rose - it was all part of the fun!

Our first course was roasted and marinated yellow beets with wild arugula and pumpkin seeds.  It was a beautiful salad and the arugula was particularly nutty, just the way I liked it.

Next we had grilled mini meatballs with grapes over a jicama salad in a green herb dressing (Green Goddess!).  Yes, those green things that look like pasta were julienned sticks of jicama.  This was excellent but a little skimpy on those meatballs.  The dishes are served family-style to a table of 8, and not everyone got a second stick.

Then we were served a mound of slow roasted black cod with some marinated carrots, chard and mushrooms and roasted meyer lemons.  Plus the best couscous I have ever tasted!  It was brown butter couscous made by hand (as they apparently do in Aziza) - they make the dough fresh, then press it through a sieve, into a steamer.  Freshly made couscous!  It was divine.

Our dessert was fresh strawberries served with a wonderful lemon verbena cream - and a rhubarb crostata (which I didn't get a picture of, because we descended upon it like locusts).

There was wine with all the courses - which I mostly ignored except I did like the 2008 Bridesmaid White (or at least the one sip I had of it).  And the fisherman, Jim the founder, the sommelier and all sorts of people circulated to chat with everyone.  There was a very convivial atmosphere.

Alas the weather was pretty foggy and then started misting then drizzling lightly by the time we got to dessert.  We wrapped up just before 8 am and gratefully got into the warm car to head home.

A Weekend in Napa

We went up to Napa recently and stayed at Meadowood.  It's been about 11 years since I last stayed there and I had forgotten how family-friendly everything was.  We had a nice relaxing time, with good meals at Press in St. Helena (wonderful outdoor seating area and a bacon sampler appetizer that we thoroughly enjoyed) and Tra Vigne for Sunday Brunch (a reliable standby).  But the whole reason we went was to dine at Meadowood's signature restaurant, The Dining Room, with Christopher Kostow's cuisine having been graced with two Michelin stars this year.  Plus 4 stars from the normally stingy Michael Bauer at the SF Chronicle.

We had first experienced Chris' cooking when he led the kitchen at Chez TJ in Mountain View - and had earned them two stars as well (one of which they have lost since his departure).

We left the kids to order themselves room service and walked down to the main building.  As we were seated, our waiter indicated that the chef wanted to "cook for us" - which we gladly agreed to.  Because of that, we never really looked at the menu and the names of the various dishes we had are pretty hazy in my memory.

We started with a cute little amuse of a small pastry filled with goat cheese.  Delicious but I could have easily eaten a dozen of them!

OK - it's already starting to get hazy.  The lovely little crudite selection on the right had little carrots and radishes, with a wasabi ice and some other delicate sauce.  But for the life of me, I really just can't remember what the little morsels on the left were.  By the way, if I had actually blogged right after the meal as originally intended, this would be a lot easier...

We next had a lovely vichyssoise soup in a petite portion.  This is why I love tasting menus.  Little plates of delicious food that keeps you wanting more, followed by course after petite course!

Next came wagyu beef cured with pine from the Meadowood property with little bits of hamachi, served with a little bun that was just like a chinese bao but with rye or pumpernickel.  I really liked this dish!

This was also yummy - poured tableside.  But honestly, I have no idea what it was.  Except to recall there was some cauliflower involved.  And maybe beans.  What a useless food blogger I am!

Next we had a small dish of frog's legs with I believe some ravioli filled with cremini mushrooms.  I honestly only like frog's legs prepared in a Thai or Chinese style (fried with garlic).  Frog's legs in French or other cuisine has never done it for me.

I think this was goat.  It was yummy.

I began wondering if this meal would ever end.  And just then, we were brought the cheese course, which was a mild cheese that was deep fried.  Reminded me of a highly refined version of the cheese sticks I used to love at Chili's when I was in college!

There was also the most delicious lemon sorbet palate cleanser that I just loved.  More than the actual dessert pictured below.  There were too many elements and they didn't tie in very cohesively.  I had the little chocolate fudge square and handed the rest to Sean for him to finish up, which he gladly did.

In between, the kids came down to visit and got a kitchen tour and some candied raspberries.  And a photo with our favorite chef!

We're already making plans to return soon...

Christmas Eve at Alexander's Steakhouse

Our Christmas Eve was spent at the San Jose Tech Museum at the Star Trek Exhibit, where we got to sit in Captain Kirk's chair and use the Transporter to beam down to a nearby planet. It was nice having practically the whole exhibit to ourselves.

After that, we headed to Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino for our dinner. We love this restaurant because it combines a high end steakhouse with a number of Asian touches, including an impressive selection of Wagyu beef. Their appetizer of hamachi shots is phenomenal.
However, tonight, I ordered a special of foie gras soup, served with cranberry espuma (Spanish for foam). It was served in a tall glass, with a creamy warm foie gras soup on the bottom and a cold cranberry foam on the top. It was an excellent soup, although very rich - it tasted like pureed foie gras with a bunch of cream added. I drank it with a straw and hubby called it my foie gras milkshake.

Other appetizers we shared included popcorn crab (surprisingly good), truffled french fries (really good for thick cut fries - I'm typically only partial to skinny cut fries...), edamame and fried shishito peppers.

The between course palate cleanser was a lychee gelee with pomegranate pearls. Sounded (and looked) better than it tasted though.

My New York Strip entree was fine but hubby got the New York Trio - consisting of American Angus beef, Australian F1 (a Wagyu and Holstein crossbreed) and Japanese A5 Wagyu. They were presented on a slate slab labeled with the word "Guess". It really wasn't very hard to identify the three kinds of beef. The Wagyu was almost disgustingly fat, with a richness than practically ran down the back of your throat. The Angus was just a nice New York cut of fairly typical prime beef. And the Australian was in between.

For dessert we ordered a couple of chocolate specialties including a modern interpretation of a Buche de Noel - one of my favorite holiday treats.
And finally, the meal ended with a big bundle of cotton candy - watermelon flavor today. All kids in the know who've been there before usually ask to make their own in the kitchen. Mei could have taken or left the meal (she's not a big meat eater) but the make-your-own cotton candy makes it all worthwhile for her!
After a nice flowering pot of white jasmine tea, we stumbled home to await Santa's arrival. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival Year 2

After last year's parking debacle, I was a little reluctant to park at Ghirardelli Square for this year's chocolate festival - but since we had a baby in tow, we went for it. The garage was better organized by an order of magnitude this year - entry and exit were smooth. Yes, it was a little pricey, but hey - super convenient.

Alas, the weather was not as cooperative as last year - it was a strange weather weekend in SF - muggy, not quite cold and it started raining part way through the afternoon. The format for the Chocolate Festival this year was the same as last year - we bought $20 tickets that had 15 tastings each.

The tastings were good - we had Ciao Bella gelato (Chocolate Hazelnut, Alphonso Mango and my younger daughter's favorite, Blood Orange Sorbet - the latter two clearly having nothing to do with chocolate!), more gelato from Gelateria Naia (Straciatella and Chocolate Hazelnut), various toffees and best of all, handfilled mini cream puffs from Pacific Puffs. These were lovely - and one of the longest lines we stood in - a mini version of Beard Papa. Alas, by the time we made it to the Kara's Cupcakes stand, they had run out :(

The most fun was the special Chocolate Tea at Crown & Crumpet. I've blogged about this tea room in the past - it's a wonderful experience especially if you like have afternoon tea like I do! The Chocolate Tea was a plate of chocolate goodies and a selection of tea tastings. On the plate were chocolate banana sandwiches, tea-infused truffles, chocolate hazelnut tarts and a chocolate chip scone served with jam and clotted cream. The tea tastings were for chocolate tea, chocolate mint tea, chocolate banana tea (not as disgusting as you might think!) and chocolate orange tea. I like the last one the best but frankly, don't think that chocolate should be paired in teas as a rule!

We were a little "sweeted" out by then - and the craving for something savory kicked in. So we ordered some plain scones, some sausage rolls, a baked potato and some crumpets as well. Sitting on the terrace with a grey and overcast view of Alcatraz and the Bay, it was pleasurable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Cooking at the Plumed Horse

I was lucky enough to be surprised by a private cooking class with chef Peter Armellino at the Plumed Horse in Saratoga last weekend. How many people can say they got a cooking class with a Michelin one-star chef for Mother's Day?!

After we arrived, we were given a quick tour of the restaurant, glasses of cava in hand. I hadn't been to the Plumed Horse since its remodel, but the main dining room is now beautiful in an understated, modern way (my memories from before was that it was a bit fusty). There was a chef's table with floor-to-ceiling views of the kitchen - I can't wait to dine there soon.






We started by looking at various items that Peter had picked up that morning at the Saratoga's farmer's market, including green garlic, fava beans, the ubiquitous local asparagus, as well as English peas. Peter showed us how to prepare them all for a spring vegetable risotto. Fava beans and the green garlic were new to me, so it was great to see how to use them. Unfortunately, they all had to be blanched separately (different cooking times) - not the favorite prep step for this lazy cook!


He went through the basics of risotto technique and had his sous-chef finish off that part of the cooking. He then added salt and pepper to a beautiful piece of halibut and pan cooked it with olive oil and lots of butter. In the meantime, more wine was poured and we started salivating at the thought of tasting the finished dish.







The risotto was perfectly creamy, yet with the requisite bite and not overwhelmed by a cheesy taste - in fact, we added no parmesan at all. Just some creme fraiche for the finishing touch. The halibut was tender and delicious. And super easy to prepare.





We then moved on to the dessert course, with chef Jon Kristie, who melted seemingly vast quantities of chocolate (Valrhona 72% disks) and butter in a double boiler. We were all relieved to find out that this would make about 70 servings of the chocolate fondant dessert for the restaurant's dinner service! The dessert was easy to make with just a few more ingredients (eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour) and was delicious with a molten center. It was served with a homemade vanilla ice cream.

I have to make a special note that the dessert wine poured was a Wehlener Sonnenuhr riesling which my normally teetotalling girlfriend enjoyed so much that she had 2 more glasses!

The whole class took about 90 minutes and we each left with a box full of ingredients to make 4 servings of the dishes we had sampled. And a bottle of cava (or in my girlfriend's case, her new favorite riesling!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the class and the conversations with Peter, Jon and Josh who ran the front-of-house. They mentioned that they make a white truffle risotto when the season starts in November - can't wait to try that as well! Plus Jon's special banana split dessert with caramelized bananas and homemade banana ice cream...mmmm

Mother's Day Brunch at Madera

We tried out the restaurant at the brand new Rosewood Hotel on Sand Hill Rd in Menlo Park yesterday. This is part of a huge complex of offices at the corner of Sand Hill and 280. Although I didn't find the architecture of the hotel very appealing, the interiors were modern and comfortable, with a gorgeous bar area with a patio with views of the hills. I could see this as a great place for drinks at sunset.

The restaurant Madera was quite large and for some reason, our party of 8 was shown to a nice private room with an outdoor patio with a fireplace. It would be nice for a dinner party or intimate shower.

The menu was a $65 prix fixe for Mother's Day, which was a little pricey for the area, but the restaurant is an upscale choice. It included a glass of bubbly, which was actually a Spanish cava.

I started with a great salad of purple asparagus and grilled trumpet mushrooms. The mushrooms was very tasty, although it was served with a soft cheese and was a little unnecessary. I'd go back for this salad alone.






Another nice appetizer was the spring pea soup - very light but with a full pea flavor.







For the entree, I decided to go for the New York steak (seemed like a waste to get Belgian waffles when it was a $65 prix fixe!). There was a bit of a gap in service so I was very hungry when the entree was served. So I started eating right away and forgot to take photos... My dining mates had the Eggs Benedict (served either with salmon or canadian bacon), which was pronounced to be pretty good.

For dessert, I had the ricotta cheesecake served with balsamic strawberries. Nice but nothing to write home about. My daughter had a chocolate terrine, served with grilled brioche - it turned out to be a spreadable chocolate and was like a fancy version of nutella and toast. The dessert winner was a sour cherry almond cake, served with a sour cream ice cream.

And they served an excellent Earl Grey in a nice french press. Top marks for the tea service.

Overall, I don't think this is a destination restaurant by any means, although the space is beautiful. The service pacing was not the best. But it's a beautiful space and in a location where it will get lots of corporate business. If you're in the area, have a drink at the bar.

Humphry Slocombe - what kind of name is that for a gourmet ice cream shop?!

Ever on the alert for new places where I can gain weight, I've been waiting for a new ice cream place to open at 24th and Harrison in the Mission/Potrero area of San Francisco. It was really the unusual name that first caught my eye in a magazine article, and it finally opened a few weeks ago.

Not letting the freezing temperature and bone-chilling gusts of wind dissuade us, I persuaded a group to trek down to try out Humphry Slocombe last weekend. It was packed so I guess I'm not alone in my crazy-new-ice-cream-hunting fanaticism.
The staff were super nice and let me try 6 different flavors - I was being a little indecisive that day, primarily because their flavors were so unusual. I tried out:

• Balsamic Caramel - the balsamic flavor was a little strong for me, I still prefer the salted caramel at Bi-Rite Creamery.
  
• Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee - if I liked coffee ice cream, this one would be a winner. Alas, I don't.
• Pistachio Bacon - it was kinda good in a weird way, but I didn't think I could stomach a whole scoop of it.
• Valrhona Fudgisicle - this was a sorbet as opposed to an ice cream. It was a little icy for me.
• Hibsicus Beet - this was a beautiful color but to be honest, I can't remember what it tasted like.
• some swirly pink and white ice cream that had rose petals (not listed on the board) - odd.

I finally picked the Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip - the flavors were very clean but I wasn't wild about it after a few bites.

So my Bay Area gourmet ice cream favorites stand in order at:

1. Ici in Berkeley with its special cones with chocolate on the bottom
   
2. Bi-Rite for the best salted caramel
   
3. Sketch for vanilla with olive oil swirled on top
   
4. Humphry Slocombe for its fascinating selection of flavors.
   

More cupcake mania...

I was disappointed to figure out a few months ago that Kara's Cupcakes doesn't do special decorations even if you special order a batch of mini-cupcakes - other than frost them in a particular color scheme. When I ordered 2 dozen minis for a Halloween party, they told me that their special Halloween sugar cutouts were only available for the full sized cupcakes and not the minis. Now, as much as I like the cupcakes, the full-sized ones are just too big with an inordinate amount of frosting. And I like my decorations...

So for my niece's 1st birthday party, I decided to forgo Kara's and go with a special order with Sibby's Cupcakery. I've ordered from Sibby's quite a few times in the past - for both business and personal events. For a past birthday at the Marine Science Institute, they did a tray of delightful marine themed mini cupcakes with little fish and whales everywhere on sky and sea blue frosting. I've been in love with their decorating ever since.

This time, they did a pink and brown carnival/candy theme for my niece, incorporating her name and the number 1. It was adorable. I ordered 12 chocolate tea cakes, 6 vanilla and 6 lemon drop. They were all gone extremely quickly. Order yours at Sibby's today!

At last, I get to try Pinkberry...

I love the new natural tart froyo that's become all the rage due to Pinkberry's enormous success in Southern California. I do find it kinda humorous that when I first started eating froyo in the 80s when in college, all the purveyors would try to get rid of that tart flavor and now, 20 years later, it's totally back in style.


My first experience with froyo V2.0 was down in L.A. about 4 years ago at some place in Little Tokyo (might have been IceBerry but I can't quite recall). It was really good. Then a few months later, Pinkberry (plus many others of that ilk) became the froyo sensation of SoCal, with stories of people risking parking tickets to hop out and get their yogurt fix. My sister (never one for moderation) used to get Pinkberry EVERY DAY when she worked down in Newport Beach.

Then two years ago, we finally got Fraiche in Palo Alto with the tart flavors made from organic local milk. And then Red Mango opened, by the Korean winner of Survivor, no less (the main purveyors of froyo V2.0 are all Korean enterprises). I've also had it at Cafe Delatti in Los Gatos, plus some obscure place in Chinatown in San Francisco (which was the cheapest of the whole lot).

And finally, the original trendsetter Pinkberry opened in Santana Row in San Jose last month and I tried it out today. They have three flavors - original, green tea and pomegranate. I had a small half original, half green tea with strawberries and mango. Next time I'll stick to original only - the green tea was initially good but got slightly gritty. The toppings were generous and oddly enough, I finished the froyo first, and had leftover toppings. This has never happened before.

So was Pinkberry worth the wait? Oh yes - count me as a newly minted fan. The shop was super cute, almost sparklingly white and the toppings bar was the most attractive that I've seen. The original flavor was nice and tart, but not wincingly so (pomegranate was too tart for me). The strawberries seemed to have been marinated - it was a great topping.

In the froyo2.0 wars, I'm going to have to rate Pinkberry tops for now. With Fraiche coming a close second (but that may be because it actually has shaved Callebaut chocolate as a topping - and it's 5 mins away from home). Red Mango was just not tart enough, even though I did meet the Survivor winner/owner at his new outlet in Valley Fair a few weeks ago.

I wonder how often I can make it down to Santana Row to visit Pinkberry...

A Touristy Day in SF

After a great tea at Crown & Crumpet (see previous post), we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf, amidst all the tourists. It had been a while since we've done that and it was remarkably fun! There was a ton of energy, lots of street performers, horse-drawn carriages and people taking photos.







We made a stop at In-n-Out on the Wharf for some french fries (to counteract the sugar?! again, see previous posts about love of french fries) and then walked over to the Musee Mechanique. This is a small private museum filled with little modern and antique amusement park machines that used to be located at the by the Sutro Baths on Highway 1. The new location on the wharf is equally scenic but the warehouse decidedly lacks at atmosphere. We put lots of quarters into skee ball, fortune telling, a sticker photo booth and a mechanical fun fair that comes to life. Then we watched the sunset over the Bay.



Finally we finished up with clam chowder in a bread bowl at the new and fancy Boudin bakery - we ate in the cafe area (not the upstairs restaurant) and their grilled cheese served with tomato soup was a wonderful end to the day.

Crown & Crumpet

It was an unbelievably gorgeous day in San Francisco last Saturday - high 60s, sunny and warm. This is why I live in this part of the country. We headed up to Ghirardelli Square to try out a new adorable tea room called Crown & Crumpet. Open about 4 months, it serves, breakfast, lunch, dinner (on weekends) and of course, my personal favorite, afternoon tea.

I seek out afternoon tea with a passion - I'm a big tea drinker anyway and I love the three tiered cake stands, finger sandwiches and scones with clotted cream. My two favorite places in SF are Lovejoy's (but too busy, always need a ressie) and the Neiman Marcus Rotunda at Union Square (afternoon tea is just so-so but they have good scones and the best view).

I may have a new favorite now - C&C did not disappoint. Not only is the decor lovely, they have customized dishes and the best teapot with a built-in strainer that you can raise out of the level of the tea with a small adjustment of the end. And a lovely bay view with Alcatraz in the distance.






We were a party of 3 adults, 2 kids and one baby - so we ordered the afternoon tea for two (one pot with Earl Grey and one pot with their house blend), plus two nursery teas for the kids (served with a rich hot chocolate). It all arrived on tiered cake plates, with finger sandwiches (the egg salad was delicious but the best was a lovely pear and blue cheese sandwich), nice crumpets, 3 small scones and some desserts including small cookies, brownies and an odd bright pink cupcake thing.

I preferred the savouries over the sweets, which is actually a common occurrence. I would have ordered their sausage rolls but they only serve those on Fri and Sat evenings - will have to make a special trip to try those sometime soon. The house blend tea was just ok but the Earl Grey was exceptional (sourced from the Tea Palace in London and available for sale at a rather exorbitant $5-6 an ounce). In fact, there was a delightful little shop just off the entrance that sold the aforementioned cool teapots ($48 but I didn't pull the trigger just because it was such a large pot), all the dishes and cups and lots of other cute little gifty items.

The service was welcoming and friendly and the owner seemed lovely in my short little chat with her. This would be a great place for a birthday celebration or a shower (one was taking place in the corner when we were there). There's patio seating available in addition to the indoor space. And finally, they brought two cute candy bracelets for the kids with the bill.

I can't wait to go back!